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PRESENTED Eft' 





& .J, ^e^^ctth^uc^ , £>: ?6f , 



THE 



PENTATEUCH 



AND 



THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 



WITH AN ORIGINAL AND COPIOUS CRITICAL AND 
EXPLANATORY COMMENTARY. 



BY THE 

REV. ROBERT JAMIE SON, D.D. 

1 7 

MINISTER OF ST. PAUL'S PARISH, GLASGOW, SCOTLAND. 



PHILADELPHIA: 
WILLIAM S. & ALFRED MARTIEN. 

No. 606 CHESTNUT STREET. 
1860. 



jus/" 2 * 






N 



LIST OF CONTRACTIONS. 



A.RAB. Arabic version. 

Beng. Bengel. 

Bo. Bochart's Hierozoicon. 

Dal. Calvin's Commentary. 

3f. Confer, compare. 

Docc. Cocceius. 

De W. De Wette. 

Eich. Eichhorn. 

E. V. English version. 

Ex. gr. For example. 

Fig. Figuratively. 

Ges. Gesenius. 

Grand. Grandpierre's Essais sur la 
Pentateuque. 

Heng. Hengstenberg's Christology, 
and the Books of Moses. 

Hess. Hess's Geschichte der Patriar- 
chen. 

Hitch. Hitchcock's Geology. 

La. Laborde's Commentaire G6ogr. 

Le. Leclerc's Commentary. 

Lit. Literally. 

LXX. The Septuagint Greek ver- 
sion. 



Matjrer. Maurer of Heiligstadt. 

Mich. Michaelis. 

Nom. Nominative. 

Noy. Noyes. 

N. S. E. W. North, South, East, West. 

N. T. New Testament. 

0. T. Old Testament. 

Pax. Paxton's Illustrations of Scrip- 
ture. 

Plur. Plural. 

P. Smith. Pye Smith's Scripture Geo- 
logy. 

Bawl. Bawlinson. 

Bob. Bobinson's Besearches in Pa- 
lestine. 

Bos. Bosenmuller's Scholia. 

Sch. Schultens. 

Sing. Singular. 

Syr. Syriac version. 

Transl. Translate, Translation. 

Umbr. Umbreit. 

Vox. Vulgate Latin edition. 

Wilk. Wilkinson's Ancient Egyp- 
tians. 



NUMBER OF YEA US FROM T7IE CREATION TO THE FLOOD. 





Lived before 
Binh of Eldest 

.■50 IX 


After the Birth 

of Eldest Son, 


Total L^- 
of L 




Heb. 


Sept 


Heb. 


Sept 


Heb. 




A flam 


136 




BOO 


700 


930 




beth 


105 


205 




707 


012 


012 


Enos, 


90 




916 


7.o 


905 


906 


(Jainan, .... 


r> 


170 


840 


740 


1 > 


010 


iMahalaleel, .... 


65 


105 




730 




- 1 


Jared, .... 


us 


162 










Enoch, ..... 




166 


969 


299 




365 


Methuselah, 


r-: 




:--' 


7- a 


999 


909 


Lamechj .... 


i §2 


188 


505 


505 


777 


r« 


Noah at the Flood , . . 




000 












1696 1 2202 





According to the Hebrew. 



PATRIARCHS AFTER THE FLOOD. 
Y£AB Of THE FLOOD. 



According to Septuaginfc 



;.M 


B.C. 










A.M. 


B.C. 


1056. 




Noah, . . . 300. 
Sbem, . . 




Noah, . . . 359. 
Shern, . . . 5o2. 




22G2. 


3zi5. 








Arphaxad, 438. 


2. 


690 

Arphaxad, 636. 


2. 










403 


35. 


403 


135. 










Baton, . . . 433. 




Cainan, . . 400. 












#03 


30. 


330. 


130. 










Eber, . . . 404. 




Sal ah, . . . 433. 












4 


34. 





130. 










I •-,... 239. 




Lb;r, . . . 404. 












209 


30. 


330 


134. 










Reu, .... 239. 




Peleg, . . . 330. 












207 


32, 


209, 


130. 










Be rug, . . . 239. 




Beu, .... 339. 












200 


30. 


207, 


132. 










Nahor, . . 148. 




Serug, . . . 330. 












119, 


20. 


200 


r;o. 










Terah, . . . 205. 




Nahor, . . 146. 












136 


70. 


09 


79. 






2150. 


1848. 


Abraham, 175, 




Terah, . . 295. 












75, 


100. 


75 

Abraham, 175. 


130. 


3462. 


2045. 










75, 


100. 





The figures after the names denote the whole period of life. Those on the ri^'ht, when 
they became fathers; and those under each name, the number of years they lived after. 

There is a difference of six hundred years between the Septuagint and the Hebrew Eible 
now in use. According to that Text, as it stands at present, the period that elapsed between 
the Creation and the Flood is much shorter than appears to have been in the ancient 



Hebrew copies of the .Scriptures from which theLXX. made their version, the one generally 

ed by our Lord and the Apostles, and corresponding generally in its cfaronolOf 
that of Josephus. There is good reason to suspect that this alteration was designedly 



quoted by our Lord and the Apostles, and corresponding generally in its chronc 
that of Josephus. There is good reason to suspect that this alteratio 
eflected by the Masoreti Jews in the second century of the Christian era. 



THE JOURNEYS OF ABRAHAM. 

The follovnng may be considered a pretty tarred accowU of the extent office Patriarch' 's 

Iro/cels. 

Miles. 
376 
496 
28 
240 
240 
32 
121 

160 

40 



1 

2 — 

3 — 

4 — 

5 — 

6 — 

7 - 



From L'rinChaldeato Haran 

— Haran to Sichem 

— Sichem to Mamre .. 

— Mamie to Egypt 

— Egypt to Mamre 

— Mamre to the plain near Hebron 
The Plain of Mamre to L)an, where Lot was rescued, 
Dan, he pursued the defeated kings to Hobah 

9 — Hobah back to Sodom 

10 — Sodom to the plain of Mamre .. 

11 — Mamre to Gerar 

12 — Gerar to Beerabeba 

13 — Beersneba to Moriah 

14 — Moriah to lieeersheba .. 

15 — Beersheha to Mamre 

From Bunting's Travels of the Patriarcli3. 



12 
40 
40 
16 



THE FIRST BOOK OF MOSES, CALLED 



GENESIS. 



CHAPTER I. 

1 The creation of heaven and earth, 3 of the light, 
6 of the firmament : 9 the earth separated from 
the waters, 11 and made fruitful. 14 The crea- 
tion of the sun, moon, and stars. 2U of the fish 
and fowl, 24 of beasts and cuttle. 26 Creation 
of man in the image of Ood; and his blessing. 
29 The appointment of food. 

TN a the bediming * God created the 
x heaven and the earth. 

2 And the earth was c without form, and 
void: and darkness ivas upon the face of 
the deep. * And the Spirit of God moved 
upon the face of the waters. 

3 H e And God said, Let there be light : 
and there was light. 

4 And God saw the light, that it was 
good : and God divided the l light from 
the darkness. 

5 And God called the light / Day, and 
the darkness he called Night. 2 And the 
evening and the morning were the first 
day. 

6 ? And God said, * Let there be a 3 fir- 
mament in the midst of the waters, and 
let it divide the waters from the waters. 

7 And God made the firmament, and di- 
vided the waters which were under the 
firmament from the waters which were 
above the firmament: and it was so. 

8 And God called the firmament Heaven. 
And the evening and the morning were 
the second day. 

9 1T And God said, ll Let the waters under 
the heaven be gathered together unto one 
place, and let the dry land appear : and 
it was so. 

10 And God called the dry land Earth; 
and the gathering together of the waters 
called he Seas: and God saw that it was 
good. 

11 And God said, * Let the earth bring 
forth * grass, the herb yielding seed, and 
the fruit tree yielding i fruit after his 
kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the 
earth: and it was so. 

12 And the earth brought forth grass, and 
herb yielding seed after ins kind, and the 
tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in it- 
self, after his kind : and God saw that it 
was good. 

13 And the evening and the morning 
were the third day. 

m 11 % And God said * Let there be lights 
in the firmament or the heaven to divide 
5 the day from the night ; and let them be 
for signs, and for seasons, and for days, 
and years: 

15 And let them be for lights in the fir- 
mament of the heaven to give light upon 
the earth: and it was so. 

16 And God made two great lights ; the 
greater light 6 to rule the day, and the 
lesser light to rule the night: he made the 
stars also. 

17 And God l set them in the firmament 
of the heaven to give light upon the earth, 

18 And to rule over the day and over the 
night, and to divide the fight from the 
darkness: and God saw that it was good. 

19 And the evening and the morning 
were the fourth day. 

3 



B. C.4004. 



CHAP. 1. 
ajn. 1,1-3. 

Heb. 1, 10. 
b Job 33, 4. 

Isa. 44, 24. 

Ro. 1, 20. 

Col. 1, 16. 

Heb. 11, 3. 

Rev. 4, 11. 
c Jer. 4, 23. 
d Is. 40, 12. 
e Pb. 33, 9. 

1 between 
the light 
and be- 
tween the 
darkness. 

/ Ps. 74, 16. 

2 And the 
evening 
was, and 
the morn- 
ing was. 

g Job 37, 11. 
Ps. 136,5. 
Ps. 33, 6. 
Jer. 10, 12. 

3 expansion. 
h Job 2(5, 10. 

Job 38, 8. 

Pa. 33, 7. 

Ps.^o, 5. 

i Heb. 6, 7. 

4 tender 
grass. 

j Luke 6, 44. 
k De. 4, 19. 

Job,25,3,5. 

Pa. 74, 16. 

Ps. 136, 7. 

5 between 
the day 
and be- 
tween the 
night. 

6 for the 
rule of the 
day, etc. 

I Ps. 8. 1. 
mPs. 104,24. 

7 or, creep- 
ing. 

8 soul. 

9 let fowl fly. 

10 face of the 
firmament 
of heaven. 

n Pa. 104, 

18-23. 
o Ps. 100, 3. 
p £ph. 4, 24. 

Ja. 3,9. 
q Ps. 8, 6. 
rl Cor. 11, 7. 
8 Mai. 2, 15. 
* Pb. 127, 3. 

1 Ti. 4, 3. 

11 creepeth. 

12 Beeding 
eeed. 

13 a living 
soul. 



CHAP. 2. 
a Ex. 31, 17 
b Ex. 16, 

22-80 
1 created to 



20 H And God said, m Let the watera 
bring forth abundantly the < moving crea- 
ture that bath « life, and 9 fowl that may 
fly above the earth in the 1(J open firma- 
ment of heaven. 

21 And God created great whales, and 
every living creature that moveth, which 
the waters brought forth abundantly, 
after their kind, and every winged fowl 
after his kind : and God saw that it was 
good. 

22 And God blessed them, saying, Be 
fruitful, and multiply, and till the waters 
in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the 
earth. 

23 And the evening and the morning 
were the fifth day. 

24 1F And God said, n Let the earth bring 
forth the living creature after Ms kind, 
cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of 
the earth after his kind : and it was so. 

25 And God made the beast of the earth 
after his kind ; and cattle after their kind, 
and every thing that creepeth upon the 
earth after his kind : and God saw that it 
was good. 

26 tf And God said, ° Let us make man 
p in our image, after our likeness: and let 
them have q dominion over the fish of the 
sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over 
the cattle, and over all the earth, and over 
every creeping thing that creepeth upon 
the earth. 

27 So God created man in his own image, 
in the r image of God created he him; 
8 male and female created he them. 

28 And t God blessed them, and God said 
unto them, lie fruitful, and multiply, and 
replenish the earth, and subdue it ; and 
have dominion over the fish of the sea, 
and over the fowl of the air, and over 
every living thing that u moveth upon 
the earth. 

29 11 And God said, Behold, I have given 
you every herb 12 bearing seed, which is 
upon the face of all the earth, and every 
tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree 
yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. 

30 And to every beast of the earth, and 
to every fowl of the air. and to every tiling 
that creepeth upon the earth, wherein 
there is la life, / have given every green 
herb for meat: and it was so. 

31 And God saw every tiling that he had 
made, and, behold, it was very good. And 
the evening and the morning were the 
sixth day. 

CHAPTER II. 

1 The first eabbath. 8 The garden of Eden. 17 
The tree oj kwnuledgc forbidden, lit The crea- 
tures named. 21 The making of woman, and 
institution of marriage. 

rpHUS the heavens and the earth were 
■*- finished, and all the host of them. 

2 a And on the seventh day God ended 
his work which he had made ; and he 
rested on the seventh day from all his 
work which he had made. 

3 And God b blessed the seventh day, and 
sanctified it ; because that in it he had 
rested from all his work which God * cre- 
ated and made. 



THE FIRST BOOK OF MOSES, CALLED 



GENESIS. 



CHAPTER I. 

Ver. 1-2. The Creation of Heaven 
and Earth. In the beginning;— a period of 
r> m >te and unknown antiquity, hid in the 
depths of eternal ages- and so the phrase is 
used in Pro. 8. 22, 23, also Marg. Ref. God— 
the name of the Supreme Being, signifying 
in Hebrew, "Strong," "Mighty." It is ex- 
pressive of omnipotent power; and by its 
use here in the plural form, is obscurely 
taught at the opening of the Bible a doctrine 
clearly revealed in other parts of it, viz., 
that though God is one, there is a plurality 
of persons in the Godhead— Father, Son, and 
Spirit, who were engaged in the creative 
work Pro. 8. 27; Jo. 1. 3, 10; Eph. 3. 9; Heb. 
1. 2; Job 26. 13.) created— not formed from 
any pre-existing materials, but made out 
of nothing, the heaven and the earth— the 
universe. This first verse is a general in- 
troduction to the inspired volume, declar- 
ing the great and important truth, that 
all things had a beginning; that nothing 
throughout the wide extent of nature, exist- 
ed from eternity, originated by chance, or 
from the skill of any inferior agent; but that 
the whole universe was produced by the 
creative power of God (A. 17. 21; Ro. 11, 36.). 
After this preface, the narrative is con- 
fined to the earth. 2. without form and void 
— or in "confusion and emptiness" as the 
words are rendered in Is. 34. 11. This globe, 
at some undescribed period, having been 
convulsed and broken up, was a dark and 
watery waste for ages perhaps, till out of this 
chaotic state, the present fabric of the world 
was made to arise, moved — lit. continued 
brooding over it, as a fowl does, when hatch- 
ing eggs. The immediate agency of the Spirit, 
by working on the dead and discordant ele- 
ments, combined, arranged, and ripened 
them into a state adapted for being the scene 
of a new creation. The account of this new 
creation properly begins at the end of this 
second verse; and the details of the process 
are described in the natural way an onlooker 
would have done, who beheld the changes 
that successively took place. 

3-5. The First Day. God said — This 
phrase, which occurs so repeatedly in the 
account means— willed, decreed, appointed; 
and the determining will of God was fol- 
lowed in every instance by an immediate 
result. Whether the sun was created at 
the same time with, or long before, the 
earth, the dense accumulation of fogs and 
vapours which enveloped the chaos, had 
covered the globe with a settled gloom. 
But by the command of God, light was 
rendered visible; the thick murky clouds 
were dispersed, broken or rarefied, and 
light diffused over the expanse of waters. 
The effect is described in the name Day, 
which in Hebrew signifies warmth, heat; 
while the name Night signifies a rolling 
up, as night wraps all things in a shady 
mantle, divided the light from darkness — 
refers to the alternation or succession of the 
one to the other, produced by the daily re- 
volution of the earth round its axis, first 
day— a natural clay, as the mention of its two 
parts clearly determines; and Moses reckons, 



according to Oriental usage, from sunset to 
sunset, saying, not day and night as we do, 
but evening and morning. 

6-8. Second Day. firmament— an expanse 
—a beating out as a plate of metal: — a 
name given to the atmosphere from its ap- 

E earing to an observer to be the vault of 
eaven, supporting the weight of the watery 
clouds. By the creation of an atmosphere, 
the lighter parts of the waters which over- 
spread the earth's surface were drawn up 
and suspended in the visible heavens, while 
the larger and heavier mass remained be- 
low. The air was thus " in the midst of the 
waters," i. e. separated them; and this being 
the apparent use of it, is the only one men- 
tioned, although the atmosphere serves 
other uses, as a medium of life and light. 

9-13. Third Day. let the waters, &c. — 
The world was to be rendered a terraqueous 
globe, and this was effected by a volcanic con- 
vulsion on its surface, the upheaving of 
some parts, the sinking of others, and the 
formation of vast hollows, into which the 
waters impetuously rushed, as is graphically 
described. (Ps. 101. 6-9.) [Hitch. J Thus a 
large part of the Earth was left " dry land," 
and thus were formed oceans, seas, lakes, and 
rivers which, though each having their own 
beds, or channels, are all connected with the 
sea (Job, 38. 10; Ecc. 1. 7.). let the earth bring 
forth— The bare soil was clothed with verd- 
ure, and it is noticeable that the trees, plants, 
and grasses— the three great divisions of the 
vegetable kingdom, here mentioned, were 
not called into existence in the same way as 
the light and the air; they were made to 
grow, and they grew as they do still out of 
the ground— not, however, by the slow pro- 
cess of vegetation, but through the Divine 
Power, without rain, dew, or any process of 
labour— sprouting up and flourishing in a 
single day. 

14-19. Fourth Day. let there be light— 
The atmosphere being completely purified— 
the sun, moon, and stars were for the first 
time unveiled in all their glory in the cloud- 
less sky; and they are described as "in the 
firmament " which to the eye they appear to 
be, though we know they are really at vast 
distances from it. two great lights— In con- 
sequence of the day being reckoned as com- 
mencing at even— the moon, which would be 
seen first in the horizon, would appear "a 
great light" compared with the little twink- 
ling stars; while its pale benign radiance 
would be eclipsed by the dazzling splendour 
of the sun; when his resplendent orb rose in 
the morning and gradually attained its meri- 
dian blaze of glory, it would appear "the 
greater light " that ruled the day. Both these 
lights may be said to be "made" on the 
fourth day— not created, indeed, for it is a 
different word that is here used, but consti- 
tuted, appointed to the important and ne- 
cessary office of serving as luminaries to the 
world, and regulating by their motions and 
their influence the progress and divisions of 
time. 

20-23. Fifth Day. The signs of animal 
life appeared in the waters and in the air. 
moving creature— all oviparous animals, both 



3T%e garden of Eden, 



GENESIS, II. III. 



Man's miserable fall. 



4 H These are the generations of the i 
heavens and of the earth when they were 
created, in the day that the Lord God 
made the earth ana the heavens, 

5 And every plant of the field before it 
was in the earth, and every herb of the 
field before it grew: for the d Lord God 
had not caused it to rain upon the earth, 
and iiiere was not a man to tdl the ground. 



B. C. 4004. 



CHAP. 2- 
aPs.66,9-11 

2 or, a uiist 
which 
went up. 

3 the dust 
of, etc. 

6' But 2 there went up a mist from the /fink. si, a 
earth, and watered the whole face of the | g <*. a. 22. 
ground. 

7 And the Lord God formed man 3 of the 
dust of tbe ground, and breathed into his 
nostrils the breath of lile ; and man became 
a living soul. 

8 U And the Lord God planted e a gar- 
den eastward in Eden ; and there he put 
the man whom he had formed. 

9 And out of the ground made the Lord 
God to / grow every tree that is pleasant 
to the sight and good for food; y the tree 
of life also in the midst of the garden, and 
the tree of knowledge of good and evil. 

10 And h a river went out of Eden to wa- 
ter the garden ; and from thence it was 
parted, and became into four heads. 

11 The name of the first is Bison: that is 
it which compasseth the whole land of 
» Havilah, where there is gold ; 

12 And the gold of that land is good : 
there is bdellium and the onyx stone. 

13 And the name of the second river is 
Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the 
whole land of 4 Ethiopia. 

14 And the name of the third river is 
i Hiddekel: that is it which goeth 5 toward 
the east of Assyria. And the fourth river 
is Euphrates. 

15 And the Lord God took 6 the man, 
and put him into the garden of Eden to 
dress it and to keep it. 

16 And the Lord God commanded the 
man, saying, Of every tree of the garden 
1 thou mayest freely eat: 

17 .But of the tree of the knowledge of 
good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for 
111 the day that thou eatest thereof 8 thou 
shalt surely die. 

18 H And the Lord God said, It is not 
good that the man should be alone ; I will 
make him an help 9 meet for him. 

19 And out of the ground the Lord God 
formed every beast of the field, and every 
fowl of the ah; and k brought them unto 
Adam to see what he would call them: 
and whatsoever W Adam called every liv- 
ing creature, that was the name thereof. 

20 And Adam n gave names to all cattle, 
and to the fowl of the ah, and to every 
beast of the field: but for Adam there was 
hot found an help meet for him. 

21 And the Lord God caused a l deep 
Bleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and 
he took one of his ribs, and closed up the 
flesh instead thereof; 

22 And the rib, which the Lord God had 
taken from man, 12 made he a woman, 
and " brought her unto the man. 

23 And Adam said, This is now n bone of 
my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall 
be called 13 Woman, because she was 
taken out of 14 Alan. 

24 ° Therefore shall a man leave his lather 
and his mother, and shall cleave unto his 
wife: and p they shall be one flesh. 

25 And they were both naked, the man 
and his wife, and were not ashamed. 

6 



Rev. 22, 

2,14. 
h Ps. 40, 4. 
i ch. 25, 18. 

4 Cush. 

3 Dan. 10, 4. 

5 or, east- 
ward to 
Assyria. 

6 or, Adam. 

7 eating 
thou shalt 
eat. 

8 dying thou 
sli&lt die. 

9 as before 
him. 

k Ps. 8, 6. 

10 or, the 
man. 

11 called. 

I ch. 15, 12. 

12 builded. 
m Prov. 

18, 22. 

He. 13, 4. 
n ch. 29, 14. 
Judg. 9, 2. 
2 Sam. 5,1. 
Eph. 5, 30. 

13 lslia. 

14 Ish. 

Ps. 46, 10. 

Mat. 19, 5. 

Mark 10, 7. 

1 Cor. 6,16. 
f.Ep.5,28-31. 



CHAP. 3. 

Rev. 12, 9. 
Rev. 20, 2. 

1 because, 
et«. 

6 ch. 2, 16,17. 

c 2 Cor. 11, 3. 

1 Tim. 2,14. 

2 a desire. 
d Horn. 5, 

12-19. 

3 or, tilings 
to gird 
about. 

Job 38, 1. 

4 wind. 
/Job 31, 33. 

Ps. 139, 

1-12. 
g ch. 4, 9. 
A Job 23, 15. 

1 Jn. 3,20. 
i Prov. 28,13. 

J a. 1,13-15. 
i lsa. 65, 25. 

Mic. 7, 17. 
frNu.21,6,7. 
J Rom. 16,20. 

Web. 2,14. 

1 Jn. 3, 8. 

m Jn. 16,21. 

1 Tim. 

2,15. 

5 or, subject 
to thy hus- 
band. 

♦» Job 5, 7. 
Ec. 2, 23. 

6 cause to 



CHAPTER III. 

I The serpent deceiveth Eve. t> Man's fall: 9 
God arraigneik them. 14 The serpent cursed i 
his overthrow by the womun's seed. Iti Man- 
kind's punishment; and Loss of paradise. 

"VTO W the serpent was more a 6ubtil than 
x> any beast of the field which the Lord 
God had made. And he said unto the 
woman, Yea, i hath God said. \e shall 
not eat of every tree of the garden ? 

2 And the woman said unto the serpent, 
We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the 
garden: 

3 ^ But of the fruit of the tree which is in 
the midst of the garden, God hath said, 
Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye 
touch it, lest ye die. 

4 And the serpent said unto the woman, 
c Y'e shall not surely die: 

5 For God doth know that in the day ye 
eat thereof, then your eyes shall be open- 
ed, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good 
and evil. 

6 And when the woman saw that the 
tree was good for food, and that it was 
2 pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be 
desired to make one wise, she took of the 
fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also 
unto her husband with her; d and he did 
eat. 

7 And the eyes of them both were open- 
ed, and they knew that they were naked: 
and they sewed fig leaves together, and 
made themselves 3 aprons. 

8 And they heard the voice e of the Lord 
God walking in the garden in the * cool of 
the day: and Adam and his wife /hid them- 
selves from the presence of the Lord God 
amongst the trees of the garden. 

9 And the Lord God called unto Adam, 
and said unto him, u Where art thou? 

10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the 
garden, and '<■ 1 was afraid, because I was 
naked ; and I hid myself. 

II And he said. Who told thee that thou 
wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, 
whereof I commanded thee that thou 
shouldest not eat? 

12 And the man said, * The woman whom 
thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of 
the tree, and I did eat. 

13 And the Lord God said unto the wo- 
man, What is this that thou hast done? 
And the woman said, The serpent beguiled 
me, and I did eat. 

14 And the Lord God said unto the ser- 
pent, Because thou hast done this, thou 
art cursed above all cattle, and above 
every beast of the field ; upon thy belly 
shalt thou go, and i dust shaft thou eat all 
the days of thy hie: 

15 And I will put * enmity between thee 
and the woman, and between thy seed 
and her seed; l it shall bruise thy head, 
and thou shalt bruise his heel. 

10 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly 
multiply thy sorrow and thy conception ; 
in m sorrow thou shalt bring forth clul- 
dren; and thy desire shall be ° to thy hus- 
band, and he shall rule over thee. 

17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou 
hast hearkened unto the voice of thy w Le, 
and hast eaten of the tree, of which I 
commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not 
eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake ; 
* in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the 
days of thy life ; 

la Thorns also and thistles shall it 6 bring 



Creation of Man. 



GENESIS, n. 



The First Sabbath. 



among the finny and the feathery tribes- 
remarkable for their rapid and prodigious 
increase, fowl— means every flying thing: 
The word rendered "whales," includes also 
sharks, crocodiles, &c • so that from the 
countless shoals of small fish to the great sea 
monsters, from the tiny insect to the king of 
birds, the waters and the air weie made 
suddenly to swarm with creatures formed to 
live and sport in their respective elements. 
24-30. Sixth Day. A farther advance 
was made by the creation of terrestrial ani- 
mals, all the various species of which are 
included in three classes— viz., cattle, the 
herbivorous kind capable of labour or dome- 
stication, beasts of the earth — i. e. wild 
animals, whose ravenous natures were 
then kept in check, and all the various 
forms of creeping things — from the huge 
reptiles to the insignificant caterpillars. 
26. The last sta?e in the progress of creation 
being now reached— God said, Let us make 
man— words, which shew the peculiar im- 
portance of the work to be done, the forma- 
tion of a creature, who was to be God's re- 
presentative, clothed with authority and 
rule as visible head and monarch of the 
world. In our image, after our likeness — 
This was a peculiar distinction— the value 
attached to which appears in the words be- 
ing twice mentioned. And in what did this 
image of God consist?— not in the erect form 
or features of man, not in his intellect ; for 
the devil and his angels are, in this respect, 
far superior — not in his immortality; for he 
has not, like God, a past as well as a future 
eternity of being; but in the moral disposi- 
tions of his soul, commonly called original 
righteousness, (Ecc. 7. 29.) As the new crea- 
tion is only a restoration of this image, the 
history of the one throws light on the other; 
and we are informed that it is renewed 
after the image of God in knowledge, righte- 
ousness, and true holiness, (Col. 3. 10; Eph. 
4. 24.) 28. Be fruitful, <fcc. The human race 
in every country and age have been the off- 
spring of the first pair. Amid all the varie- 
ties found amongst men, some black as 
negroes, others copper-coloured, as well as 
white, the researches of modern science lead 
to a conclusion, fully accordant with the 
sacred history that they are all of one species 
and of one family (A. 17. 26.). What power 
in the word of God. " He spake and it was 
done. He commanded and all things stood 
fast." "Great and manifold are thy works, 
Lord God Almighty !— in wisdom hast thou 
made them all." We admire that wisdom— 
not only in the regular progress of creation, 
but in its perfect adaptation to the end. God is 
represented as pausing at every stage to look 
at his work. M o wonder he contemplated it 
with complacency. Every object was in its 
right place, every vegetable process going on 
in its season, every animal in its structure 
and instincts suited to its mode of life, and 



usually connected in Scripture with heaven 
only, but here with the earth also, mean- 
ing all that they contain, were finished— 
brought to completion — no permanent 
change has ever since been made on the 
course of the world, no new species of 
animals been formed, no law of nature re- 
pealed or added to. They could have been 
finished in a moment as well as in six days, 
but the work of creation was gradual for the 
instruction of man, as well, perhaps, as of 
higher creatures (Job, 38. 7.) 

2-7. The First Sabbath. 2. rested— not 
to repose from exhaustion with labour (see 
Is. 50. 28), but ceased from working, an ex- 
ample equivalent to a command, that we also 
should cease from labour of every kind. 3. 
blessed and sanctified the seventh day— a pecu- 
liar distinction put upon it above the other 
six days, and showing it was devoted to sacred 
purposes. The institution of the Sabbath is 
as old as creation, giving rise to that weekly 
division of time which prevailed in the 
earliest ages. It is a wise and beneficent 
law, affording that regular interval of rest 
which the physical nature of man and the 
animals employed in his service requires, 
and the neglect of which brings both to pre- 
mature decay. Moreover, it secures an ap- 
pointed season for religious worship, and if 
it was necessary in a state of primeval inno- 
cence, how much more so now. when mankind 
have a strong tendency to forget God and 
his claims? 4. these are the generations of 
the heavens and the earth— the history or 
account of their production. Whence did 
Moses obtain this account so different 
from the puerile and absurd fictions of 
the heathen? not from any human source; 
for man was not in existence to witness 
it— not from the light of nature or rea- 
son; for though they proclaim the eternal 
power and Godhead by the things which 
are made, they cannot tell how they were 
made. None but the Creator himself 
could give this information, and therefore 
it is through faith we understand that the 
worlds were framed by the word of God 
(Heb. 11. 3.). rain, mist— See on ch. 1. 12. 7. 
Here the sacred writer supplies a few more 
particulars about the first pair, formed— had 

FORMED MAN OUT OF THE DUST OF THE 

ground. Science has proved that the 
substance of his flesh, sinews, and bones, 
consists of the very same elements as the 
soil which forms the crust of the earth, 
and the Limestone that lies embedded in 
its bowels. But from that mean material 
what an admirable structure has been 
reared in the human body (Ps. 139. 14.). 
breath of life— lit., of lives— not only animal 
but spiritual life. If the body is so admira- 
ble, how much more the soul with all its 
varied faculties, breathed into his nostrils— 
not that the Creator literally performed this 
act, but respiration being the medium and 



its use in the economy of the world: he saw sign of life, this phrase is used to show that 



everything that he had made answering the 

plan which his eternal wisdom had conceived; 

and "Behold it was very good." 

CHAPTER II. 

Ver. 1. The Narrative of the Six 

Days' Creation Continued. The course 

of the narrative being improperly broken 

"by the division of the chapter, the 

heavens — the firmament or atmosphere. 

host — a multitude, a numerous array — 

G 



man's life originated in a different way from 
his body— being implanted directly by God 
(Eccl. 12. 7), and hence in the new creation of 
the soul Christ breathed on his disciples 
(Jo. 20. 22.). 

8-17. The Garden of Eden. 8. Eden— was 
probably a very extensive region in Mesopo- 
tamia, it is thought, distinguished for its 
natural beauty and the richness and variety 
of its produce. Hence its name signifying 



Hie birth of Cain and Ahel. 



GENESIS, IV, V. 



Lamech and his two wives. 



forth to thee ; and thou shalt eat the herb 
of the tie Id; 

19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat 
bread, till thou return unto the ground; 
for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou 
art, ° and unto dust shalt thou return. 

20 And Adam called his wile's name 
7 Eve; because she was the mother of all 
living. 

21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did 
the Lord God make coats of skins, and 
clothed them. 

22 IT And the Lord God said, p Behold, 
the man is become as one of us, to know 

good and evil: and now, lest he put forth 
is hand, and take also of the tree of life, 
and eat, and live for ever: 

23 Therefore the Lord God sent him 
forth from the garden of Eden, to till the 
ground from whence he was taken. 

24 So he drove out the man ; and he 
placed at the east of the garden of Eden 
cherubim, and a flaming sword which 
turned every way, ? to keep the way of the 
tree of life. 

CHAPTER IV. 

1 The birth of Cain and Abel. 8 The murder of 
Abel. 11 The curse of Cain. 17 Enoch, the 
first city, built. 19 Lamech and his two wives. 
25 Seth and Enos born. 

A ND Adam knew Eve his wife ; and she 
""- conceived, and bare l Cain, and said, 
I have gotten a man from the Lord. 

2 And she again bare his brother 2 Abel. 
And Abel was a 3 keeper of sheep, but 
Cain was a tiller of the ground. 

3 And 4 in process of time it came to 
pass, that Cam brought of the fruit of the 
ground an offering uiito the Lord. 

4 And Abel, he also brought of the 
° firstlings of his 5 flock and of the fat 
thereof. And the Lord b had respect un- 
to Abel and to his offering: 

5 But c unto Cain and to his offering he 
had not respect. And Cain was very 
wroth, and his countenance fell. 

6 And the Lord said unto Cain, Why 
art thou wroth ? and why is thy counte- 
nance fallen ? 

7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not 6 be 
accepted ? and if thou doest not well, sin 
lieth at the door. And 7 unto thee shall 
be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. 

8 And Cain talked with Abel his brother: 
and it came to pass, when they were in 
the field, that Cain rose up against Abel 
his brother, and d slew him. 

9 And the Lord said unto Cain, Where 
is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know 
not: Am I my brother's keeper? 

10 And he said, What hast thou done? 
the voice of thy brother's 8 blood e crieth 
unto me from the ground. 

11 And now art thou / cursed from the 
earth, which hath opened her g mouth to 
receive thy brother's blood from thy hand : 

12 When thou tillest the ground, it shall 
not henceforth yield unto thee her 
strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt 
thou be in the earth. 

13 And Cain said unto the Lord, 9 My 
punishment is greater than I can bear. 

14 Behold, thou hast driven me out this 
day from the face of the earth; and from 
thy face shall I be hid- and I shall be a 
fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and 
it shall come to pass, that every one that 
nndeth me shall slay me. 

7 



CHAP. 3. 
o 1 Cor. 15, 

21,22. 
7Chavah,or, 

Living. 
p vor. 5. 
q Jn. 14, 6. 



CHAP. 4. 

1 i. e. gotten, 
or, ac- 
quired. 

2 Hebel. 

3 feeder. 

4 at the end 
of davs. 

a Ex. 13, 12. 
Nu.lH, 17. 
Pror. 3, 9. 

5 sheep, or 
goats. 

6 Jud. 6, 21. 
C Heb. 11, 4. 

6 or, have 
the excel- 
lency. 

7 or, sub- 
ject unto 
thee. 

d 1 John 3, 
12-15. 

8 bloods. 

e Rev. 6, 10. 
/Deu.28, 

15-20. 

Gal. 3, 10. 
grJob 16,18. 

9 or, Mine 
iniquity is 
greater 
than that 
it may be 
forgiven. 

h Ez. 9, 4, 6. 
i 2 King* 

13, 23. 

2 Kings 

24,20. 

Jer. 23, 39. 

Jer. 52, 3. 

10 Chanoch. 
3 Ps. 49, 11. 

11 Lemech. 

12 whetter. 

13 or, I 
would 
slay a man 
in my 
wound, 
etc. 

14 or, in my 
hurt. 

15 Sheth, i.e. 
appointed, 
or, put. 

16 Enosh. 

17 or, call 
them- 
selves by 
the name 
of the 
Lord. 
ch. 6, 2. 
Jn. 1, 12. 
Ac. 15, 17. 



CHAP. 5. 

Mat. 1, 1. 
6 ch. 1,26,27. 

Eph. 4, 24. 
Col. 3, 10. 
c ch. 3, 19. 
Job 30, 23. 
Ps. 89, 48. 
Rom. 5, 12. 
1 Co. 15,21. 
Hub. 9, 27. 

1 Henau. 



15 And the Lord said unto him, There- 
fore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance 
shall be taken on him sevenfold. And 
the Lord h set a mark upon Cain, lest any 
finding him should kill him. 

10 H And Cain went out from the * pre- 
sence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land 
of Nod, on the east of Eden. 

17 And Cam knew his wife; and she con- 
ceived, and bare 10 Enoch: and he builded 
a city, and 3 called the name of the city, 
after the name of his son, Enoch. 

18 And unto Enoch was born Irad: and 
Irad begat Mehujael: and Mehujael begat 
Methusael : and Methusael begat n La- 
mech. 

19 IT And Lamech took unto him two 
wives: the name of the one was Adah, and 
the name of the other Zillah. 

20 And Adah bare Jabal : he was the fa- 
ther of such as dwell in tents, and of suck 
as have cattle. 

21 And his brother's name was Jubal: he 
was the father of all such as handle the 
harp and organ. 

22 And Zillah, she also bare Tubal-cain, 
an !2 instructor of every artificer in brass 
and iron: and the sister of Tubal-cain was 
Naamah. 

23 And Lamech said unto his wives, 
Adah and Zillah. hear my voice ; ye wives 
of Lamech, hearken unto my speech : for 
la I have slain a man to my wounding, 
and a young man i* to my hurt: 

24 II Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, 
truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold. 

25 1F And Adam knew his wife again ; 
and she bare a son, and called his name 
15 Seth: For God, said she, hath appoint- 
ed me another seed instead of Abel, whom 
Cain slew. 

2(3 And to Seth, to him also there was 
born a son ; and he called his name lti Enos: 
then began men to l ? call upon the name 
of the Lord. 

CHAPTER V. 

1 The genealogy, age, and death of the patriarchs, 
from Adam unto Noah. 24 The godliness and 
translation of Enoch. 

'PHIS is a the book of the generations of 
Adam. In the day that God created 
man, & in the likeness of God made he 
him* 

2 Male and female created he them ; and 
blessed them, and called then- name 
Adam, in the day when they were created. 

3 M And Adam lived an hundred and 
thirty years, and begat a son in Ins own 
likeness, after his image; and called his 
name Seth: 

4 And the days of Adam after he had be- 

Sotten Seth were eight hundred years: and 
e hearat sons and daughters: 

5 And all the days that Adam lived were 
nine hundred and thirty years : c and he 
died. 

6 IT And Seth lived an hundred and five 
years, and begat Enos: 

7 And Seth lived after he begat Enos 
eight hundred and seven years, and begat 
sons and daughters: 

8 And all the days of Seth were nine 
hundred and twelve years: and he died. 

9 *il And Enos lived ninety years, and 
begat ! Cainan: 

10 And Enos lived after he begat Cainan 
eight hundred and fifteen ^euis, and be- 
gat sons and daughters: 



The Making of Woman, <&& 



GENESIS, m. 



The Temptation. 



pleasantness. God planted a garden eastward 
—an extensive park— a paradise, in which the 
man was put to be trained under the paternal 
care of his Maker to piety and usefulness, tree 
of life— so called from its symbolic character 
as a sign and seal of immortal life. Its promi- 
nent position "in the midst of the garden," 
where it must have been an object oi daily 
observation and interest, was admirably fitted 
to keep them habitually in mind of God and 
futurity. 9. tree of the knowledge of good and evil 
—so called because it was a zest of obedience 
by which our first parents were to be tried, 
whether they would be good or bad, obey 
God or break his commands. 17, shalt not 
eat of it— no reason assigned for the prohibi- 
tion, but death was to be the punishment of 
disobedience. A positive command like this 
was not only the simplest and easiest, but 
the only trial to which their fidelity could 
be exposed. 15. nut the man . . to dress it— 
not only to give him a pleasant employment, 
but to place him on his probation, and as the 
title of this garden, the garden of the Lord 
(Gen. 13.10; Ez.28.13.) t indicates— it was in fact 
a temple in whieii lie worshipped God, and 
was daily employed in offering the sacrifices 
of thanksgiving and praise. 

18-25. The Making of Woman, and 
Institution of Marriage. 18. not good 
for man to be alone— In the midst of plenty 
and delights, he was conscious of feelings he 
could not gratify. To make him sensible of his 
wants. 19. God brought unto Adam— not all the 
animals in existence, but those chiefly in his 
immediate neighbourhood, and to be sub- 
servient to his use. whatever Adam called— 
His powers of perception and intelligence 
were supernaturally enlarged to know the 
characters, habits, and uses of each species 
that was brought to him. 20. but for Adam, 
<fcc. — The design of this singular scene 
was to show him that none of the living 
creatures he saw were on an equal footing 
with himself, and that while each class came 
with its mate of the same nature, form and 
habits, he alone had no companion. Besides, 
in giving names to them he was led to exercise 
his powers of speech, and prepare for social 
intercourse with his partner, a creature yet to 
be formed. 21. deep sleep— probably an ecstacy 
or trance like that of the prophets, when 
they had visions and revelations of the 
Lord, for the whole scene was probably visi- 
ble to the mental eye of Adam, and hence 
his rapturous exclamation, took one of his 
ribs— "She was not made out of his head 
to surpass him, nor from his feet to be tram- 
pled on, but from his side to be equal to him, 
and near his heart to be dear to him." 23. 
— woman, i. e. in Heb. — man - Ess. one 
flesh — the human pair differed from all 
other pairs, that by the peculiar formation 
of Eve, they were one. And thi:$ passage is 
appealed to by our Lord as the divine insti- 
tution of marriage (Matt. 19. 4. 5; Eph. 5. 28.) 
Thus Adam appears as a creature formed 
after the image of God— shewing his know- 
ledge by giving names to the animals, his 
righteousness by his approval of the mar- 
riage relation, and his holiness by his prin- 
ciples and feelings— finding their gratification 
in the service and enjoyment of God. 
CHAPTER III. 

Ver. 1-5. The Temptation, the serpent— 
The fall of man was effected by the seduc- 
tions of a serpent. That it was a real sor- 
1 



pent is evident from the plain and artles3 
style of the history; and from the many 
allusions made to it in the N. T. But 
the material serpent was the instru- 
ment or tool of a higher agent,— Satan 
or the Devil,— to whom the sacred writers 
apply from this incident the reproachful 
name of " the Serpent "— " the old Dragon. " 
Though Moses makes no mention of this 
wicked spirit— giving only the history of the 
visible world— yet in the fuller discoveries of 
the Gospel, it is distinctly intimated that 
Satan was the author of the plot (Jo. 8. 44; 
2 Cor. ll. 3; 1 Jo. 3. 8; 1 Tim. 2. 13; Rev. 
20. 2. more subtile— serpents are proverbial 
for wisdom (Matt. 10. 16.). But these rep- 
tiles were at first, probably, far superior in 
beauty as well as in sagacity to what they 
are in their present state. He said— There 
being in the pure bosoms of the first pair, no 
principle of evil to work upon, a solicitation 
to sin could come only from without as in the 
analogous case oi Jesus Christ, (Matt. 4. 3 ; and 
; as the tempter could not assume the human 
form— there being only Adam and Eve in the 
world— the agency oi an inierior creature 
had to be employed. The Dragon-serpent 
LBo.] seemed the fittest for the vile purpose ; 
and the Devil was allowed by Him who 
permitted tiro trial, to bring articulate 
sounds from its mouth, unto the woman— 
the object ox attack, from his knowledge 
of her frailty, of her having been but 
a short time in the world— her limit- 
ed experience of the animal tribes, and, 
above all, her being alone, unfortified by 
the presence and counsels of her husband. 
Though sinless and holy, she was a free 
agent, liable to be tempted and seduced, yea, 
hath God said— Is it true that he hath re- 
stricted you in using the fruits of this de- 
lightful place ? This is not like one so good 
and kind. Surely there is some mistake. 
He insinuated a doubt as to her sense 
of the divine will and appeared as 
"an angel of light" (2 Cor. 11. 14,) offering 
to lead her to the true interpretation. 
It was evidently from her regarding him as 
specially sent on that errand— that, instead 
of being startled by the reptile's speaking- 
she received him as a heavenly messenger. 
2. the woman said, we may eat— 'In her 
answer, Eve extolled the large extent 
of liberty they enjoyed in ranging at 
will amongst all the trees— one only ex- 
cepted— with respect to which, she de- 
clared there was no doubt, either of the 
prohibition or the penalty. But there is rea- 
son to think that she had already received 
an injurious impression; for in using the 
words— "lest ye die," instead of "ye shall 
surely die"— she spoke as if the tree had 
been forbidden from some poisonous quality 
of its fruit. The tempter, perceiving this.be- 
came bolder in his assertions. 4. ye shall not 
surely die— He proceeded— not only to assure 
her of perfect impunity : but to promise 
great beuefits from partaking of it. your eyes 
shall be opened— his words meant more than 
j met the ear. In one sense their eyes were 
i opened; for they acquired a direful experi- 
ence of "good and evil"— of the happiness 
of a holy, and the misery of a sinful condi- 
tion. But he studiously concealed this result 
from Eve, who fired with & generous desire 
for knowledge, thought only of rising to the 
, rank and privileges of Lca &j a V.i« u&Lcants. 



«*<ram's genealogy unto Noah. 



GENESIS, VI, VII. 



Wickedness cav.seth the food. 



11 And all the days of Enos were nine 
hundred and five years: and he died. 

12 V And Cainan lived seventy years, 
and begat 2 Mahalaleel: 

13 And Cainan lived after he begat Ma- 
halaleel eight hundred and forty years, 
and begat sons and daughters: 

14 And all the days of Cainan were nine 
hunched and ten years: and he died. 

15 H And Mahalaleel lived sixty and five 
years, and begat Jared: 

16 And Malialaleel lived after he begat 
3 Jared eight hunched and thirty years, 
and begat sons and daughters: 

17 And all the days of Mahalaleel were 
eight hundred ninety and five years: and 
he died. 

18 11 And Jared lived an hundred sixty 
and two years, and he begat d Enoch: 

19 AndJared lived after he begat Enoch 
eight hundred years, and begat sons and 
daughters: 

20 And all the days of Jared were nine 
hundred sixty and two years: and he died. 

21 H And Enoch lived sixty and five 
years, and begat * Methuselah: 

22 And Enoch 6 walked with God after 
he begat Methuselah three hunched 
years, and begat sons and daughters: 

23 And all the clays of Enoch were three 
hundred sixty and live years: 

21 And Enoch walked with God: and he 
was not ;/ for God took him. 

25 H And Methuselah lived an hundred 
eighty and seven years, and begat 5 La- 
mech: 

26 And Methuselah lived after he begat 
Lamech seven hundred eighty and two 
years, and begat sons and daughters: 

27 And all the days of Methuselah were 
nine hundred sixty and nine years: and he 
died. 

28 1T And Lamech lived an hundred 
eighty and two years, and begat a son: 

29 And he called his name » Noah, say- 
ing, This same shall comfort us concern- 
ing our work and toil of our hands, be- 
cause of the ground which the Lord hath 

cursed. 

30 And Lamech lived after he begat 
Noah five hundred ninety and five years, 
and begat sons and daughters: 

31 And all the days of Lamech were 
seven hunched seventy and seven years: 
and he died. 

32 tf And Noah was five hundred years 
old: and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and 
J apheth. 

CHAPTER VI. 

1 The luickedness of the world, ivhieh provoJceth 
God's wrath, and. causeth the jiood. 8 Aoah 

findeth grace. 14 The order, form, and use of 

the ark. 

A Nl) it came to pass, when men began 
•£*- to multiply on the face of the earth, 
and daughters were bom unto them, 

2 That a the sons of God saw the daugh- 
ters of men that they were fair; and they 
fc took them wives of all which they 
chose. 

3 And the Lord said, c My Spirit shall 
not always strive with man, ^ for that he 
also is flesh: yet his days shall be an 
hundred and twenty years. 

■4 There were giants in the earth in those 

days; and also alter that, when the sons 

of God came in unto the daughters of 

men, and they bare children to them, the 

8 



B. C. 3679. 



CHAP. 5. 

2 Maleleel, 
i.e. Praiser 
of God. 

3 Jered, i. e. 
descending. 

d 1 Chr. 1, 3, 
Henoch. 
Ju. 14, 16. 

4 or, Ma- 
thuselah, 
i. e. at his 
death the 
sending 
forth of 
waters. 
ch. 6, 9. 

e ch. 17. 1. 

2 Ki. 20, 3. 

Ps. 1(5, 8. 

Micah 6, 8. 

Hal. 2, 6. 

1 Th. 2, 12. 
/ 2 Ki. 2,11. 

He. 11. 5. 

5 Lemech. 

6 i.e. rest, or, 
comfort. 

g ch. 3, 17. 
ch. 4, 11. 



CHAP. 6. 
a 2 Co. 6, 18. 
6 Deu. 7, 3,4. 
c Lu. 19, 42. 

Gal. 5, 16, 

17. 

1 Peter 3, 

20. 
d Ps. 78, 39. 
e Romans 1, 

28-31. 

1 the whole 
imagina- 
tion, with 
the pur- 
poses and 
desires of 
the heart. 

/ ch. 8, 21. 
Deu. 29.19. 
Prov. 6, 18. 
Mat. 15, 19. 

2 everv dav. 
g Nn. 23, 19. 

1 Sam. 15, 
11, 29. 
h Isa. 03, 10. 
Eph. 4, 30. 

3 from man 
unto 
beast. 

i ch. 19, 19. 

Ex. 33, 12. 

Luke 1, 30. 

Acts 7, 46. 
4 c«, upright. 
j Ps. 14, 2. 

Ps. 33, 13. 
k Ezek. 7, 2. 

Amos 8, 2. 

1 Pet. 4, 7. 

5 or, from 
the earth. 

6 nests. 

I 2 Pet. 2, 5. 
m Rom. 5, 

12-14. 
n ch. 1, 29, 

30. 
o Heb. 11, 7. 
p ch. 7, 5. 



CHAP. 7. 
OPs.913-10. 

He. 11,7. 

1 Pe. 3, 20. 

2 Pe. 2, 5. 



same became mighty men which were of 
old. men of renown. 

5 IT And e God saw that the wickedness 
of man was great in the earth, and that 
1 every/ imagination of the thoughts of 
his heart was only evil 2 continually. 

6 And it 9 repented the Lord that he had 
made man on the earth, and it h grieved 
him at his heart. 

7 And the Lord said, I will destroy man 
whom I have created from the face of the 
earth : 3 both man, and beast, and the 
creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; 
for it repenteth me that I have made them. 

8 But Noah « found grace in the eyes of 
the Lord. 

9 1i" These are the generations of Noah: 
Noah was a just man and 4 perfect in 
his generations, and Noah walked with 
God. 

10 And Xoah begat three sons, Shem, 
Ham, and J apheth. 

11 The earth also was corrupt before 
God, and the earth was filled with vio- 
lence. 

12 And God looked J upon the earth, and, 
behold, it was corrupt ; for all flesh had 
corrupted his way upon the earth. 

13 And God said unto Xoah, * The end 
of all flesh is come before me; for the 
earth is filled with violence through 
them; and, behold, 1 will destroy thtin 

5 with the earth. 

11 Make thee an ark of gopher wood* 

6 rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and 
shall pitch it within and without with 
pitch. 

15 And this is the fashion which thou 
shalt make it of: The length of the ark 
shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth 
of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty 
cubits. 

16 A window shalt thou make to the ark, 
and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above ; 
and the door of the ark shalt thou set in 
the side thereof; icith lower, second, and 
third stories shalt thou make it. 

17 l And, behold, I, even I, do bring a 
flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy 
all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from 
under heaven; and every thing that is in 
the earth m shall die. 

18 But with thee will I establish my 
covenant ; and thou shalt come into the 
ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and 
thy sons' wives with thee. 

iy And of every living thing of all flesh, 
two of every sort shalt thou bring into the 
ark, to keep them alive with thee; they 
shall be male and female. 

20 Of fowls after then kind, and of cattle 
after then kind, of every creeling thing 
of the earth after his kind, tw( of every 
sort shall come unto thee, to keep them 
alive. 

21 And take thou unto thee of' 1 all food 
that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to 
thee ; and it shall be for food for thee, and 
for them. 

22 ° Thus did Xoah; ^ according to all 
that God commanded him, so did he. 

CHAPTER VII. 

1 A'oah, with his family, and the living creatures, 
enter into the ark. 17 Tin beginning, increase, 
and continuance of the jiood. 21 All flesh de- 
stroyed. 

A NI3 the Lord said unto Noah, a Come 
Jr% ^ thou and all thy house into the ark : 



The Fall— The Sentence. 



6 --9. The Fall, and when the woman 
gaw — Her imagination and feelings were 
completely won; and the fall of Eve was 
soon followed by that of Adam. The history 
of every temptation, and of every sin, is the 
same ; the outward object of attraction— 
the inward commotion of mind — the in- 
crease and triumph of passionate desire; 
ending in the degradation, slavery, ana ruin 
of the soul (Ja. 1. 15; 1 Jo. 11. 16.j 8. voice of 
the Lord God walking —The divine Being ap- 
peared in the same manner as formerly- 
uttering the well-known tones of kindness, 
walking in some visible form— not running 
hastily, as one impelled by the influence of 
angry feelings. How beautifully expressive 
are these words of the familiar and conde- 
scending manner in which He had hitherto 
held intercourse with the first pair, in the cool 
of the day— lit. the breeze of the day— the 
evening, hid themselves amongst the trees 
—Shame, remorse, fear— a sense of guilt- 
feelings to which they had hitherto been 
strangers, disordered their minds, and 
led them to shun him whose approach 
they used to welcome. How foolish to think 
of eluding His notice Ps. 139. 1-12.) 

10-13. The Examination. 10. afraid De- 
cause-naked — apparently, a confession — 
the language of sorrow; but it was evasive— I 
no signs of true humility and penitence— j 
each tries to throw the blame on another. 12. ' 
the woman gave me — tie blames God. [Cal.] | 
As the woman had been given him for his I 
companion and help, he had eaten of the 
tree from love to her; and perceiving she 
was ruined, was determined not to sur-| 
vive her (M'Knt.) 13. beguiled— cajoled! 
by flattering lies. This sin of the first 
pair was heinous and aggravated— it was! 
not simply eating an apple, but a love of j 
self, dishonour to God, ingratitude to 
a benelactor, disobedience to the best of i 
Masters— a preference of the creature to the 
Creator. 

14-24. The Sentence, unto the serpent— 
The Judge pronounces a doom first — 
on the material serpent, which is curs- 
ed above all creatures ; from being a 
model of grace and elegance in form— it has 
become the type of all that is odious, disgust- 
ing, and low |Le. Bos.]; or the curse has con- 
verted its natural condition into a punish- j 
ment ; it is now branded with infamy, 
and avoided with horror : next, on the 
spiritual Serpent — the seducer. Already, 
fallen, he was to be still more degraded, and 
his power wholly destroyed, by the offspring 
of those he had deceived. 15. thy seed 
—not only evil spirits, but wicked men. I 
seed of the woman — the Messiah, or His 
Church. [Cal. Heng. J I will nut enmity— 
God can only be said to do so by leaving "the 
Serpent and his seed to the influence of their 
own corruption; and by those measures 
which, pursued for the salvation of men, fill 
Satan and his angels with envy and rage." 
thou shalt bruise his heel — The serpent 
wounds the heel that crushes him; and so 
Satan would be permitted to afflict the 
humanity of Christ, and bring suffering and j 
persecution on his people, it shall bruise i 
thy head— the serpent's poison is lodged in; 
its head; and a bruise on that part is fatal. 
Thus, fatal shall be the stroke which Satan 
shall receive from Christ; though, it is pro- 
bable, he did not first understand the nature , 
8 



GEN ESIS, TV. BirthofCain and Abel_ 

and extent oi his doom. 16. unto the woman 
greatly . . multiply— she was doomed as a wife 
and mother, to suffer pain of body and dis- 
tress of mind. From being the help meet 
of man and the partner of his affections, 
her condition would henceforth be that of 
humble subjection. 17-19. unto Adam he 
said— made to gain his livelihood by tilling 
the ground ; but what before his fall he did 
with ease and pleasure, was not to be accom- 
plished after it without painful and persever- 
ing exertion, return unto the ground — 
man became mortal; although he did 
not die the moment he ate the forbidden 
fruit — his body underwent a change, 
and that would lead to dissolution — the 
union subsisting between his soul and God 
having already been dissolved, he had be- 
come liable to all the miseries of this life, 
and to the pains of hell for ever. What a 
mournful chapter this is in the history of 
man. It gives the only true account of the 
origin of all the physical and moral evils 
that are in the world— upholds the moral 
character of God; shews that man, made up- 
right, fell from not being able to resist a 
slight temptation; and becoming guilty and 
miserable, plunged all his posterity into the 
same abyss (Eo. 5. 12. 1 . How astonishing the 
grace which at that moment gave promise of 
a Saviour; and conferred on her who had the 
disgrace of introducing sin — the future 
honour of introducing that Deliverer 1 Tim. 
2.15.) 20. called wife's name Eve— probably 
in reference to her being a mother of the 
promised Saviour, as well as of all mankind. 
21. God gave coats of skins— taught them to 
make these for themselves. This implies 
the institution of animal sacrifice, which was 
undoubtedly of Divine appointment, and 
instruction in the only acceptable mode of 
worship for sinful creatures, through faith 
in a Eedeemer v Heb. 9. 22.) 22. Beuold the 
man is become— not spoken in irony as is 
generally supposed, but in deep compassion. 
The words should be rendered, "behold 
what has become (by sin of the man who 
was as one of us!" formed at first, in our 
image to know good and evil— how sad his con- 
dition now. and now lest . . take of the tree of 
life— This tree being a pledge of that immor- 
tal life with which obedience should be re- 
warded, he lost, on his fall, all claim to this 
tree; and therefore, that he might not eat of 
it, or delude himself with the idea, that eat- 
ing of it would restore what he had for- 
feited, the Lord sent him forth from the 
garden. 24. placed .... cherubim— the pas- 
sage should be rendered thus:— "And 
he dwelt between the Cherubim at the East 
of the Garden of Eden, and a fierce fire or 
Shechinah unfolding itself to preserve the 
way of the tree of life." This was the mode 
of worship now established, to show God's 
anger at sin, and teach the mediation of a 
promised Saviour, as the way of liie, as well 
as of access to God. They were the same 
figures as were afterwards in the tabernacle 
and temple; and now, as then, God said, 
"I will commune with thee from between 
the cherubim" Ex. 25. 22.). 

CHAPTEE IV. 
Ver. 1-2. Birth of Cain and Apel. 
Eve said, I have gotten a man from the Lord 
—i.e. "by the help of the Lord" — an ex- 
pression of pious gratitude — and she called 
him Cain, i.e. "a possession as if valued 



jyoari enters the arte. 



GENESIS, VIII. 



for thee have I seen b righteous before me 
dn this generation. 

2 Of every c clean beast thou shalt take 
to thee lay i sevens, the male and his fe- 
male: and of beasts that are not clean by 
two, the male and his female. 

3 Of fowls also of the ah' by sevens, the 
male and the female ; to keep s^.ed alive 
upon the face of all the earth. 

4 For yet seven days, and d 1 will cause 
it to rain upon the earth forty days and 
forty nights ; and every living substance 
that I have made will 1 2 destroy from oft* 
the face of the earth. 

5 And Noah did according unto e all that 
the Lord commanded him. 

6 And Noah was six hundred years old 
when the tiood of waters was upon the 
earth. 

7 And /Noah went in, and his sons, and 
his wife, and his sons' wives with him, 
into the ark, because of the waters of the 
flood. 

8 Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are 
not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing 
that creepeth upon the earth, 

9 There went in two and two unto Noah 
into the ark, the male and the female, as 
God had commanded Noah. 

10 And it came to pass 3 after seven davs, 
that the waters of the flood were upon the 
earth. 

11 In the six hundredth year of Noah's 
life, in the second month, the seventeenth 
day of the month, the same day were all 
the g fountains of the great deep broken 
up, and the h * windows of heaven were 
opened. 

12 And the rain was upon the earth forty 
days and forty nights. 

13 In the selfsame day entered Noah, and 
Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons 
of Noah, and Noah's wife, and the three 
wives of his sons with them, into the ark; 

14 They, and every beast after his kind, 
and all the cattle after their kind, and 
every creeping thing that creepeth upon 
the earth after his kind, and every iowl 
after his kind, every bird of every 5 sort. 

15 And they went in unto Noah into the 
ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is 
the breath of life. 

16 And they that went in, went in male 
and female of all flesh, as God had com- 
manded him: and the Lord * shut him in, 

17 And the flood was forty days upon the 
earth ; and the waters increased, and bare 
up the ark, and it was lift up above the 
earth. 

18 And the waters prevailed, and were 
increased greatly upon the earth ; o and 
the ark went upon the face of the waters. 

19 And the waters prevailed exceedingly 
upon the earth ; * and all the high hills 
that were under the whole heaven were 
covered. 

20 Fifteen cubits upward did the waters 
prevail • and the mountains were covered. 

21 And l all flesh died that moved upon 
the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and 
of beast, and of every creeping thing that 
creepeth upon the earth, and every man : 

22 All in wnose m nostrils was 6 the breath 
of life, of all that was in the dry land, 
died. 

23 And every living substance was des- 
troyed which was upon the face of the 
ground, both man, and cattle, and the 



The waters asswage. 



B. C. 2349. 



CHAP. 7. 
6ch. 6, 9. 

Psalm 33, 

18, 19. 

2 Pet. 2, 9. 
c Lev. 11. 

1 seven sev- 
en. 

d Job 22, 16. 
2 Pet. 2, 5. 

2 blot out. 
e ch. 6, 22. 

Ps. 119, 6. 
/ Heb. 6, 18. 

3 or. on the 
seventh 

g ch. 8, 2. 

Prov. 8, 28. 

Ez. 26, 19. 
h Ps. 73. 23. 

Isa. 24, 18. 

Mai. 3 10. 

4 or, flood- 
gates. 

6 wing. 

i Psalm 91. 

Psalm 17,8. 

Psalm 145, 

20. 

1 Pet. 1, 5. 
j Ps. 104, 26. 
k Ps. 104, 6. 
I ch. 6, 13,17. 

Job 22, 16. 
Mat. 24, 39. 
Luke 17,27. 

2 Pet. 3, 0. 
m ch. 2, 7. 

6 the breath 
of the spi- 
rit of life. 

n Ez. 14, 14. 
Mai. 3, 
17, 18. 
He. 11, 7. 

1 Pet. 3, 
20. 

2 Pe. 2, 6. 
o ch. 8, 3, 4, 

compared 
with ver. 
11 of this 
chapter. 



CHAP. 8. 

a ch. 19, 29. 

Ex. 2, 24. 

1 Sam. 1, 

19. 

Psalm 106, 

42. 

Ps 136,23. 
6 Ex. 14, 21. 

Ex. 15, 10. 

Ps. 104, 7. 
c ch. 7, 11. 
d\ Ki.8,35. 

Job. 38, 37. 

1 in going 
and re- 
turning. 

e ch. 7, 24. 

2 were in 
going and 
decreasing. 

/ch. 6, 16. 
g IKi 17,4. 

3 in going 
forth and 
returning. 

h Deu. 28,65. 

4 caused her 
to come. 

t Luke 2, 14. 
i ch. 7, 13. 

Ps. 121, 8. 
ft ch. 1, al. 



creeping things, and the fowl of the hea- 
ven • and they were destroyed from the 
earth : and n Noah only remained alive, 
and they that were with him in the ark. 
24 ° And the waters prevailed upon the 
earth an hundred and fifty days. 
CHAPTER VIII. 

1 The waters asswaqe. 4 The ark resteth on Ar- 
arat. 13 The earth dried. 15 JSouh goeth forth 
of the ark, 20 buildeth an altar, and ojf'ereth 
sacrifice. 21 God promiseth to curse the earth 
no more. 

A ND a God remembered Noah, and every 
xx living thing, and all the cattle that 
was with him in the ark: and God & made 
a mnd to pass over the earth, and the 
waters asswa^ed ; 

2 The c fountains also of the deep and 
the windows of heaven were stopped, and 
the d rain from heaven was restrained; 

3 And the waters returned from off the 
earth * continually: and after the end of 
e the hundred and fifty days the waters 
were abated. 

4 And the ark rested in the seventh 
month, on the seventeenth day of the 
month, upon the mountains of Ararat. 

5 And the waters 2 decreased continually 
until the tenth month: in the tenth month, 
on the first day of the month, were the 
tops of the mountains seen. 

6 H And it came to pass at the end of 
forty days, that Noah opened the/ window 
of the ark which he had made: 

7 And he sent forth ° a raven, which went 
forth 3 to and fro, until the waters were 
dried up from off the earth. 

8 Also he sent forth a dove from him, to 
see if the waters were abated from off the 
face of* the ground; 

9 But the dove h found no rest for the 
sole of her foot, and she returned unto 
him into the ark, for the waters were on 
the face of the whole earth : then he put 
forth his hand, and took her, and i pulled 
her in unto him into the ark. 

10 And he stayed yet other seven days- 
and again he sent forth the dove out of* 
the ark: 

11 And the dove came in to him in the 
evening ; and, lo, in her mouth was an 
i olive leaf pluckt off: so Noah knew that 
the waters were abated from off the earth. 

12 And he stayed yet other seven days- 
and sent forth the dove ; which returned 
not again unto him any more. 

13 H And it came to pass in the six hun- 
dredth and first year, in the first month, 
the first day of the month, the waters 
were dried up from off the earth: and Noah 
removed the covering of the ark, and 
looked, and, behold, the face of the ground 
was dry. 

14 And in the second month, on the seven 
and twentieth day of the month, was the 
earth dried. 

15 1F And God spake unto Noah, saying, 
16* 3 Go forth of the ark, thou, and thy 

wife, and thy sons, and thy sons' wives 
with thee. 

17 Bring forth with thee every living 
thing that is with thee, of all flesh, both 
of fowl, and of cattle, and of every creep- 
ing thing that creepeth upon the earth; 
that they may breed abundantly in the 
earth, and *be fruitful, and multiply upon 
the GMrtli 

18 And Noah went forth, and his sons, 



The Murder of Abel. 



GENESIS, V. 



Genealogy oj \*ze Patriarchs. 



above everything else; while the arrival of every one that findeth me shall slay me— This 
another son reminding her of the misery she 
had entailed on her offspring, led to the 
name Abel, i. e. either weakness, vanity, (Ps. 
3D. 5.) or grief, lamentation. Cain and Abel 
were probably twins; and it is thought that, 
at this early period, children were born in 
pairs, ch. 5. 4. [Cal.1 keeper of sheep— lit. 
u feeder of a flock, which, in Oriental coun- 
tries, always includes goats as well as sheep. 
Abel, though the younger, is mentioned 
first, probably on account of the pre-emi- 
nence of his relisious character. 3. in pro- 
cess of time— Heb. "at the end of days;" 
probably on the Sabbath, brought an offering 
unto the Lord— Both manifested by the very 
act of offering their faith in the being of 
God, and in his claims to their reverence 
and worship; and had the kind of offering 
been left to themselves, what more natural 
than that the one should bring " of the fruits 
of the ground;" that the other should bring 
"of the firstlings of his fiock and the fat 
thereof." respect unto Abel, not unto Cain,&c. 
— the words "had respect to" signify in 
Hebrew— to look at anything with a keen 
earnest glance; which has been translated — 
"kindle into a fire," so that the divine ap- 
proval of Abel's offering was shewn in its 
being consumed by fire see Gen. 15. 17; Jud. 
13. 15.) 7. If thou dost well . . shalt thou 
not be accepted?— in the Marg. it is "shalt 
thou not have the excellency ? " which is the 
true sense of the words referring to the high 
privileges and authority belonging to the 
first-born in patriarchal times, sin lieth at 
the door— sin, i. e. a sin-offering— a common 
meaning of the word in Scripture— as in 
Ho. 4. 8: 2 Cor. 5. 21; Heb. 9. 28. The pur- 
port of tne Divine rebuke to Cain was this, 
Why art thou angry, as if unjustly treated ? 
It thou doest well, i. e. wert innocent and 
sinless— a thank-offering would have been 
accepted as a token of thy dependence as a 
creature. But as thou doest not well, i. e. 
art a sinner— a sin-offering is necessary, by 
bringing which thou wouldst have met with 
acceptance, and retained the honours of thy 
birth-right." This language implies that pre- 
vious instructions had been given as to the 
mode of worship; Abel offered through faith, 
Heb. 11. 4. unto thee shall be his desire— The 
high distinction conferred by priority of 
birth is described, ch. 27. 29; and it was 
Cain's conviction, that this honour had been 
withdrawn from him by the rejection of his 
sacrifice, and conferred on his younger 
brother— hence the secret flame of jealousy, 
which kindled into a settled hatred, and 
fell -revenge. 8. and Cain talked— Under 
the guise of brotherly familiarity, he con- 
cealed his premeditated purpose till a con- 
venient time and place occurred for the mur- 
der (1 Jo. 3. 12; 9-10.) the voice of thy brother's 
blood — Cain, to lull suspicion, had pro- 
bably been engaging in the solemnities of 
religion, where he was challenged directly 
from the Shechinah itself. I know not — a 
falsehood. One sin leads to another. 11-12. 
cursed . . . earth— A curse superadded to the 
general one denounced on the ground for 
Adam's sin. a fugitive— condemned to per- 
petual exile— a degraded outcast— the miser- 
able victim of an accusing conscience. 13-14. 
my punishment is greater than I can bear— 
What an overwhelming sense of .misery; 
but no sign of penitence, nor cry for pardon. 



shows that the population of the world was 
now considerably increased. 15. Whosoever 
slayeth Cain — By a special act of Divine 
forbearance, the life of Cain was to be spared 
in the then small state of the human race, 
set a mark— not any visible mark or brand 
on his forehead, but some sign or token 
of assurance that his life would be pre- 
served. This sign is thought by the best 
writers to have been a wild ferocity of 
aspect, that rendered him an object of 
universal horror and avoidance. 16. pre- 
sence of the Lord— the appointed place of 
worship at Eden. Leaving it, he not only 
severed himself from his relatives, but for- 
sook the ordinances of religion, probably 
casting off all fear of God from his eyes, so 
that the last end of this man is worse than 
the first iMatt. 12. 45.) land of Nod— of flight 
or exile— thought by many to have been 
Arabia Petrsea— which was cursed to sterility 
on his account. 17-22. builded a city— It has 
been in cities that the human race has ever 
made the greatest social progress: and seve- 
ral of Cain's descendants distinguished them- 
selves by their inventive genius in the arts. 
19. Lamech . . . two wives— This is the first 
transgression of the law of marriage on re- 
cord, and the practice of polygamy, like all 
other breaches of God's institutions, has 
been a fruitful source of corruption and 
misery. 23, 24. Lam. . . said unto . . wives — 
This speech is in a poetical form, probably 
the fragment of an old poem, transmitted to 
the time of Moses. It seems to indicate that 
Lamech had slain a man in self-defence, and 
its drift is to assure his wives, by the preser- 
vation of Cain; that an unintentional 
homicide, as he only was, could be in no 
danger. 26. men began to call upon the name 
of the Lord— rather, by the name of the Lord. 
Gods people, a name probably applied to 
them in contempt by the world. 
CHAPTEK V. 
Ver. 1-32. Genealogy of the Patri- 
archs. 1. Book of the generations— See ch. 
11. 4. Adam— used here either as the name 
of the first man, or of the human race gene- 
rally. 5. all the days Adam lived— The most 
striking feature in this catalogue is the 
longevity of Adam and his immediate de- 
scendants. Ten are enumerated in direct 
succession whose lives far exceed the or- 
dinary limits with which we are familiar 
— the shortest being 365, and the longest 
930. It is useless to enquire whether and 
what secondary causes may have contributed 
to this protracted longevity— vigorous con- 
stitutions, the nature of their diet, the 
temperature and salubrity of the climate; 
or, finally, as this list comprises only the true 
worshippers of God— whether their great age 
might be owing to the better government of 
their passions, and the quiet even tenor of 
their lives. Since we cannot obtain satisfac- 
tory evidence on these points, it is wise to 
resolve the fact into the sovereign will of 
God. We can, however, trace some of the 
important uses to which, in the early econo- 
my of Providence, it was subservient. It 
was the chief means of preserving a know- 
ledge of God, of the great truths of religion, 
as well as the influence of genuine piety. 
So that, as their knowledge was obtained by 
tradition, they would be in a condition to 
preserve it in the greatest purity, 24. 



God's covenant with Noah. 



GENESIS, IX, X. 



lite death of Noah. 



and his wife, and his sons' wives with 
him: 

19 Every beast, every creeping thing, and 
every fowl, and whatsoever creepeth upon 
the earth, after their 5 kinds, Went forth 
out of the ark. 

20 *,I And Noah builded an altar unto the 



Lord ; and took of every L clean beast, and 

id 
finings on the altar. 



of every clean fowl, and offered burnt of- 



21 And the Lord smelled a 6 sweet sa- 
vour; and the Lord said in his heart, I 
will not again m curse the ground any 
more for man's sake ; i for the ■ imagina- 
tion of man's heart is evil from his youth; 
neither will I again ° smite any more every 
thing living, as 1 have done. 

22 8 While the earth remaineth, seedtime 
and harvest, and cold and heat, and sum- 
mer and winter, and p day and night shall 
not cease. 

CHAPTER IX. 
J Ood blesseth Noah. 4 Blood and murder are 
forbidden. 8 God's covenant, 13 signified by 
the rainbow. 23 Noah is drunken, and mocked 
by Hani: 25 he pronounceth a curse on Canaan, 
and blessings on Shem and on Japheth: 29 he 
dieth. 

AND" God blessed Noah and his aons, 
-"- and said imto them, Be fruitful, and 
multiply, and replenish the earth. 

2 And o the fear of you and the dread of 
you shall be upon every beast of the *arth, 
and upon every fowl of the air, upon all 
that moveth upon the earth, and upon all 
the fishes of the sea; into your hand are 
they delivered. 

3 Every moving thing that liveth shall 
be c meat for you ; even as the green herb 
have I given you all things. 

4 But flesh with d the life thereof, which 
is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat. 

5 And surely your blood of your lives 
will I require; at the hand of e every beast 
will I require it, and at the hand of /man ; 
at the hand of every man's ° brother will 
1 require the life of man. 

6 h Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by 
man shall his blood be shed : for in the 
* image of God made he man. 

7 And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply- 
bring forth abundantly in the earth, and 
multiply therein. 

8 II And God spake unto Noah, and to 
his sons with him, saying, 

9 And I, behold, I establish my covenant 
with you, and with your seed after you; 

10 And with i every living creature that 
is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and 
of every beast of the earth with you ; from 
all that go out of the ark, to every beast 
of the earth. 

11 And I will establish my covenant with 
you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any 
more by the waters of a flood ; neither shall 
there any more be a * flood to destroy the 
earth. 

12 And God said. This is the l token of 
the covenant which I make between me 
and you and every living creature that is 
with you, for perpetual generations: 

13 1 do set my bow in the cloud, and it 
shall be for a token of a covenant between 
me and the earth. 

14 And it shall come to pass, when I 
bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow 
shall be seen in the cloud: 

15 And i will rem ember my covenant, 

10 



CHAP. 8. 

5 families. 
I Lev. 11. 

6 savour of 
rest. 

Lev. 1, 9. 
Ez. 20, 41. 
2 Cor. 2,15. 
Eph. 5, 2. 

m Is. 54, 9. 

7 or, though. 
n ch. 6, 5. 

Ps. 51, 5. 
Jer. 17, 9. 
Rom. 1,21. 
Ep. 2, 1-3. 
o ch. 9, 15. 

8 As vet all 
the days of 
the earth. 

p Jer. 33, 
20,25. 



CHAP. 9. 
ach. 1, 23. 
b Hos. 2, 18. 

Ja. 3, 7. 
c De. 12, 15. 

De. 14, 3. 
d Le. 17, 10. 

Le. 19, 26. 

De. 12, 23. 

1 Sa. 14,34. 

Acts, 15, 

20,29. 
e Ex. 21, 

28,29. 
/Nu. 35. 31. 
g Acts.17,26. 
h Ex. 21, 

12, 14. 
Le. 24,17. 
Mat. 20,52. 
Rev. 13,10. 

i ch. 1, 27. 

1 Cor. 11,7. 
j ch. 8. 1. 
k 2 Pet. 3, 5. 
I Mat. 29, 

26-28. 
m Ex. 18, 12. 

Lev. 26, 

42,45. 

E«. 16. 60. 
m la. 54, 9. 
n ch. 17, 

13, 19. 

2Sa.23,5. 

ch. 10, 6. 

1 Chenaan. 
p th. 15, 22. 
q ch. 3, 19. 
r ch. 19, 

32,36. 

Pro. 20, 1. 

Ej.h. 5, 18. 
8 Ex. 20, 12. 

Gal. 6, 1. 
t De. 27, 16. 

Mat. 25. 41. 
w Josh. 9, 23. 

1 Ki. 9, 20. 

2 or, servant 
to them. 

3 or, per- 
suade. 

V Eph. 2, 

13, 14. 
Eph. 3, 6. 



CHAP. 10. 
a 1 Ch. 1, 

5-7. 
lor, 

Chittim. 
2 or. 

K.(, iiA.r, ;ia , 



which is between me and you and every 
living creature of all flesh ; m and the 
waters shall no more become a flood to 
destroy all flesh. 

10 And the bow shall be in the cloud; 
and I will look upon it, that I may re- 
member the n everlasting covenant be- 
tween God and every living creature of all 
flesh that is upon the earth. 

17 And God said unto Noah, This is the 
token of the covenant, which 1 have estab- 
lished between me and all flesh that is 
upon the earth. 

18 H And the sons of Noah, that went 
forth of the ark, were Shem, and Ham, 
and Japheth: and Ham is the ° father of 
1 Canaan. 

19 These are the three sons of Noah: and 
p of them was the whole earth overspread. 

20 11 And Noah began to be an 2 husband- 
man, and he planted a vineyard: 

21 And he drank of the w r me, and r was 
drunken ; and he was uncovered within 
his tent. 

22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw 
the nakedness of his father, and told his 
two brethren without. 

23 And 8 Shem and Japheth took a gar- 
ment, and laid it upon Doth their shoul- 
ders, and went backward, and covered the 
nakedness of their father; and their faces 
were backward, and they saw not their 
fathers nakedness. 

24 And Noah awoke from his wine, and 
knew what his younger son had done unto 
him. 

25 And he said, * Cursed be Canaan • a 
servant of u servants shall he be unto his 
brethren. 

26 And he said, Blessed be the Lord God 
of Shem ; and Canaan shall be 2 his ser- 
vant. 

27 God shall 3 enlarge Japheth, and he 
shall v dwell in the tents of Shem; and 
Canaan shall be his servant. 

28 And Noah lived after the flood three 
hundred and fifty years: 

29 And all the days of Noah were nine 
hundred and fifty years: and he died. 

CHAPTER X. 
1 The generations of Noah. 2 The sons of Ja- 
pheth, 6 and of Bam. 8 A'imrod the' first 
monarch. 15 The descendants of Canaan. 21 
The sons of Shem. 

ATOW these are the generations of the 
sons of Noah : Shem, Ham, and Ja- 
pheth : and unto tneni were sons born af- 
ter the flood. 

2 The a sons of Japheth ; Gomer, and Ma- 
gog, and Madid, and Ja\an, and Tubal, 
and Meshech, and Tiras. 

3 And the sons of Gomer; Ashkenaz, and 
Riphr.th, and Togarmah. 

4 And the sons of Javan; Elishah, and 
Tarshish, i Kittim, and 2 Hodanim. 

5 By these were the isles of the Gentiles 
divided in their lands ; every one after his 
tongue, after their families, in their 
nations. 

6 1F And the sons of Ham; C/ish, and 
Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan. 

7 And the sons of Cush; Seba, and 11a- 
vilah, and Sabtah, and Kaamah, and Sab- 
techa: and the sons of liaamah; Sheua, 
and Dedan. 

8 And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to 
be a mighty one in the earth. 

9 He was a mighty hunter before the 



Wickedness of the World. 



GENESIS, VI, VEC. Order, Form, and Use of the Ark. 



walked with God — A common phrase in j 
eastern countries denoting constant and 
familiar intercourse, was not; for God took 
him— In He. 11. 3. we are informed that 
he was translated to heaven — a mighty 
miracle, designed to effect what ordinary 
means of instruction had failed to accom- 
plish—gave a palpable proof to an age 
of almost universal unbelief that the doc- 
trines which he had taught Ju. 14, 15.) were 
true, and that his devotedness to the cause 
of God, and righteousness in the midst of 
opposition, was highly pleasing to the mind 
of God. 21. Enoch begat Methuselah— This 
name signifies " He dieth, and the sending 
forth," so that Enoch gave it as prophetical of 
the flood. It is computed that Methusaleh 
died in the year of that catastrophe. Lamech 
—a different person from the one mentioned in 
preceding chapter. Like his namesake, how- 
ever, he also spoke in numbers on occasion 
of the birth of Noah— i.e., "rest" or "com- 
fort." ' The allusion is, undoubtedly, to the 
penal consequences of the fall in earthly toils 
and sufferings, and to the hope of a Deliverer, 
excited by the promise made to Eve. That 
this expectation was founded on a divine 
communication we infer from the importance 
attached to it and the confidence of its ex- 
pression.' [P.Smith.] 32. Noah was 500 years 
old and begat— That he and the other patri- 
archs were advanced in life ere children 
were born to them, is a difficulty accounted 
for probably from the circumstance that 
Moses does not here record their first-born 
sons, but only the succession from Adam 
through Seth to Abraham. 

CHAPTER VI. 

Ver. 1-4. Wickedness of the World. 2. 
Sons of God, daughters of men— By the former is 
meant the family of Seth, who were profess- 
edly religious, by the latter, the descendants 
of apostate Cain. Mixed marriages between 
parties of opposite principles and practice 
were necessarily sources of extensive cor- 
ruption. The women, irreligious themselves, 
would, as wives and mothers, exert an in- 
fluence fatal to the existence of religion in 
their household, and consequently the people 
of that later age sank to the lowest depravity, 
flesh— utterly, hopelessly debased. 3. My spirit 
shall not always strive— Christ, as God, had by 
His Spirit inspiring Enoch, Noah, and per- 
haps other prophets (1 Pe. 3. 9; 2 Pe. 2. 5; 
Ju. 14.), preached repentance to the antedi- 
luvians; but they were incorrigible, yet their 
days shall be 120 years— It is probable that 
the corruption of the world, which had now 
reached its height, had been long and gra- 
dually increasing, and this idea receives sup- 
port from the long respite granted. 4. giants 
—-The term in Heb. implies not so much 
the idea of great stature as of reckless fero- 
city, impious and daring characters, who 
spread devastation and carnage far and wide. 
5, 6. God saw it repented— grieved— God can- 
not change (Mai. 3. 6; Ja. 1. 17.); but, by lan- 
fuage suited to our nature and experience, 
le is described as about to alter His visible 
procedure towards mankind— from being 
merciful and long-suffering, He was about to 
show Himself a God of judgment; and, as 
that impious race had filled up the measure 
of their iniquities, He was about to in- 
troduce a terrible display of His justice 

(Ecc. 8. 11). 8. But Noah found grace — 

favour. What an awful state of things 

10 



when only one man or one family of piety 
and virtue was now existing among the pro- 
fessed sons of God ! 9. Noah just and perfect 
—not absolutely; for since the fall of Adam 
no man has been free from sin except Jesus 
Christ. But as living by faith he was just 
(Gal. 3. 2; Heb. 11. 7.) and perfect— i.e., sin- 
cere in his desire to do God's will. 11. the 
earth was filled with violence— In the absence 
of any well-regulated government it is easy 
to imagine what evils would arise. Men did. 
what was right in their own eyes, and having 
no fear of God, destruction and misery were 
in their ways. 13. And God said unto Noah — 
How startling must have been the announce- 
ment of the threatened destruction ! There 
was no outward indication of it. The course 
of nature and experience seemed against the 
probability of its occurrence. The public 
opinion of mankind would ridicule it. The 
whole world would be ranged against him. 
Yet, persuaded the communication was from 
God, through faith (He. 11. 7,) he set about 
preparing the means for preserving himself 
and family from the impending calamity. 
14. Make thee an ark— ark, a hollow chest 
(Ex. 2. 3 J . gopher wood— probably cypress, re- 
markable for its durability, and abounding 
on the Armenian mountains, rooms— cabins 
or small cells, pitch it within and without- 
mineral pitch, asphalt, naphtha, or some 
bituminous substance, which, when smeared 
over and become hardened, would make it 
perfectly water-tight. 15. And this is the 
fashion — according to the description, the- 
ark was not a ship, but an immense house 
in form and structure like the houses in the 
east, designed not to sail, but only float. As- 
suming the cubit to be 21,888 inches, the ark 
would be 547 feet long, 91 feet 2 inches wide, 
and 47 feet 2 inches high — that is. three times 
the length of a first-rate man of w ur in the 
British navy. 16. a window — probably a 
skylight, formed of some transparent sub- 
stance unknown, in a cubit shaft thou finish 
it above— a direction to raise the roof in the 
middle, seemingly to form a gentle slope for 
letting the water run off. 17-22. And, be- 
hold, I, even I, do bring a flood— The repeti- 
tion of the announcement was to establish 
its certainty (ch. 41. 22.). Whatever opinion 
may be entertained as to the operation of 
natural laws and agencies in the deluge, it 
was brought on the world by God as a punish- 
ment for the enormous wickedness of its in- 
habitants. 18. But with thee will I establish 
my covenant— a special promise of delive- 
rance, called a covenant, to convince him of 
the confidence to be reposed in it. The sub- 
stance and terms of this covenant are related 
between v. 19. and 21. 22. Thus did Noah— He 
began without delay to prepare the colossal 
fabric, and in every step of his progress faith- 
fully followed the divine directions he had 
received. 

CHAPTEE VTI. 
Ver. 1-16. Entrance into the Ark. And 
the Lord said unto Noah, Come, <fcc— The ark 
was finished; and he now, in the spirit 
of implicit faith, which had influenced his 
whole conduct, waited for directions from 
God. 2, 3. of every clean beast . . . fowls- 
pairs of every species of animals except the 
tenants of the deep were to be taken lor the 
preservation of their respective kinds. This 
was the general rule of admission, only with 
regard to those animals which are styled 



The generations of Noah, 



GENESIS, XI. 



The building of HabeL 



Lord: wherefore it is said. Even as Nim- b. c. sa& 

rod the mighty hunter b before the Lord. 

10 And the beginning of Ids c kingdom j chap. 10. 
was 3 Babel, and Erech. and Accad, and ■ 6 ■*. 6, n 
Calneh, in the land of Shinar. 

11 Cut of that land * went forth Asshur, 
and builded Nineveh, and 5 the city Ke- 
hoboth, and Calah. 

12 And Kesen between Nineveh and Ca- 
lah: the same is a great city. 

13 And Mizrahn begat Ludim. and Ana- 
mim, and Lehabim, and Naphtuhim, 

14 And Pathrusim, and Casluhim, ( d out 
of whom came Philistim.) and Caphtorim. 

15 r And Canaan begat 6 Sidon bis first- 
born, and lleih, 

16 And the Jebusite, and the Amorite, 
and the Girgasite, 

17 And the Hivite, and the Arkite, and 
the Simte. 

18 And the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, 
and the Hamathite : and afterward were 
the families of the Canaanitts spread 
abroad. 

19 e And the border of the Canaanites 
was from Sidon, as fhou comest to Gerar, 
unto 1 Gaza; as thou goest, unto Sodom, 
and Gomorrah, and Aomah, and Zeboim, 
even unto Lasha. 

20 These are the sons of Ham, after 
their lamilies, after their tongues, in their 
countries, and in their nations. 

•21 r Unto Shem also, the father of all 
the children of Eber, the brother of Ja- 

Eheth the elder, even to him were children 
orn. 

22 The / children of Shem; Elam. and 
Asshur, and 8 Arphaxad, and Lud, and 
Aram. 

23 And the children of Aram; Uz, and 
Hid, and Gether, and Mash. 

24 And Arphaxad begat » 9 Salah; and 
Salah begat Eber. 

25 h And unto Eber were born two sons: 
the name of one icas lu Peleg; for in his 
days was the earth divided; and his bro- 
ther's name was Joktan. 

20 And Joktan begat Almodad, and She- 
leph, and Ilazarmaveth, and Jerah. 
"Ii And Hadoram, and Uzal, and Juklah, 

28 And Obal. and Abimael, and Sheba, 

29 And Ophir. and Havilah. and JoLab: 
all these wen the sons of Joktan. 

30 And their dwelling was from Mesha, 
as thou goest, unto Sephar, a mount of the ' 5- '« r* 
east. 

31 These are the sons of Shem, after their 
famiiies. after their tongues, in their lands, 
after their nations. 

32 i These are the families of the sons of 
Noah alter their generations, in their na- 
tions: ; and by these were the nations di- 
vided in the earth after the Hood. 

CHAPTER XI. 

1 One language in the world. 3 The building of 
Babel, and confusion of tongues. 10 like gene- 
rations of Shem, j\ and'of Terah. 31 Terah goeth 
from Ur to Haran. 

A ND the whole earth a was of one 1 lan- 
-"- guage, and of one 2 speech. 

2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed 
8 from the east, that they found a plum in 
the land of * Shinar; and they dwelt 
there. 

3 And * they said one to another, Go to. 
let us make brick, and 6 burn, then; 
throughly. And they had brick lor stone, 
and slune had they for mortar. 

II 



c Mic. 5, 6. 

3 or, 
Babylon. 

4 or. he 
went out 
into 
Assyria. 

6 or, the 
streets of 
tl.e atjr. 

d 1 Ch. 1, 12. 

6 Tzidon. 
« ch. 13, 12, 

14. 15. 
eh. 15, 
iS-21. 
Num. 34, 
2, 12. 
Josh. 12, 7. 

7 Azzah. 
/I Ch. 1,17. 

8 Air*ch- 
shad. 

9 Shelah. 
g <h. 11, 12. 
Al Ch.1.19. 

10 i. e. divi- 
sion. 

tl Ch. 1,4. 
j ch. 9, 19. 

CHAP. 11. 
a Acts 2, 6. 

1 lip. 

2 words. 

3 or, 
eastward, 
as ch. 13, 
11. 

6 Dan. 1, 2. 

4 a man said 
to his 
neighbour. 

6 burn them 
to a burn- 
ing. 

6 may be 
very high. 

c Deu. 1, 23. 

d Jn. 5, 44. 

e Lu. 1. 51. 

/ch. 18, 21. 
Ps. 33. 13. 
Ps 53, 2. 

g Ps. 2. 1-4. 

h ch. 1. 26. 

t Ac. 2,4-11. 



Ps. 92. 9. 
Pro. 19, 29. 
Luke 1,51. 

7 i.e. 
confusion. 

£ 1 Cor. 14, 

23. 
I 1 Chr. 1, 

17-27. 
w* Lu 3, 36. 
»1 Ch.1.19. 

8 or, Phalec, 
Lu. 3, 35. 

9 or, Raeau, 
Lu. 3,35. 

10 or Saruch, 
Lu. 3, 35. 

11 or, Thara, 
Lu. 3, oi. 

o Jos. 24, 2. 
ICh.l.-JC. 
Pch. 19.1-29. 
9 ch. 17. 15. 
r a. i^, SA 



4 And they said. Go to, let us build U9 
a city, and a tower whose top G may reach 

unto heaven; and let us make us d a 
name, lest we be e scattered abroad upon 
the face of the whole earth. 
5/ And the Lord came down to see the 
city and the tower, which the children of 
men builded. 

6 And the Lord said, Behold, the people 
is one, and they have all one language; 
and this they begin to do: and now uutbihg 
will be restrained from them, which they 
have 9 imagined to do. 

7 Go to, * let us go down, and there con- 
found their language, that thev may ' not 
understand one another's speech. 

8 So the Lord scattered them abroad from 
thence i upon the face of all the earth: 
and they left off to build the city. 

9 Therefore is the name of it called " Ba- 
bel ; k because the Lord did there confound 
the language of all the earth: and from 
thence did the Lord scatter them abroad 
upon the tiice of all the earth. 

10 % These are the generations of Shem: 
' Shem ivas an hundred years old. and be- 
gat Arphaxad two years after the flood: 

11 And Shem lived after he begat Ar- 
phaxad live hundred years, and begat sous 
and daughters. 

12 And Arphaxad lived five and thirty 
vears, and begat m Salah: 

"13 And Arphaxad lived after he begat 
Salah four hundred and three years, and 
begat sons and daughters, 

14 And Salah lived thirty years, and be- 
gat Eber: 

15 And Salah lived after he begat Eber 
four hundred and three years, and begat 
sons and daughters. 

16 And ■ Eber lived four and thirty years, 
and begat 8 Peleg: 

17 And Eber lived after he begat Peleg 
four hundred and thirty years, and begat 
sons and daughters. 

IS And Peleg lived thirty years, and be- 
gat & Keu: 

19 And Peleg lived after he begat Reu 
two hundred and nine years, and begat 
sons and daughters. 

20 And Keu lived two and thirty years, 
and begat lu Serng: 

21 And Keu lived after he begat Serng 
two hundred and seven years, and begat 
sons and daughters. 

22 And Serng lived thirty years, and be- 
gat >'ahor: 

23 And Serug lived after he begat Nahor 
vwo hundred years, and begat sons and 
daughters. 

24 And Nahor lived nine and twenty years, 
and begat n Terah: 

25 And Nahor lived after he begat Terah 
an hundred and nineteen years, and begat 
sons and daughters. 

20 And Terah lived seventy years, and 
begat * Abram, Nahor, and Haran. 

27 r Now these are the generations of 
Terah: Terah begat Abram, Nahor, and 
Haran; and Haran begat * Lot. 

28 And Haran died before his father 
Terah in the land of his nativity, in Lr of 
the Chaldees. 

29 And Abram and Nahor took them 
wives: the name of Abram's wife uas q Sa- 
rai; and the name of Nahor 's wile. r Mii- 
cah, the daughter of haran, the lather of 
Ailkah, uUu tLe lather of Lscah. 



Assuaging of the Waters. 



GENESIS, VIII. 



Departure from the Ark. 



"clean," three pairs were to be taken, whether , of providence, every living thing ... in the 
of beasts or birds; and the reason was that ; ark— A beautiful illustration of M. 10, 29. 
their rapid multiplication was a matter of I made a wind to pass over— Though the Divine 
the highest importance, when the earth will could have dried up the liquid mass in 
should be renovated from their utility either ! an instant— the agency of a wind was em- 
as articles of food or as employed in the ! ployed (Ps. 104. 4.) — probably a hot wind, 
service of man. But what was the use of | which, by rapid evaporation, would again 
the seventh? It was manifestly reserved ; absorb one portion of the waters into the 
for sacrifice; and so that both during Noah's atmosphere; and by which, the other would 
residence in the ark and after his return to be gradually drained off by outlets beneath, 
dry land, provision was made for celebrating 1 4. seventh month— of the year— not of the 
the rites of worship according to the religion j flood— which lasted only five months, rested 
of fallen man. He did not, like many, leaye — evidently indicating a calm and gentle 
religion behind. He provided for it during motion, upon the mountains of Arrarat — or 
his protracted voyage, for yet seven days— a Armenia, as the word is rendered (2 Ki. 19. 
week for a world to repent ! What a solemn 1 37; Is. 37. 38.). The mountain which tradi- 
pause. Did they laugh and ridicule his folly | tion points to, as the one on which the ark 
still? He whose eyes saw, and whose heart • rested, is now called Ara Dagh— the finger 
felt the full amount of human iniquity and ! mountain. Its summit consists of two peaks 



perverseness, has told us of their reckless 
disregard (L. 17. 27.). 9. There went in two 
and two— Doubtless they were led by a divine 
impulse. The number would not be so large 
as at first sight one is apt to imagine. It has 
been calculated that there are not more than 
three hundred distinct species of beasts and 
birds, the immense varieties in regard to 
form, size, and colour being traceable to the 
influence of climate and other circumstances. 
16. And the Lord shut him in— lit. "covered 
him round about." The ' ' shutting him in" in- 
timated that he had become the special 
object of divine care and protection, and 
that to those without the season of grace 
was over (M. 25. 10. 1 17-24. the waters in- 
creased and bare up the ark— it seems to have 
been raised so gradually as, perhaps, to be 
scarcely perceptible to the inmates. 20. 
fifteen cubits upward . . . mountains covered— 
twenty-two and a-half feet above the sum- 
mits of the highest hills. The language is 



the higher of which is 17,750 feet, and the 
other 13,420 above the level of the sea. 5. 
And the waters decreased continually — The 
decrease of the waters was for wise reasons 
exceedingly slow and gradual— the period of 
their return being nearly twice as long as 
that of their rise. 6. At the end of forty days 
It is easy to imagine the ardent longing Noah 
and his family must have felt to enjoy again 
the sight of land as well as breathe the 
fresh air; and it was perfectly consistent 
with faith and patience to make enquiries, 
whether the earth was yet ready. 7. sent forth 
a raven— the smell of carrion would allure it 
to remain if the earth were in a habitable 
state. But it kept hovering about the spot, 
and being a solitary bird, probably perched 
on the covering. 8-11. also he sent forth a 
dove— A bird flying low and naturally dis- 
posed to return to the place of her abode. 
10. again he sent forth the dove— Her flight, 
judging by the time she was abroad, was 



not consistent with the theory of a partial j pursued to a great distance, and the newly- 
deluge. 21. all flesh died— fowl, cattle, and j plucked olive leaf, she no doubt, by super- 



creeping thing— It has been a uniform prin- 
ciple in the divine procedure, when judg- 
ments were abroad on the earth, to include 
everything connected with the sinful objects 
of His wrath (ch. 19. 25; Ex. 9. 6.). Besides, 



natural impulse, brought in her bill, afforded 
a welcome proof that the declivities of the 
hills were clear. 12. he sent forth the dove, 
which returned not anymore. In these results, 
we perceive a wisdom and prudence far 



now that the human race were reduced to superior to the inspiration of instinct— we 
one single family, it was necessary that the discern the agency of God guiding all the 
beasts should be proportionally diminished, movements of this bird for the instruction 
otherwise by their numbers they would have of Noah, and reviving the hopes of his house- 
acquired the ascendancy, and overmastered , hold, other.seven days— a strong presumptive 
the few that were to re-people the world, j proof that Noah observed the Sabbath dur- 



Thus goodness was mingled with severity, 
the Lord exercises judgment in wisdom, and 
in wrath remembers mercy. 24. a hundred and 
fifty days— a period of five months. Though 
long before that every living creature must 
have been drowned, such a lengthened con- 
tinuance of the flood was designed to mani- 
fest God's stern displeasure at sin and sinners. 
Think of Noah during such a crisis. "We 
learn (Ez. 14. 14.) that he was a man who 
lived and breathed habitually in an atmos- 
phere of devotion; and having in the exer- 
cise of this high-toned faith made God his 
refuge, he did not fear "though the waters 



ing his residence in the ark. 13, 14. Noah re- 
moved the covering— probably only as much of 
it as would afford him a prospect of the earth 
around. Yet for about two months he never 
stirred from his appointed abode till he had 
received the express permission of God. 
We should watch the leading of Providence 
to direct us in every step of the journey of 
life. 

15-22. Departure from the Ark. And 
God said, Go forth— They went forth in the 
most orderly manner— the human inmates 
first— then each species "after their kinds" 
lit. according to their families, implying that 



roared and were troubled; though the moun- 1 there had been an increase in the ark. 20 



tains shook with the swelling thereof." 
CHAPTER VIII. 
Ver. 1-14. Assuaging of the Waters 



Noah builded an altar— lit. "a high place"— 
I probably a mound of earth, on which a sacrifice 
was offered. There is something exceeding- 



God remembered Noah — The Divine pur- ly beautiful and interesting to know that the 

pose in this awful dispensation had been first care oi this devout patriarch was to 

accomplished, and the world had undergone return thanks for the signal instance of 

those changes necessary to fit it for becoming mercy and goodness which lie and his family 

the residence of man under a new economy had experienced, 
li 



took of every clean beast 



God calUth Abram. 



GENESIS, XII, XIII. 



Abram and Lot separate. 



barren; she had no 



30 But Sarai was 
child. 

31 And Terah took Abram his son, and 
Lot the son of llaran his son's son, and 
Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram's 
wife; and they < went forth with them 
from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land 
of u Canaan ; and they came unto ^ Haran, 
and dwelt there. 

32 And the days of Terah were two hun- 
dred and five years: and Terah died in lla- 
ran. 

CHAPTER XII. 
1 God calleth Abram, and blesstth Mm with a 
promise of Christ: ihe departs from Haran, 
ti Canaan promised. 

TsJOW the a Lord had said unto Abram, 
•^ Get thee out of thy country, and from 
thy kindred, and from thy father's house, 
mi to a land that I will 6how thee: 

2 And I will make of thee *> a great na- 
tion, and 1 will bless thee, and make thy 
name great; and thou shalt be a bless- 
ing: 

3 And I will c bless them that bless thee, 
and curse him that curseth thee: and d in 
thee shall all families of the earth be bles- 
sed. 

4 So Abram departed, as the Lord had 
spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: 
and Abram was seventy and five years old 
when he departed out of llaran. 

5 And Abram took Sarai his wife, and 
Lot his brother's 6on, and all their sub- 
stance that they had gathered, and the 
souls that they had gotten in e Haran ; and 
they went forth to go / into the land of 
Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they 
came. 

6 IF And Abram passed through the land 
unto the place of * Sichem, unto the plain 
of u Moren. And the Canaanite was then 
in the land. 

7 And the Lord h appeared unto Abram, 
and said, * Unto thy seed will I give this 
land: and there builded he an> altar unto 
the Lord, who appeared unto him. 

8 And he removed from thence unto a 
mountain on the east of Beth-el, and pitch- 
ed his tent, having Beth-el on the west, 
and 2 Had on the east: and there he buildea 
an altar unto the Lord, and called upon 
the name of the Lord. 

9 And Abram journeyed, 3 going * on still 
toward the south. 

10 11 And there was * a famine in the 
land: and Abram m went down into Egypt 
to sojourn there; for the famine was 
n grievous in the land. 

11 And it came to pass, when he was come 
near to enter into Egypt, that he said unto 
Sarai his wife, Behold now, I know that 
thou art ° a lair woman to look upon: 

12 Therefore it shall come to pass, when 
the Egyptians shall see thee, that they 
shall say, This is his wife: and they^ will 
kill me, but they will save thee alive. 

13 q Say, I pray thee, r thou art my sister: 
that it may be well with me for thy sake ; 
and my soul shall live because of thee. 

14 H And it came to pass, that, when 
Abram was come into Egypt, the Egyptians 
beheld the woman, that she was very fair. 

15 8 The princes also of 1'haraoh saw her. 
and commended her before Pharaoh: and 
the woman was taken into Pharaoh's 
house. 

10 And he entreated Abram weU for her 
12 



B. C. 1990. 



CHAP. 11. 
« ch. 16, 1. 
t fceb. o, 7. 
Ho. 11,8. 
« ch. 10, 19. 
12 or, Cha- 
ron. 

CHAP. 12. 

a ch. 15, 7. 

Acts 7, 3. 

b ch. 17, 6. 

ch. 18, 18. 

ch. 40, a. 

Deu. 26, 6. 

1 Ki. 3, 8. 
C ch. 24, 35. 

ch. 27. 29. 

Ex. 23, 22. 

Num. 24,9. 
d ch. 22, 18. 

ch. 26, 4. 

ch. 28, 14. 

Ps. 72, 17. 

Ac. 3, 25. 

Gal. 3, 8. 
ech. 11,31. 
/ Heb. 11, 8. 

1 or, Sychar, 
John 4, 6. 

g De. 11, 30. 

J ad. 7, 1. 
h ch. 17. 1. 
i Deu. 34, 4. 

Pv 106, 

9-12. 
$ ch. 13, 4. 

2 or, Ai, or, 
Aija. 

3 in going 
and jour- 
neying. 

k ch. 13, 3. 
I ch. 26, 1. 
m Ps.105,13. 
*» eh. 43, 1. 

ch. 26, 7. 
V ch. 20, 11. 

1 Ps. 25, 21. 
Eph. 4, 25. 

r ch. 20, 6, 

13. 
8 Est. 2, 16. 
t ch. 20, 18. 

1 Ch. 16,21. 

Ps. 105, 14. 

Heb. 13, 4. 
u ch. 20, 9. 

ch. 26, 10. 
»Prov.21,l. 



CHAP. 13. 
a ch. 24, 35. 
6ch. 12,7,8. 

ch. 36. 7. 
Luke 12, 
17, 18. 

d ch. 26, 20. 
e Philip. 2, 
14, 15. 

1 men bre- 
thren. 

/ch. 20,15. 
g James 3, 

13-18. 
ft Nu. 32, 1. 
i Deu. 34, 3. 
j ch. 19, 24. 

Ps. 107, 34. 
Jfc ch. 14, 2. 

ch. 19, 22. 
I ch. 19, 29. 
m ch. 18, 20. 

£z. 16, 49. 

2 Pet. 2, 7. 
n ch. 6, 11. 
o Is. 49, 18. 
p ch. 28, 14. 
tf 2 Ch. 20, 7. 



sake: and he had sheep, and oxen, ami he- 
asses, and men-servants, and maid-ser- 
vants, and she-asses, and camels. 

17 And the Lord * plagued 1'haraoh and 
lirs house with great plagues because >>i 
Sarai, Abram's wife. 

18 And Pharaoh called Abrarn, and said, 
u What is this tliat thou hast done tuito 
me? why didst thou not tell me that she 
was thy wife? 

19 Why saidst thou, She is my sister? 
so I might have taken her to me to wife 
now therefore behold thy wife, take her % 
and go thy way. 

20 And * Pharaoh commanded his men 
concerning him: and they sent him away, 
and his wife, and all that he had. 

CHAPTER XI11. 

1 Abram and Lvt return jrom Egypt: 7 they part 
asunder. 10 Lot goes to Sod<.>m. 11 God's pro- 
mise renewed to Abram. 16 Hegoeth to Hebron, 
and there builds an altar. 

AM) Abram went up out of Egypt, he, 
r ^ and his wife, and all that he had, and 
Lot with him, into the south. 

2 And Abram was a very rich in cattle, 
in silver, and in gold. 

3 And he went on his journeys from the 
south even to Beth-el, unto the place where 
his tent had been at the beginning, between 
Beth-el and llai ; 

4 Unto the place of the b altar, which he 
had made there at the first: and there 
Abram called on the name of the Lord. 

5 H And Lot also, which went with Abram, 
had flocks, and herds, and tents. 

6 And the land was c not able to bear 
them, that they might dwell together: lor 
their substance was great, 60 that they 
could not dwell together. 

7 And there was a d strife between the 
herdmen of Abram's cattle and the herd- 
men of Lot's cattle. And the Canaanite 
and the Perizzite dwelt then in the 
land. 

8 And Abram said unto Lot, e Let there 
be no strife, I pray thee, between me and 
thee, and between my herdmen and thy 
herdmen; for we be l brethren. 

9 / Is not the whole land before thee? 
Separate thyself, I pray thee, from me: 9 
if thou wilt take the left hand, then 1 will 
go to the right; or if thou depart to the 
right hand, then I will go to the left. 

10 And Lot lifted up his eyes, h and be- 
held all the * plain of Jordan, that it was 
well watered every where,before the Lord J 1 ' 
destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as 
the garden of the Lord, like the land of 
Egypt, as thou comest unto k Zoar. 

11 Then Lot chose him all the plain of 
Jordan; and Lot journeyed east: and they 
separated themselves the one from the 
other. 

12 Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, 
and Lot dwelt in the l cities of the plain, 
and pitched his tent toward Sodom. 

13 But m the men of Sodom were wicked 
and n sinners before the Lord exceed- 
ingly. 

14 IT And the Lord said unto Abram, 
after that Lot was separated from lam, 
Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the 
place where thou art p northward, and 
southward, and eastward, and westward; 

15 1'or all the land which thou seest, to 
thee will I give it, and to thy « seed for 
ever. 



God's Covenant vrUh Noah. 



GENESIS, IX, X. 



The Generations of Noah. 



and fowl— For so unparallelled a deliverance, 
a special acknowledgment was due. 21. 
the Lord smelled a sweet savour— The sacri- 
fice offered by a righteous man like Noah in 
faith, was acceptable as the most fragrant 
incense. Lord said in his heart— same as "I 



long interval included between these verses, 
and that this prophecy, bike that of Jacob on 
his sons, was not uttered till near the close of 
Noah's life, when the prophetic spirit came 
upon him ; this presumption is strengthened 
by the mention of his death immediately 



have sworn that the waters of Noah should after. 25. cursed be Canaan— this doom has 



no more go over the earth" (Is. 54. 9 
i.e., "though the imagination is evil, 
of inflicting another destructive flood, I shall 
spare them— to enjoy the blessings of grace, 
through a Saviour. 22. While the earth re- 
maineth— The consummation as intimated in 
2 Pet. 3. 7, does not frustrate a promise which 
held good only during the continuance of 
that system. There will be no flood between 



Xr"— been fulfilled in the destruction of the Can- 
instead aanites— in the degradation of Egypt and the 
slavery of the Africans, the descendants of 
Ham. 26. blessed be the Lord God of Shem — 
rather " blessed of Jehovah, my God, be 
.Shem "—an intimation that the descendants 
of Shem should be peculiarly honoured m 
the service of the true God— His Church be- 
ing for ages established amongst them the 



this and that day, when the earth therein Jews , and of them concerning the flesh Christ 



shall be burnt up. [Chalmers. 1 
CHAPTER IX. 
Ver. 1-7. Covenant. And God blessed 
Noah— Here is republished the law of nature 
that was announced to Adam, consisting as 
it originally did of several parts, be fruitful, 



came. They got possession of Canaan, the 
people of that land being made their " ser- 
vants" either by conquest, or like the Gib- 
eonites by submission. 27. God shall enlarge 
Japhfit— pointing to a vast increase in pos- 
terity and possessions. Accordingly his de- 



&c. — the first part relates to the trans- ! scendants have been the most active and 
mission of life, the original blessing being! enterprising, spread over the best and largest 



re-announced in the very same words in 
which it had been promised at first. 2. and 
the fear of you and dread of you— the second re- 
establishes man's dominion over the inferior 
animals ; it was now founded not as at first 
in love and kindness, but in terror; this 
dread of man prevails among all the stronger 
as well as the weaker members of the animal j 
tribes, and keeps away from his haunts all 
bnt those employed in his service. 3. every j 
moving thing . . . meat for you— the third part 
concerns the means of sustaining life : man 
was for the first time, it would seem, allowed 
the use of animal food, but the grant was 
accompanied with one restriction. 4. but 
flesh . . . the blood— the sole intention of this 



portion of the w r orld, all Europe and a con- 
siderable part of Asia, he shall dwell in the 
tents of Shem— a prophecy being fulfilled at 
the present day, as in India British govern- 
ment is established, and the Anglo-Saxons 
being in the ascendant from Europe to India, 
from India over the American continent. 
What a wonderful prophecy in a few verses ! 
Is. 46, 10; 1 Pe. 1. 25; 2 Pe. 1. 19. 
CHAPTER X. 
Ver. 1-32. Genealogies. Sons of Noah— 
The historian has not arranged this cata- 
logue according to seniority of birth; for 
the account begins with the descendants of 
Japhet, and the line of Ham is given before 
that of Shem, though he is expressly said to 



prohibition was to prevent these excesses of be the youngest or younger son of JSoah; and 

cannibal ferocity in eating flesh of living Shem was the elder brother of Japhet [v. 21.), 

animals, to which men in the earlier ages of the true rendering of that passage, genera- 

the world were liable. 5. surely your blood tions, &c— -the narrative of the settlement of 



of your lives will I require— The fourth part 
establishes a new power for protecting life— j 
the institution of the civil magistrate Ro. i 
13. 4, armed with public and official autho- 
rity to repress the commission of violence 
and crime. Such a power had not previously 
existed in patriarchal society. 6. whoso 
sheddeth ... for in the image of God— it is true 
that image has been injured by the fall, but 
it is not lost. In this view, a high value is 
attached to the life of every man, even the ; 
poorest and humblest, and an awful crimi- j 
nality is involved in the destruction of it. 

8-29. Rainbow. I do set my bow— Set, i.e. A 
constitute or appoint. This common and' 



nations existing in the time of Moses, per- 
haps only the principal ones; for though the 
list comprises the sons of Shem, Ham, and 
Japhet, all their descendants are not enume- 
rated. Those descendants, with one or two 
exceptions, are described by names indica- 
tive of tribes and nations, and ending in the 
Heb. im. or the Eng. ite. 5. The isles of the 
Gentiles— a phrase by which the Hebrews 
described all countries which were accessible 
by sea Is. 11. 11, 20. 6; Jer. 25. 22.;. Such 
in relation to them were the countries of 
Europe, the peninsula of Lesser Asia, and 
the region lying on the east of the Euxine. 
Accordingly, it was in these quarters the 



familiar phenomenon being made the pledge early descendants of Japhet had their set- 
of peace, its appearance when showers be- tlements. 6. Sons of Ham— emigrated south- 
gan to fall would be welcomed with the j ward, and their settlements were— that of 



liveliest feelings of joy. 20. planted a vine 
yard — Noah had been probably bred to 
the culture of the soil, and resumed that 
employment on leaving the ark. 21. drank 
of the wine — perhaps at the festivities of 
the vintage season. This solitary stain 
on the character of so eminently pious a 
man must, it is believed, have been the 
result of age or inadvertency. 24. This in- 
cident could scarcely have happened till 
twenty years alter the flood; for Canaan, 
whose conduct was more offensive than that 
even of his father, was not born till after 
that event. It is probable that there is a 
12 



Cush in Arabia, of Canaan in the country 
known by his name, and Mizraim in Egypt 
Upper and Lower. It is generally thought 
that his father accompanied him, and per- 
sonally superintended the formation of the 
settlement, whence Egypt was called "the 
land of Ham." 8. Nimrod— mentioned as 
eclipsing all his family in renown. He early 
distinguished himself by his daring and suc- 
cessful prowess in hunting wild beasts. By 
those useful services he earned a title to 
public gratitude; and having established a 
permanent ascendancy over the people, he 
founded the first kingdom in the world. 10. 



The tattle of the ki ngs. 



GENESIS, XIV, XV. 



1G And 1 will make thy seed as the r dust 
of the earth: so that if a man can numher 
the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed 
also be numbered. 

17 Arise, walk through the land, in the 
length of it, and in the Dreadth of it; for I 
will *rive it unto thee. 

18 Then Abram removed his tent, and 
came and dwelt in the 2 plain of Mamre, 
which is in Hebron, and built there an al- 
tar unto the Lord. 

CHAPTER XIV. 

1 The battle of four kings against Jive. 12 Lot 
taken prisoner, 14 is rescued by Abram. 18 
JUelchizedek blesseth Abram: 'A) Abram giveth 
him tithes. 

A ND it came to pass in the days of Am- 
xx raphel king of a Shinar, Arioch king of 
Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of * Elam, and 
Tidal king of nations ; 

2 That these e made war with Bera king 
of Sodom, and with iiirsha king of Gomor- 
rah, Shinab king of d Admah, and Sheme- 
ber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, 
which is e Zoar. 

3 All these were joined together in the 
vale of Siddim, / which is the salt sea. 

4 Twelve years they served Chedorlaomer, 
and in the thirteenth year they rebelled. 

5 And in the fourteenth year came Che- 
dorlaomer, and the kings that ivere with 
him, and smote the Rephaims in Ashte- 
roth Karnaim, and the Zuzims in Ham, 
and the Emims in i Shaveh Ktriathaim, 

6 And the Horites in their mount Seir, 
unto 2 El-paran, which is by the wilderness. 

7 And they returned, and came to En- 
mishpat, which is 9 Kadesh, and smote all 
the country of the Amalekites, and also the 
Amorites, that dwelt in Hazezon-tamar. 

8 And there went out the king of Sodom, 
and the king of Gomorrah, and the king of 
Admah, and the king of Zeboiim, and the 
king of Bela, (the same is Zoar;) and they 
ioined battle with them in the vale of bid- 
dim; 

9 With Chedorlaomer the king of Elam, 
and with Tidal king of nations, and Am- 
raphel king of Shinar, and Aiioch king of 
Ellasar* four kings with live. 

10 And the vale of Siddim was full of 

* slimepits; and the kings of Sodom and 
Gomorrah tied, and fell there ; and they 
that remained fled to the * mountain. 

11 And they took all the goods of Sodom 
and Gomorrah, and all their victuals, and 
went their way. 

12 And they took Lot, Abram's S brother's 
son, * who dwelt in Sodom, and his goods, 
and departed. 

13 IT And there came one that had escap- 
ed, and told Abram the Hebrew; for he 
dwelt in the plain of Manure the Amorite, 
brother of Eshcol, and brother of Aner: 
and l these were confederate with Abram. 

14 And when Abram heard that m his 
brother was taken captive, he 3 armed his 

* trained servants, n born in his own house, 
three hundred and eighteen, and pursued 
them unto Dan. 

15 And he divided himself against them, 
he and his servants, by night, and ° smote 
them, and pursued them unto Hobah, 
which is on the left hand of Damascus. 

1G And v he brought back all the goods, 
and also brought again his brother Lot, 
and his goods, and the women also, and 
the people. 

13 



Abram justified by faith. 



B. C. 1917. 



CHAP. 13. 

r ch. 26, 4. 

£x. 32, 13. 

Nu. 23, 10. 

De. 1. 10. 

lCh.27,23. 

Je. 33, 22. 

Ro. 4, 16. 

He. 11, 12. 
2 plains. 



| 17 11 And the king of Sodom went out 
to meet him after his return from the 
slaughter of Chedorlaomer, and of the 
kings that were with him, at the valley of 
Shaveh, which is the q king's dale. 

18 And r Melchizedek king of Salem 
brought forth bread and wine: and he was 
9 the priest of the most high God. 

19 And he blessed him, and said, Blessed 
be Abram of the most high God, possessor 
of heaven and earth: 

20 And blessed be the most high God, 
which hath delivered thine enemies into 
thy hand. And he gave him ' tithes of all. 

21 And the king of Sodom said unto 
Abram, Give me the 6 persons, and take 
the goods to thyself. 

22 And Abram said to the king of Sodom, 
u 1 have lift up mine hand unto the Lord, 
the most high God, * the possessor of 
heaven and earth. 

23 That w I will not take from a thread 
even to a shoelatchet, and that I will not 
take any thing that is thine, lest thou 
shouldest say, 1 have made Abram rich: 

24 Save only that which the young men 
have eaten, and the portion of the men 
which went with me, Aner, Eshcol, and 
Mamre; let them take then portion. 

CHAPTER XV. 
1 God encourageth Abram: 4 promiseth hint 
a son and a numerous seed: 6 he is justified 
by faith. 7 Canaan is again promised, and 
confirmed by a sign and a vision. 

A ITER these things the word of the 
**■ Lord came unto Abram a in a vision, 
saying, b Fear not, Abram: I am thy 
shield, and thy c exceeding great reward. 

2 And Abram said, Lord God. what wilt 
thou give me. seeing 1 go childless, and 
the steward or my house is this Eliezer of 
Damascus? 

3 And Abram said, Behold, to me thou 
hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in 
my house is mine heir. 

4 And, behold, the word of the Lord 
came unto him. saying, This shall not be 
thine heir; but he that d shall come forth 
out of thine own bowels shall be thine hen. 

5 And he brought him forth abroad, and 
said, Look now toward heaven, and e tell 
the stars, if thou be able to number them: 
and he said unto him/ So shall thy seed be. 

6 And v he believed in the Lord ; and he 
h counted it to him for righteousness. 

7 And he said unto him, I am the Lord 
that * brought thee out of Ur of the Chal- 
dees, to give thee this land to inherit it. 

8 And he said, Lord God, i whereby shall 
I know that 1 shall inherit it? 

9 And he said unto him, Take me an 
heifer of three years old, and a she-goat of 
three years old, and a ram of three years 
old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon. 

10 And he took unto him all these, and 
divided them in the midst, and laid each 
piece one against another: but the birds di- 
vided he not. 

11 And when the fowls came down upon 
the carcases, Abram drove them away. 

12 And when the sun was gohig down, a 
* deep sleep fell upon Abram ; and, lo, an 
horror of great darkness fell upon hnn. 

13 And he said unto Abram, Know of a 
surety that l thy seed shall be a stranger 
in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve 
them; and they shall m afflict them n lour 
hundred years; 



GENESIS, XI, xn. 



Confusion ofTongi.es. 

the beginning of his kingdom— This kingdom, 
of course, though then considered great, 
would be comparatively limited in extent, 
and the towns but small forts. 11. Out of that 
land went forth Asshur— or, as the mar. has it. 
"he Nimrod) at the head of his army Wenc 
furLh into Assyria," i.e., he pushed his con- 
quests into that country, and builded Nineveh 
— opposite the town of Mosul, on the Tigris, 
and the other towns were near it. This raid 
into Assyria was an invasion of the territories 
of Shem, and hence the name "Nimrod," 
signifying "rebel," is supposed to have been 
conferred on him from his daring revolt 
against the divine distribution. 21. unto 
Shem —The historian introduces him with 
marked distinction as "the father of Eber," 
the ancestor of the Hebrews. 23. unto Aram 
—In the general division of the earth the 
countries of Armenia, Mesopotamia, and 
Syria fell to his descendants. 24. Arphaxad 
— The settlement of his posterity was in the 
extensive valley of Shinar, on the Tigris, to- 
wards the southern extremity of Mesopo- 
tamia, including the country of Eden and 
the region on the east side of the river. 25. 
Peleg; for in his days was the earth divided— 
After the flood (ch. 11. 10-16.) the descendants 
of Noah settled at pleasure, and enjoyed the 
produce of the undivided soil. But accord- 
ing to divine instruction, made probably 
through Eber, who seems to have been dis- 
tinguished for piety or a prophetic character, 
the earth was divided, and his son's name 
"Peleg" was given m memory of that event. 
See De. 32. 8; A. 17. 20. 32. after their generations, 
in their nations, &c— This division was made 
in the most orderly manner; and the inspired 
historian evidently intimates that the sons of 
Noah were ranged according to their nations, 
and every nation ranked by its families, so 
that every nation had its assigned territory, 
ana in every nation the tribes, and in every 
tribe the families were located by themselves. 
CHAPTER XI. 
Ver. 1-31. Confusion of Tongues. 1. one 
language— the descendants of Noah, united 
by the strong bond of a common language, 
had not separated, and notwithstanding the 
divine command to replenish the earth, were 
unwilling to separate. The more pious and 
well-disposed would of course obey the di- 
vine will ; but a numerous body— seemingly 
the aggressive horde mentioned ch. 10. 10,) de- 
termined to please themselves by occupying 
thefairestregiontheycameto. 2. land of Shinar 
—the fertile valley watered by the Euphrates 
andTigris was chosen as the centre of their 
union and the seat of their power. 3. brick- 
there being no stone in that quarter, brick is 
andwas the only material used for building, as 
appears in the mass of ruins which at the 
Birs Nimroud may have been the very town 
formed by those ancient rebels. Some 
of these are sun-dried — others burnt in 
the kiln and of different colours, slime— ba- 
tumen, a mineral pitch, which, when hard- 
ened, forms a strong cement, commonly used 
in Assyria to this day, and forming the mor- 
tar found on the burnt-brick remains of an- 
tiquity. 4. tower . . . reach unto heaven— a com- 
mon figurative expression for great height. 
(Deut. l. 28; 9. 1-6.) now nothing will be re- 
strained—an apparent admission that the 
design was practicable, and would have 
been executed but for the divine interposi- 
tion, lest we be scattered — to build a city 
13 



Call to Abraham,. 



and a town was no crime; but to do 
this, to defeat the counsels of heaven by 
attempting to prevent emigration, was 
foolish, wicked, and justly offensive to 
God. 7. confound their language— lit. their lip, 
it was a failure in utterance, occasioning a 
difference in dialect which was intelligible 
Only to those of the same tribe. Thus easily 
by God their purpose was defeated, and 
they were compelled to the dispersion they 
had combined to prevent. It is only from 
the Scriptures we learn the true origin of the 
different nations and languages of the world. 
By one miracle of tongues men were dispersed, 
and gradually fell from true religion. By 
another, national barriers were broken down 
—that all men might be brought back to the 
family of God. 28. Ur— (now Orfa), i.e. light, 
or fire. Its name probably derived from its 
being devoted to the rites of fire-worship. 
Terah and his family were equally infected 
with that idolatry as the rest of the inhabi- 
tants. (Josh. 24. 15.^ 31. Sarai, his daughter- 
in-law— the same as Iscah, grand daughter of 



Terah probably by a second wife, and by 
early usages considered marriageable to her 
uncle Abraham, came to Haran— two days' 



journey SS.E. from Ur, in the direct road 
to the ford of the Euphrates at Rakka, the 
nearest and most convenient route to Pales- 
tine. 

CHAPTER Xn. 
Ver. 1-20. Call to Abraham. 1. now fhe 
Lord had said— it pleased God, who has often 
been found of them who sought him not, to 
reveal himself to Abraham perhaps by a mir- 
acle- and the conversion of Abraham is one 
of the most remarkable in Bible history. 
get thee out of thy country— his being brought 
to the knowledge and worship of the 
true God had probably been a consider- 
able time before. This call included two 
promises : the first, showing the land of his 
future posterity; and the second, that in his 
posterity all the earth was to be blessed. 
Abraham obeyed, and it is frequently men- 
tioned in the N. T. as a striking instance of 
his faith (Heb. 10. 8.) 5. into the land of 
Canaan they came — With his wife and an 
orphan nephew. Abram reached his destina- 
tion in safety, and thus the first promise 
was made good. 6, the place of Sichem— or 
Shechem, a pastoral valley then unoccupied 
(cf. ch. 33. 18.). plain of Moreh— rather the 
"terebinth tree" of Moreh, very common in 
Palestine, remarkable for its wide-spreading 
branches and its dark green foliage. It is pro- 
bable that in Moreh there was a grove of 
these trees, whose inviting shade led Abram 
to choose it for an encampment. 7. unto thy 
seed . . . give this land— God was dealing with 
Abram not in his private and personal capa- 
city merely, but with a view to high and im- 
portant interests in future ages. That land 
his posterity was for centuries to inhabit as a 
peculiar people; the seeds of divine know- 
ledge were to be sown there for the benefit 
of all mankind; and cons dired in its geo- 
graphical situation, it was chosen in divine 
wisdom the fittest of ail lands to serve as the 
cradle of a divine revelation designed for 
the whole world, builded an altar— By this 
solemn act of devotion he made an open 
profession of his religion, established the 
worship of the true God, and declared his 
faith in the promise. 10. famine . . . went 
down to Egypt— did not go back to the place 



Hagar* s flight. 



GENESIS, XVI, XVII. 



Ctrcwneiswn instituted. 



14 And also ° that nation, whom thev shall 
Serve, will I judge : and afterward shall thev 
come out with great substance. 

15 And thou shalt go to thy fathers in 
peace; thou shalt be ^buried in a good old 
age. 

16 But in the fourth generation they shall 
come hither again: for the iniqaity of the 
Amorites * is not yet full. 

17 And it came to pass, that, when the 
sun went down, and it was dark, behold a 
smoking furnace, and i a burning lamp that 

. between tin: se pieces, 

18 In that same cay the Lord made a 
covenant with Abram, Baying; Unto thy 
seed r have I given this land, from the river 
of Egypt unto the great river, the river 
Euphrates: 

ly The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and 
the Kadrnonitea, 

20 And the Hittites, and the Peiizzites, 
and the Rephaims. 

21 And the Amorites. and the Canaanites, 
and the Girgashites, and the Jebu-ites. 

CHAPTER XVI. 

1 Sarai, being barren, giieih Uuoar to Abram. 
6 Hugo* fleeth from her mistress, 9 u •-• 

it to her. 15 Ishmael is born. 
YuW Sarai. Abram's wife, a bare him no 
•^ children: and she had an handmaid, an 
Egyptian, whose name was l Ilagar. 

2 And Sarai said unto Abram. Behold 
now. the Lord hath b restrained me from 
bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; 
it may be that 1 may - obtain children by 
her. And Abram hearkened to the voice 
of Sarai. 

o And Sarai. Abram's wife, took Hagar 
her maid, the Egyptian, alter Abram had 
dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and 
gave her to her husband Abram to be his 
wife, 

4 And he went in unto Hagar, and she 
conceived: and when she saw that she had 
conceived, her mistress was c despised in 
her eyes. 

5 And Sarai said unto Abram. My wrong 
be upon thee: I have given my maid into 
thy bosom ; and when she saw that she had 
conceived, I was despised in her eyes: d the 
Lord judge between me and thee. 

6 But Abram said unto Sarai. Behold, thy 
maid is hi thy hand: do to her a as it 

Eleaseth thee. And when Sarai * dealt 
ardlv with her, she tied from her face. 

7 | And the angel of the Lord found her 
by a fountain of water in the wilderness, 
by the fountain in the way to ' Shnr. 

8 And he said, Hagar. Sarai's maid. whence 
earnest thour and whither wilt thou goi 
And she said, I flee from the face of my 
mistress Sarai. 

y And the angel of the Lord said unto 
her, Return to thy unstress, and / submit 
thyself under her hands. 

10 And the 9 angel of the Lord said unto 
ber, I Mill * multiply thy seed exceedingly, 
that it shall not be numbered for multitude. 

11 And the angel of the Lord said unto 
her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt 
bear a son. and shalt call his name 5 Ish- 
mael ; because » the Lord hath heard thy 
affliction. 

12 And he will be a wild man ; his hand 
ivill be against every man. and every man's 
hand against him; and he> shall dwell in 
the presence of all his brethren. 

13 And she called the name of the Lord 

14 



B. C. 1913. 

CHAP. 15. 

Ex. 6, 6. 
Ex. 7, 14. 

p ch. 25, 8. 

Ho. 11, 13. 

lTh.2,l& 
2 Pet. 3, 
8,9. 

1 a lamp of 
fire. 

r ch. 17, 8. 
Deu:. 1, 7. 
Nu. 34, 3. 
2 Ch. 9. 2*5. 
\ . 9, £ 
Pb.107.1L 



CHAP. 16. 

a Ju. 13, 2. 

Lu. 1, 7. 

1 :r AgV, 
Gal. 4, 24. 

6 ch. 3U, 2. 

2 be builded 
bv her. 
lluth 4, 11. 

cPro. 30,23. 
d £s. 5. 21. 

3 tliat which 
is good in 
thine eyes. 

4 aniicted 
her. 

e ch. 25, 18. 
/ Ep. 6. 5-9. 
g ch. 22, 

15-18. 

M*l. 3. 1. 
k ch. 25, 12. 

5 i. e. God 
shall hear. 

i Ex. 2,23, 

at. 

J ch. 25, 18. 
k Ps. 139, 
1-12. 

6 i. e. the 
irell :f 
him that 
liveth and 
seeth me. 



CHAP. 17. 
a ch. 5. 2. 
i J:b 1. 1. 
lor .upright, 
or. sincere. 
c Gal. 3, 17. 

18. 
d Ex. 3, 6. 

2 multitude 
oi cations. 

3 i. e. father 
of a great 
multitude. 

e He. 11. 16. 
Re. 9, 7-9. 

4 of thy so- 
journinss. 

/ Pb. 48, 14. 

j I •;. %, m 

h Gal. 6, 15. 

5 a son of 
eLht da vs. 

i Ex. 4. 24. 

Jofib.6,2-7. 
6i. e, 

I liimill 
j ch. 18, 10. 

ch. 21, 1. 
TsheshaU 

become 

nations. 
* ch. 18, 12. 

ch. 21, 6. 



: that spake unto her, *Thou God seest me: 
for she said. Have I also here looked after 
him that seeth me? 

14 Wherefore the well was called 6 Beer- 
lahai-roi ; behold, it is between Kadesh and 

Bcl'ed. 

15 And Hagar bare Abram a son: and 
Abram called his son's name, which Hagar 
bare. Ishmael. 

16 And Abram v:as fourscore and six years 
old when Hagar bare Ismael to Abram. 

CHAPTER XVII. 
1 The covenant is renewed, o Abram's name 
eftanged. & Ciremmeisum instituud. Id Isaac 
uiih 'a numerous issue is promised. 

A ND when Abram was ninety years old 
xx and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, 
and said unto hhn, I a in the Almighty God ; 
a walk before me, and be thou 1 1 perfect. 

2 And I will make mv c covenant between 
me and thee, and will multiply thee ex- 
ceedingly. 

3 And Abram * fell on his face: and God 
talked with him. Ba 

4 As for me, behold, my covenant is with 
thee, and thou shalt be a father of - many 
nations. 

5 Neither shall thy name any more be 
called Abram, but thy name shall be 
3 Abraham ; for a father of many nations 
have I made thee. 

6 And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, 
and 1 will make nations of thee, and kings 
shall come out of thee. 

7 And I will establish my covenant be- 
tween me and thee and thy seed alter thee 
in their na for an everlasting co- 
venant, to be ■ a God unto thee, and to thy 
seed after thee. 

8 And 1 will give unto thee, and to thy 
seed after thee, the laud * wherein thou art 
a stranger, ail the land of Canaan, for an 
everlasting possession; and /I will be their 
God. 

9 r And God said unto Abraham, 9 Thou 
shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, 
and thy seed 'alter thee in their genera- 
tions. 

10 This is my covenant, which ye shall 
keep, between me and you and thy seed 
after thee; Every man-child among yon 
shall be circumcised. 

11 And h ye shall circumcise the flesh of 
your foreskin ; and it shah be a token of the 
covenant betwixt me and you. 

12 And 6 he that is eight days old shall be 
circumcised among yon, every man-child 
in your generations, he that* is born in 
the* house, or bought with money of any 
stranger, which is not of thy seed. 

13 He that is bom in thy house, and he 
that is bought with thy moiiey. must needs 
be circumcised: and my covenant shall be 
in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. 

14 And the uncircumeised man-child, 
whose flesh of his foreskin is not circum- 
cised, that soul shall be ' cut off from his 
people ; he hath broken my covenant. 

15 1 And God said unto Abraham. As for 
Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name 
Sarai, but G Sarah shall her mime be. 

16 And I will bless her. and - : give thee a 
son also of her: yea. I will ble>s her. and 
she shall " be a mother of nations; kings 
of people shall be oi her. 

17 Then Abraham fell upon his face, and 
* laughed, and said in his heart. >hah 
child be born unto him that is an hundr 



Return from Egypt. 



GENESIS, Xm, XIV. 



of his nativity, as regretting his pilgrimage 
and despising the promised land (He!}. 11. 15. , 
but withdrew for a while into a neighbouring 
country. 11-13. Sarai's complexion, coming 
from a mountainous country, would be fresh 
and fair compared with the faces of Egyptian 
women which were sallow. The counsel of 
Abram to her was true in words, but :t was 
a deception, intended to give an impression 
that she was no more than his sister. His 
conduct was culpable and inconsistent witn 
his character as a servant of God; it shewed 
a reliance on worldly policy more than a 
trust in the promise; and he not only sinned 
1. imself, but tempted Sarai to sin also. 14. 
was come into Egypt — It appears from the 
monuments ot that country that at the time 
of Abram's visit a monarchy had existed for 
several centuries. The seat of government 
was in the Delta, the most northern part of 
the country, the very quarter in which Abram 
must have arrived. They were a race of 
shepherd kings, in close alliance with the 
people of Canaan. 15. The woman was taken 
into Pharaoh's house— Eastern kings have for 
ages claimed the privilege of taking to their 
harem an unmarried woman whom they like. 
The father or brother may deplore the re- 
moval as a calamity, but the royal right is 
never resisted nor questioned. 16. entreated 
well for her sake— The presents are just what 
one pastoral chief would give to another. 
18-20. Here is a most humiliating rebuke, and 
Abram deserved it. Had not God interfered 
he might have been tempted to stay in Egypt, 
and forget the promise (Ps. 105. 13, 15.). Often 
still does God rebuke His people and re- 
mind them through enemies that this world 
is not their rest. 

CHAPTER XIII. 
Ver. 1-18. Return from Egypt. 1. went 
tip . . . south— Palestine being a highland coun 
try, the entrance from Egypt by its southern 
boundary is a continual ascent. 2. very rich 
— compared with the pastoral tribes to 
which Abraham belonged. An Arab sheick 
is considered rich who has a hundred or two 
hundred tents, from sixty to a hundred 
camels, a thousand sheep and goats respec- 
tively. And Abraham being very rich, must 
have far exceeded that amount of pastoral 
property. "Gold and silver" being rare 
among these people, his probably arose from 
the sale of his produce in Egypt. 3. went on 
his journeys— his progress would be by slow 
marches and frequent encampments, as he 
had to regulate his movements by the pro- 
spect of water and pasturage. 3. unto the place 
"between Beth-el and Ai— " a conspicuous hill- 
its topmost summit resting on the rocky 
slopes below, and distinguished by its olive 
groves— offering a natural base for the altar 
and a fitting shade for the tent of the patri- 
arch." [Stanley. I there Abraham called— 
he felt a strong desire to re-animate his 
faith and piety on the scene of his former 
worship : it might be to express humility 
and penitence for his misconduct in Egypt, 
or thankfulness for deliverance from perils— 
to embrace the first opportunity on return- 
ing to Canaan of leading his family to renew 
allegiance to God, and offer the typical sacri- 
fices which pointed to the blessings of the 
promise. 7-10. and there was a strife— Abra- 
ham's character appears here in a most 
amiable light. Havin? a strong sense of 
religion, he was afraid of doing anything 
11 



Lot taken Priconet. 

that might tend to injure its character or 
bring discredit on its name, and he right.y 
judged that such unhappy effects would be 
produced if two persons whom nature and 
grace had so closely connected should cone 
to a rupture. Waiving his right to dic- 
tate, he gave the freedom of choice to Lot. 
The conduct of Abraham was not only 
disinterested and peaceable, but generous 
and condescending in an extraordinary de- 
gree, exemplifying the Scripture precepts, 
Matt. 6. 32; Ko. 12. 10, 11; Phil. 2. 4. 10. Lot 
lifted up his eyes— travellers describe that 
from the top of this hill, a little " to the east 
of Bethel," they can see the Jordan, the 
broad meadows on either bank, and the 
waving line of verdure which marks the 
course of the stream. 11. then Lot chose 
him all the plain— a choice excellent in a 
worldly point of view, but most inexpe- 
dient for his best interests. He seems, 
though a good man, to have been too much 
under the influence of a selfish and covetous 
spirit; and how many, alas! imperil the good 
of their souls for the prospect of worldly ad- 
vantage. 14. lift their eyes ... all the land 
whiciithou seest— so extensive a survey of the 
country, in all directions, can be obtained 
from no other point in the neighbourhood; 
and those plains and hills, then lying deso- 
late before the eyes of the solitary patriarch, 
were to be peopled with a mighty nation 
" like the dust of the earth in number," as 
they were in Solomon's time ( 1 Kings. 4. 
20. . 18. plain of Mamre . . . built anlaltar— grove 
of Mamre— the renewal of the promise was 
acknowledged by Abram by a fresh tribute 
of devout gratitude. 

CHAPTER XIV. 
Ver. 1-24. "Wah. And it came to pass— 
This chapter presents Abram in the unex- 
pected character of a warrior. The occasion 
was this: the king of Sodom and the kings of 
the adjoining cities, after having been tribu- 
taries for twelve years to the king of Elam, 
combined to throw off his yoke. To chastise 
their rebellion,as hedeemed it, Chedorlaomer, 
with the aid of three allies, invaded the terri- 
toriesof the refractoryprinces— defeated them 
in a pitched battle, where the nature of the 
ground favoured his army, [v. 10 and hasten- 
ed in triumph on his homeward march, with 
a large amountof captives and booty, though 
merely a stranger, they took Lot, &c.--how 
would the conscience of that young man now 
upbraid him for his selfish folly and ingra- 
titude in withdrawing from his kind and 
pious relative! Whenever we go out of 
the path of duty, we put ourselves away 
from God's protection, and cannot expect 
that the choice we make will be for our last- 
ing good. 13. then came one that had escaped 
—Abram might have excused himself froia 
taking any active concern in his " brother," 
i. e. nephew, who little deserved that he 
should incur trouble or danger on his 
account. But Abram, far Irom rendering 
evil for evil, resolved to take immediate 
measures for the rescue of Lot. 14. he armed 
Ms trained servants— domestic slaves, such 
as are common in Eastern countries 
still, and are considered and treated as 
members of the family. If Abram could 
spare three hundred and eighteen slaves and 
1 leave a sufficient number to take care of his 
flocks what a large establishment he mus ; 
have had. 15, 16. he divided himself, by 



Isaac is prr 



MS, XVIII. 



Sodom's destruction rr, 



years old? and shall ' Sarah, that is ninety 
Id, bear? 

1& And Abraham said nnto God, O that 
Ishmael might live before tk 

19 And God said. m Sarah thy wife shall 
bear thee a son indeed- and thou shaft call 
his name Isaac: and I will establish my 
covenant with him lor an everlasting cove- 
rant, and with his seed after him. 

SO And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: 
Behold, I have blessed him. and will make 
him fruitful, and will n ruultiplv him ex- 
ceeding v; ° twelve princes shall he beget, 
and 1 will make him a P £rreat nation. 

21 Bat my corenant will 1 establish with 
Isaac, whilst « Sarah shall bear unto thee 
at this set time in the next year. 

22 And he left oft' r talking with him, and 
God went up from Abraham. 

ml Abraham took Ishmael his son. 
and all that were born in his house, and all 
that were bought with his money, own 
male among the men of Abraham's house, 
and circumcised the flesh of their tori skin 
in the selfsame day, as God • had said unto 
him. 

24 And Abraham teas ninety years old and 
nine when he was circumcised in the flesh 
of his foreskin. 

25 And Ishmael his son teas thirteen years 
old when he was circumcised in the flesh of 
his foreskin. 

26 In * the selfsame dav was Abraham 
circumcised, and Ishmael his son. 

27 And all the men of his M house, born 
• in the house, and bought with money of 
the stranger, were circumcised with him. 

CHAPTER XVIII. 
1 Abraham eniertaineth three angels. 9 Sarah 
rep,;nci. 17 Dtstrmctkm of Sodom revealed 
to Abraham: Z9 he intercedes for it. 

A N D the Lokd a appeared unto him in 
■^ the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the 
tent door in the heat of the dav; 

2 And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, 
lo. b three men stood by him: and. when he 
saw iktm, he c ran to meet them from the 
tent door, and bowed himself toward the 
ground, 

3 And said. My Lord, if now I have found 
favour in thy s"ight, pass not away, I pray 
thee, from thy servant: 

4 Let a little water. I pray you. be fetched, 
and d wash your feet, and rest yourselves 
under the tree: 

5 And I will fetch a morsel of bread, and 
l comfort ye your hearts ; after that ye shall 
pass on: for therefore - are ye come to your 
servant. And they said, So do, as thou 
hast said. 

6 And Abraham hastened into the tent 
unto Sarah, and said, 3 .Make ready quieklv 
three measures of tine meal, knead it, and 
make cakes upon the hearth. 

I Abraham ran mito the herd, and 
fetched a call tender and good, and gave it 
unto a young man; and he hasted to dress 
it. 

8 And he took butter, and milk, and the 
calf which he had dressed, and set it before 
them ; and he stood by them under the tree, 
and they did eat, 

9 1 And they said unto him. Where u 
Sarah thy wife ? And he said, Behold, e in 
the tent. 

1" And he said. I will certainly return 

\mto thee according to the time of lite; 

and, lo, Sarah thy a i^e / shall have a son. 

15 



B C. UN 



CHAP. IT. 

m ch. IS. 10. 

ch. 2i, a. 

Gal. 4- 

25-31. 
n ch. 16, 10. 

o ch. 25, 
12-16. 
p ch. 21. 18 

r ch. 18. 33. 

ch. 35, 

9-15. 
a vcr. 9. 
t Ps. 119, 60. 
u ch. 18, 19. 
V ch. 14, IV 



CHAP. IS. 

a ch. 13, 18. 

ch. 14, 13. 

Acu 7, 2. 

b v er . 22. 

eh. 19, 1. 
C Heb. 13, 2. 

d ch. 24. o2. 
ch. 43, 24. 
I 1 mmj. 

2 tcu h»r« 

3 Hasten. 

e ch. 24, 67. 
Tit. 2, 6. 

/ch. 21.2. 
Luke 1, 13 
Rom. 9. 9. 

a Bom. 4. 19. 

h He. 11. 11. 

t Luke 1.18. 

/ 1 Pet. 3. 6. 

* P». 116. 3. 
Jer. 32.17. 
Zeeh. 8, 6. 
M*t . 3, 9. 
Mat. 19,26. 
Luke 1.3". 
Rom. 4. 21. 
He. 11. 19. 

I P.. 25. 14. 

Amos 3, 7. 

John 16. 16. 

m P.. ?J. 17. 

Ac. 3. 25. 

Gil. 3, 8. 
n Deu. 6, 

6 7. 

Jos. 24. 16. 

o eh. 4. 10. 

ch. 19, 13. 

J*. 5. 4. 

| p ch. 11, 6. 

< Ex. 3. 8. 

I Ps. 14. 2. 

He. 4. 13. 

I 

| r Nu. 16 22. 

Ps.11,4-7. 

• Mat. 7, 13, 
14. 

i t Is. 3, 10, 
11. 

u Job 8, a 

a*. 

i 

Ps. 68. 11. 
Ps. 94. 2. 

R-.3 5.6. 
P Jer. 5. 1. 

- 
to Lu. 18, 1. 
s Ps. 8. 4. 

| ylTh.5.17. 
z Is. 55.8,9. 

| a Hob. 4, 16. 



And Sarah heard it in the tent door, i hub 

hind him. 
11 Now Abraham and Sarah urrc ° old 
and well stricken in age; and 
be with Sarah after the h manner of women. 
1- Therefore Sarah laughed within herself; 
i After I am waxed old shall 1 have 
pleasure, my i lord being old also? 

13 And the Lord 6aid unto Abraham, 
"Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shau 
I of a surety bear a child, which am old? 

14 Is any thing k too hard lor the Lord? 
At the time appointed I will return unto 
thee, according to the time of life, and 
Sarah shall have a son. 

15 Then Sarah denied, saying, I lanched 
not ; for she was afraid. And lie said, N ay ; 
but thou didst laugh. 

16 1 And the nun rose up from thence, 
and looked toward Sodom: and Abraham 
went with them to bring them on the way. 

17 And the Lord said. 1 Shall I hide Irora 
Abraham that thing which I do; 

IB Sea ing that Abraham shall surely be- 
come a great and mighty nation, and all 
the nations of the earth shall "*be I 
in him? 

IV Lor I know him. that he ** will command 
his children and his household after him, 
and they shall keep the way of the Lokd, 
to do justice and judgment ; that the Lokd 
mav bring upon Abraham that which he 
hath spoken of him. 

20 And the Lord said. Because "the cry 
of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and be- 
cause their sin is very griev. 

21 I will go down now, p and see whether 
they have done altogether according to the 
cry of it. which is come unto me; and if 
not. I will know. 

22 And the men turned their faces from 
thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abra- 
ham stood yet before the q Lord. 

23 r And Abraham drew near, and said, 
r Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with 
the wicked? 

24 Peradvcntnre there be • fiftv righteous 
within the city: wilt thou also destroy and 
not spare the place for the fifty righteous 
that are therein? 

25 That be far from thee to do after this 
manner, to slay the righteous with the 
wicked: and that the 'righteous should be 
as the wicked, that be far from thee: ■ Shall 
not the Judge of all the earth do right ! 

26 And the Lord said, v If 1 tind in Sodom 

zhteooB within the city, then I will 
spare all the place for their sakes. 

27 And Abraham answered and said, * Be- 
hold now, 1 have taken upon me to speak 
unto the Lord which am but * dust and 
ashes: 

28 Beradventure there shall lack five of 
the fiftv righteous: wilt thou destroy all the 
citv for lack of five? And he said, If 1 tind 
there forty and five, 1 will not destroy it. 

29 And he spake unto him yet * again, and 
said. Beradventure there shnll be forty 
found there. And he said, I will not do it 
for forty's sake. 

o<i And he said unto him, * Oh let not the 
Lord be angry, and 1 will speak] I 
venture there* shall thirty be found there. 
And he said, 1 will not do it if 1 find thirty 
there. 

31 And he said. Behold now, a I have taken 
upon me to speak unto the Lord: lVrad- 
venture there shall be twenty found there. 



Divine Encouragement. 



GENESIS. XV, XVI. 



Bedovmwrd oj Ha/jar. 



night— thi« war between the potty princes of 
ancient Canaan is exactly the same as the 
frays and skirmishes between Arab chiefs in 

the present day. When a defeated party re- 
solve to pursue the enemy, they wait till 
they are fast asleep— then, as they have no 
idea of posting sentinels, they rush upon 
them from different direction-, strike down 
the tent poles— if there is any fight at ail. it 
is the fray of a tumultuous mob— a panic 
commonly ensues, and the whole contest is 
ended with little or no loss on either side. 
18. Melchisedec— this victory conferred a pub- 
lic benefit on that part of the country; and 
Abrarn, on his return, was treated with high 
respect and consideration. particularly by the 
kin;,' of Sodom and MelclnSedec. who seems 
to have been one of the few native princes, 
if not the only one who knew and worshipped 
" the Most High God," whom Abrarn served. 
This king, who was a type of the Saviour, 
(Heb. 7. 1 came to bless God for the victory 
which had been won, and in the name of God 
to bless Abrarn, by whose arms it had been 
achieved— a pious acknowledgment which 
we should imitate on succeeding in any law- 
ful enterprise 20. he gave him tithes cf ail- 
here is an evidence of Abram's piety, as well 
as of his valour; for it was to a priest or 
official mediator between God and him, 
that Abrarn gave a tenth of the spoil— a token 
of his gratitude and in honour of a divine 
ordinance Pro. 11. . 21. the king of Sodom. 
. . . give . . .persons — according to the war 
customs still existing among the Arab tribes, 
Abrarn might have retained the recovered 
good— and his right was acknowledged by 
the king of Sodom. But with honest pride, 
and a generosity unknown in that part of the 
world, he replied with strong phraseology 
common to the East, " I have lifted up mine 
hand, i. e., I have sworn unto the Lord that 
I will not take from a thread even to a sandal- 
thong— that I will not take anything that is 
thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made 
Abrarn rich." 

CHAPTER XV. 
Ver. 1-21. Divine Encouragement*. After 
these things— the conquest of the invading! 
kings, the word of the Lord— a phrase used, 
when connected with a vision, to denote a| 
prophetic message. Pear not, Abrarn— When 
the excitement of the enterprise was over 
he had become a prey to despondency and 
terror at the probable revenge that might be 
meditated against him. To dispel his fear, 
he was favoured with this gracious announce- 
ment. Having such a promise, how well did 
it become him, and all God's people who have 
the same promise, to dismiss their fears, and 
cast their burdens on the Lord Ps. 27. 3.). 2. ! 
Lord God. what wilt thou give 1 ?— to his mind the 
declaration. "I am thy exceeding great re- 
ward," had but one meaning, or was viewed ; 
but in one particular light, as bearing on the 
fulfilment of the promise, and he was still 
experiencing the sickness of hope deferred, i 
Eliezer, of Damascus, mine heir— according to 
the usage of Nomadic tribes, his chief con- 
fidential servant would be heir to his pos- 
sessions and honours. But this man could 
have become his son only by adoption; and 
how sadly would that have come short of the 
parental hopes he had been encouraged to 
entertain ! His language betrayed a latent 
spirit of fretfulness, or perhaps a temporary 
failure in the very virtue for which he is so 
15 ' 



renowned— an absolute submission to God's 
time as well as way of accomplishing His 
promise. 4. This shall not be thine heir— To 
the first part of his address no reply was 
given; but having renewed it in a spirit of 
more becoming submission, "whereby shall 
I know that 1 shall inherit it,** he was de- 
lighted by a most explicit promise of Ca- 
naan, which was immediately confirmed by 
a remarkable ceremony. 9-12. Take ... an 
heifer, Ac— On occasions of great impor- 
tance, when two or more parties join in a 
compact, they either observe precisely the 
same rites as Abrarn did, or, where they do 
not, they invoke the lamp as their witness. 
According to these ideas, which have been 
from time immemorial engraven on the 
minds of eastern people, the Lord himself 
condescended to enter into covenant with 
Abrarn. The patriarch did not pass between 
the sacrifice, and the reason was that in this 
transaction he was bound to nothing. He 
a-ked a sign, and God was pleased to give him 
a sign, by which, according to eastern ideas, 
he bound himself. In tike manner God ha.s 
entered into covenant with us ; and in the 
glory of the Only Begotten Son, who passed 
through between God and us, all who be- 
lieve have, like Abrarn. a sign or pledge in 
the gift of the Spirit, whereby they may know 
that they shall inherit the heavenly Canaan. 
CHAPTER XVI. 
Ver. 1-10. Be-.tow.mest of Hagar. 
Now Sarai . . . had a handmaid — a female 
slave— one of those obtained in Egypt. 3. 
Sarai gave her to . . . Abrarn to wife— wife is 
here used to describe an inferior, though not 
degrading relation, in countries where 
polygamy prevails. In the case of these 
female slaves, which are the personal pro- 
perty of his lady, being purchased before 
her marriage or given as a special present to 
herself— no one can become the husband's 
secondary wife without her mistress' con- 
sent or permission. This usage seems to 
have prevailed in patriarchal times; and 
Hagar. the slave of Sarai, of whom she had 
the entire right of disposing, was given by her 
mistress' spontaneous offer, to be the secon- 
dary wife of Abrarn, in the hope of obtain- 
ing the long-looked for heir. It was a wrong 
step — indicating a want of simple reliance 
on God— and Sarah was the first to reap the 
bitter fruits of her device. 5. And Sarai 
said. My wrong, <kc— Bursts of temper, or 
blows, as the original may bear.took place, till 
at length Hagar, perceiving the hopelessness 
of maintaining the unequal strife, resolved 
to escape from what had become to her in re- 
ality, as well as in name, a house of bondage. 
7. And the angel . . . found her by a fountain — 
This well, pointed out by tradition, lay on the 
side of the caravan road, in the midst of 
Shur, a sandy desert on the west of Arabia 
Petrsea, to the extent of 150 miles, between 
Palestine and Egypt. By taking that direc- 
tion, she seems to have intended to return 
to her relatives in that country. Nothing 
but pride, passion, and sullen obstinacy, 
could have driven any solitary person to 
brave the dangers of such an inhospitable 
wild; and she must have died, had not the 
timely appearance and words of the angel 
recalled her to reflection and duty. 11. 
Ishmael— Like other Hebrew names, this 
had a signification, and it is made up of 
two words — M God hears." The reason is 



Lot entei'tains two angels. 



GENESIS, XIX. 



The destruction of Sodom 



And he said, 1 will not destroy it for twenty's 
Bake. 

32 And he said, & Oh let not the Lord he 
angry, and I will speak yet but this once! 
l'eradventure ten shall be found there. 
And he said, c I will not destroy it for ten's 
sake. 

33 And the Lord went his wav, as soon as 
he had left communing with Abraham: and 
Abraham returned unto his place. 

CHAPTER XIX. 

1 Lot entertaineth two angels; 4 The vicious Sodo- 
mites stricken with blindness. 17 He is directed 
to flee to the mountain. 24 Sodom and Gomor- 
rah destrmjed. 26 Lot's wife punished. 31 Origin 
of M*ib and Ammon. 

AND there came ° two angels to Sodom 
"■ at even ; and Lot sat in the gate of 
Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose up to 
meet them ; and he bowed himself with his 
face toward the ground: 

2 And he said, Behold now, my lords, 
* turn in, I pray you, into your servant's 
house, and tarry all night, and wash your 
feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on 
your wavs. And they said, Nay; e but we 
will abide in the street all night. 

3 And he pressed upon them greatly; and 
they turned in unto nim, and entered into 
his "bouse ; d and he made them a feast, and 
did bake unleavened bread,and they did eat. 

4 f Hut, before they lay down, the men of 
the city, even the men of Sodom, com- 
passed the house round, both old and young, 
all the people from every quarter: 

5 * And they called unto Lot, and said 
unto him, / Where are the men which 
came in to thee this night? bring them out 
unto us, that we may know them. 

6 And 9 Lot went out at the door unto 
them, and shut the door after him, 

7 And said, I pray you, brethren, do not 
bo wickedly. 

8 Behold now, I have two daughters which 
have not known man; let me, I pray you, 
bring them out unto you, and do ye to tnem 
as is good in your eyes: only unto these 
men do nothing; for « therefore came they 
under the shadow of my roof. 

9 And they said, Stand back. And they 
said again, » This one fellow came in to 
sojourn, and he will needs be a judge: now 
will we deal worse with thee than with 
them. And they pressed sore upon the 
man, even Lot, and came near to break 
the door. 

10 But the men put forth their hand, and 
pulled Lot into the house to them, and shut 
to the door. 

11 And they smote the men that were at 
the door of the house with i blindness, both 
small and great ; so that they wearied them- 
selves to find the door. 

12 11 And the men said unto Lot, * Hast 
thou here any besides? son-in-law, and thy 
sons, and thy daughters, and whatsoever 
thou hast in the city, * bring them out of 
this place: 

13 For we will destroy this place, because 
the cry of them is waxen great before the 
face ot the Lord ; and the Lord hath m sent 
us to destroy it. 

14 And Lot went out, and spake unto his 
sons-in-law, -which n married his daughters, 
and said, ° Up, get you out of this place ; 
for the Lord will destroy this city. But he 
seemed p as one that mocked unto his sons- 
in-law 

16 



B. C. 1898. 



ClIAP. 18. 

b Jud. 6, 89. 

c Ex. 34. 6,7. 

Ja. 5, 16. 

CHAP. 19. 
a ch. 18, 2. 

b He'b. 13, 2. 
c Luko 24, 

28> 
d ch. 18, 8. 
e Isa. 3, ». 
/ch. 4, 1. 

Jud. 19, 22. 

Rom. 1, 24. 

Judo 7- 
flfJud.19,24. 
h ch. 18, 6. 
» Ex. 2, 14. 

Acts 7, 

20-28. 

2 Pet, 2, 7, 

8. 
j 2 Kl. 8. 18. 

Ac. 13, 11. 
* Jos. 6, 22. 
I ch. 7, 1. 

2 Pet. 2, 7. 
m 1 Chr. 21, 

15. 
n Mat. 1,18. 

Num. 16, 
21,45. 
Jer. 51, 6, 
46. 

Rev. 18, 4. 
p Ex. 9, 21. 
Luke 17, 
28-30. 
Lu. 24,11. 

1 are found. 

2 or, pun- 
ishment. 

g 1 Sa. 2, 9. 

P». 31. 23. 

Ps. 34, 22. 

Ps. 97, 10. 

Ps. 145. 20. 

ProT. 2, 8. 

Ep. 2, 4, 6. 
r He. 2, 3. 
e ver. 26. 
t 1 Tim. 1, 

14 It] 

3 i\rj foe. 
Job 42, 9. 

1 Sam. 25, 
85. 

Pi. 145. 19. 
u ch. 13. 10. 
ch. 14, 2. 

4 i. e. littL. 

5 gone forth. 
V Deut. 29, 

33. 

Ps. 11, 6. 

Amos 4,11. 

Zoph. 2, 9. 

Luke 17, 

29. 

2 Pet. 2, 6. 
Jude 7. 

w ch. 14. 3. 

Ps.107,34. 
X Luke 17, 

31. 
y ch. 18, 22. 
z Rev. 18, 9. 
a ch. 8, 1. 

ch. 18, 23. 
b ver. 17, 19. 
cch. 16. 2,4. 

ch. 38. 8. 

De. 26, 6. 
d Luke 21, 

to. 

« Mark 12, 
19. 



15 If And when the morning arose, then 
the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, 
take thy wife, and thy two daughters, 
which J are here; lest thou be consumed 
in 2 the iniouity of the city. 

16 And, while he lingered, the men laid 
hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of 
his wife, and upon the hand of fads two 
daughters; q the Lord being merciful unto 
him: and they brought him forth, and set 
him without the city. 

17 And it came to pass, when they had" 
brought them forth abroad, that he said. 
r Escape for thy life; * look not behind 
thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; 
escape to the mountain, lest thou be con- 
sumed. 

18 And Lot said unto them, Oh! not so, 
my lord: 

19 Behold now, thy servant hath found 
grace in thy sight, and * thou hast magni- 
fied thy mercy, which thou hast showed 
unto me in saving my life; and 1 cannot 
escape to the mountain, lest some evil take 
me, and I the: 

20 Behold now, this city is near to flee 
unto, and it is a little one: Oh! let me 
escape thither, (is it not a little one'.) 
and my soul shall live. 

21 And he said unto him, See, I have ac- 
cepted 3 thee concerning this thing also, 
that I will not overthrow this city, for the 
which thou hast spoken. 

22 Haste thee, escape thither ; for I 
cannot do any thing till thou be come 
thither. Therofore the name of the city 
was u called 4 Zoar. 

23 The sun was 5 risen upon the eartn 
when Lot entered into Zoar. 

24 Then v the Lord rained upon Sodom 
and upon Gomorrah brimstone and the 
from the Lord out of heaven ; 

25 And he overthrew those cities, and all 
*" the plain, and all the inhabitants of 
the cities, and that which grew upon the 
ground. 

26 But his wife * looked back from behind 
him, and she became a pillar of salt. 

27 And Abraham gat up early in the 
morning to the place where v he stood be- 
fore the Lord: 

28 And he looked toward Sodom and Go- 
morrah, and toward all the land of the 
plain, and beheld, and, lo, * the smoke of 
the country went up as the smoke of a 
furnace. 

29 H And it came to pass, when God de- 
stroyed the cities of the plain, that God 
"remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out 
of the midst of the overtlirow, when he 
overthrew the cities in the which Lot 
dwelt. 

30 IT And Lot went up out of Zoar, and 
* dwelt in the mountain, and his two 
daughters with him- for he feared to dwell 
in Zoar: and he dwelt in a cave, he and his 
two daughters. 

31 And the first-born said unto the youn- 
ger, Our father is old, and there is not a 
man in the earth c to come in unto us after 
the manner of all the earth: 

32 Come, d let us make our father drink 
wine, and we will lie with him, e that we 
may preserve seed of our father. 

33 And they made their father drink wine 
that mght: and the first-born went in, and 
lay with her father; and he perceived not 
when she lay down, nor when she arose. 



Renev;al oj the Covenant. 



genesis, xvn, xvm. 



Entertainment of Angels. 



explained. 12. a wild man— lit. a,v;ildassman, and his posterity, and that in him and his 
expressing how the wildness of Ishmael seed all nations should be blessed. 15 19. 
and his descendants resembles that of the As for Sarai ... a son— God's purposes are 
wild ass. His hand shall he against every gradually made known. A son had been Ions 
man, and every man's hand against him — de- ago promised to Abraham. Now, at length, 
scriptive of the rude, turbulent and plunder- for the first time he is informed that it was 
ing character of the Arabs, dwell in the to be a child of Sarai. 17. Abraham fell on 
presence of all bis brethren— dwell, i. e. pitch his face, and laughed— It was not the sneer 
tents; and the meaning is that they main-i of unbelief, but a smile of delight at the 
tain their independence in spite of all at- 1 improbability of the event (R. 4. 20.). 18. 
tempts to extirpate or subdue them. 13.10 that Ishmael — natural solicitude of a 
called the name— common in ancient times parent. But God's thoughts are not as 
to name places from circumstances; and the man's thoughts. 19-20. The blessings of the 
name given to this well was a grateful re- covenant are reserved for Isaac, but common 



cognition of God's gracious appearance in 
the hour of her distress. 

CHAPTER XVn. 

Ver. 1-20. Renewal of the Covenant. 

Abram ninety and nine years old— Thirteen 

years after the birth of Ishmael. During 

that interval he had enjoyed the comforts 



blessings were abundantly promised to Ish- 
mael; and though the visible Church did not 
descend from his family, yet personally he 
might, and it is to be hoped did, enjoy its 

benefits. 

CHAPTER XVIII. 
Ver. 1-8. Entertainment of Angels. 



of communion with God, but had been the Lord appeared— another manifestation of 
favoured with no special revelation as for-! the divine presence, more familiar than any 
merly, probably on account of his hasty . yet narrated; and more like that in the ful- 
and blameable marriage with Hagar. The ness of time, when the Word was made 
Lord appeared — some visible manifestation I flesh, plains of Mamre— rather terebinth or 
of the* divine presence, probably the she- oak of Mamre— a tall-spreading tree or grove 
chinah or radiant glory of overpowering of trees, sat in the tent door— the tent itself 
effulgence. I am the Almighty God— the name being too close and sultry at noon, the shaded 
by which He made himseh known to the j open front is usually resorted to for the 
patriarchs, Ex. 6. 3, designed to convey the , air that may be stirring. 2. lift up his 
sense of "all-sufficient" Ps. 16. 5,6; 73. 25.). eyes, and lo, three men— travellers in that 
walk. ..and be perfect— upright, sincere, Ps. 41. 1 quarter start at sunrise and continue till 
6, in heart, speech, and behaviour. 3. Abram i mid day, when they look out for some rest- 
fell on his face— the attitude of profoundest ing-place. ran to meet them— when the visi- 
reverence assumed by eastern people. It I tor is an ordinary person, they merely rise; 



consists in the prostrate body resting on the 
hands and knees, with the face bent till the 
forehead touches the ground. It is an ex- 



but if of superior rank, the custom is to ad- 
vance a little towards the stranger, and after 
a very low bow, turn and lead him to the 



pression of conscious humility and profound tent— putting an arm round his waist, or 



reverence. 4. My covenant is with thee— re 
newed mention is made of it as the found 



tapping him on the shoulder as they go, to 
assure him of welcome. 3. My Lord, if new I 



ation of the communication that follows. It have found favour— the hospitalities offered 
is the covenant of grace made with all who are just of the kind that are necessary and 
believe in the Saviour. 5. name shall be Abra- most grateful, the refreshment of water for 
ham— In eastern countries a change of name is j feet exposed to dust and heat by the sandals 



an advertisement of some new circumstance 
in the history, rank, or religion of the indivi 



being still the first observed amongst the 
pastoral people of Hebron. 5. for therefore 



dual who bears it. The change is made j are ye come— no questions were asked. But 
variously, by the old name being entirely j Abraham knew their object by the course 
dropped for the new, or by conjoining the ' they took— approaching directly in front of 
new with the old, or sometimes only a few , the chief shieck's tent, which is always dis- 
letters are inserted, so that the altered form j tinguishable from the rest, and thus showing 
may express the difference in the owner's | their wish to be his guests. 6. Abraham 
state or prospects. It is surprising how soon i hastened unto Sarah . . . make cakes upon the 
a new name is known and its import spread ! hearth— bread is baked daily and no more 
through the country. In dealing with Abra- i than is required for family use, and always 
ham and Sarai, God was pleased to adopt by the women, commonly the wife. It is a 
His procedure to the ideas and customs of: short process. Flour mixed with water is 
the country and age. Instead of Abram, "a made into dough, and being rolled out into 
high father," he was to be called Abraham, i cakes, it is placed on the earthen floor, pre- 
father of a multitude of nations Rev. 2. 17.). j viously heated by a fire. The fire being re- 



6-8. I will give . . . the land— It had been pre 
viously promised to Abraham and his pos 



moved, the cakes are laid on the ground, 
and being covered over with hot embers, 



terity (ch. 15. 18.). Here it is promised as an are soon baked, and eaten the moment 



"everlasting possession," and was, therefore, 
a type of heaven, "the better country" (Heb. 



they are taken off. 7. Abraham ran unto 
the herd, and fetched a calf— animal food is 



11. 16.). 10. Every man-child . . . circumcised never provided except for visitors of a supe- 
— This was the sign in the O. T. Church as rior rank, when a kid or lamb is killed. A 
baptism is in the N\, and hence the covenant calf is still a higher stretch of hospitality, 
is called "covenant of circumcision" (A. 7. 8; and it would probably be cooked as is usu- 
R. 4. 11.). The terms of the covenant were ally done when haste is required— either by 
these— on the one hand Abraham and his roasting it whole or by cutting it up into 
seed were to observe the rite of circumcision; small pieces and broiling them on skewers 
and on the other, God promised, in the event over the fire. It is always eaten along with 
of such observance, to give them Canaan for boiled corn swimming in butter or melted 
a perpetual possession, to be a God to him ' fat, into which every morsel of meat, laid 
10 



Abimelech reproved by God. 



GENESIS, XX, XXI. 



The birth of Tsaao. 



CHAP. 20. 
a ch. 18, 1. 
b ch. 26, 6. 
e ch. 12, 

11-13. 

ch. 26, 7. 
d ch. 12, 16. 
t Ps. 105, 4. 



34 And it came to pass on the morrow, i b. c. 1898. 

that the first-born said unto the younger, 

Behold, I lay yesternight with my father: chap. 19 
let us make him drink wine this night also ; I / Deu. 2, 9. 
and go thou in, and lie with him, that we " Deu - 2 * 19 
may preserve seed of our father. 

35 And they made their father drink wine 
that night also: and the younger arose, and 
lay with him ; and he perceived not when 
she lay down, nor when she arose. 

36 Thus were both the daughters of Lot 
with child by their father. 

37 And the first-born bare a son, and 
called his name Moab: the /same is the '££33 15 
father of the Moabites unto this day. g°er.i'. ' 

38 And the younger, she also bare a son, 1 married to 
and called his name Ben-animi: the 9 same an hua- 
is the father of the children of Amnion band - 
unto this day. j h ft}?> 

CHAPTER XX. !2or,s?m- 

1 Abraham denieth his wife, and Abimelech taketh j plicity, or, 
her: 14 he restart th her with presents. | sincerity. 

A ND Abraham journeyed from a thence ; t ch. 35, 5. 
■"■ toward the south country, and dwelled j Ex - 3*> *■ 
between Kadesh and Shur, and sojourned ■ 
in b Gerar. 

2 And c Abraham said of Sarah his wife, 
She is my sister: and Abimelech king of 
Gerar sent and d took Sarah. 

3 But God e came to Abimelech / in a 
dream by night, and said to him, Behold, 
thou art but g a dead man, for the woman 
which thou hast taken; for she is l a man's 
wife. 

4 But Abimelech had not come near her: 
and he said, Lord, * wilt thou slay also a 
righteous nation? 

Said he not unto me, She is my sister? 
and she, even she herself said, He is my 
brother: in the 2 integrity of my heart, and 
innocency of my hands, nave I done this. 

6 And God said unto him in a dream, Yea, 
I know that thou didst this in the integrity 
of thy heart; for I also * withheld thee from 
sinning against me: therefore suffered I 
thee not to touch her. 

7 Mow therefore restore the man his wife; 
for he is a prophet, and i he shall pray for 
thee, and thou shalt live: and if thou re- 
store her not, know thou that thou shalt 
surely die, thou, and all that are thine. 

8 Therefore Abimelech rose early in the 
morning, and called all his servants, and 
told all these things in their ears: and the 
men were sore afraid. 

9 Then Abimelech called Abraham, and 
said unto him, What hast thou done unto 
us? and what have I offended thee, that 
thou hast brought on me and on my king- 
dom * a great sin? thou hast done deeds 
unto me that ought not to be done. 

10 And Abimelech said unto Abraham, 
What sawest thou, that thou hast done this 
thing? 

11 And Abraham said, Because I thought, 
* Surely the fear of God is not in this 
place ; and they will slay me for my wile's 
sake. 

12 And m yet indeed she is my sister; she 
is the daughter of my father, but not the 
daughter of my mother; and she became 
my wife. 

13 And it came to pass, when n God caused 
me to wander from my father's house, that 

1 said unto her, This is thy kindness which 
thou shalt show unto me; at every place 
whither we shall come, say of me, ° He is 
my brother 

17 



I 26,34. 
j 1 Sam.7, 6. 

2 Ki. 5, 11. 

Job 42, 8. 

James 5, 

14-16. 

1 Jn. 5, 16. 

* ch. 39, 9. 
Josh. 7,25. 

I ch. 42, 18. 

Ne. 5, 15. 

Pro. 16, 6. 
m ch. 11, 29. 
*» ch. 12, 1, 

9,11. 
O ch. 12, 13. 
p ch. 12, 16. 
q ch. 13, 9. 

ch. 47, 6. 
3 as is rood 

in thine 

eyes. 
r ver. 6. 
8 Job 42, 8. 

J a. 5, 16. 

* ch. 12, 17. 



CHAP. 21. 

a 1 Sa. 2, 21. 
6 ch. 17, 19. 

ch. 18, 10, 

14. 

Gal. 4, 23. 
e AcU 7, 8. 

He. 11, 11. 
d «k. 17, 19. 
e eh. 17, 

10-12. 
/ Ps. 126, 2. 

lsa. 54, 1. 
g Luke 1, 

14,58. 
h ch. 18, 11, 

12. 
i ch. 16, 1, 4, 

15. 
j Gal. 4, 29. 
k ch. 25, 6, 

ch.36, 6,7. 

Gal. 4, 30, 

31. 

I ch. 17, 18. 

to Ro. 9, 7. 

Heb. 11, 

18. 

n ch. 16, 10. 

ch. 17, 20. 

ch. 25, 12. 
John 8, 35. 
p Nu. 20, 5. 

Ps. 63, 1. 
9 ch. 44, 34. 



14 And Abimelech took^ sheep, and oxen, 
and men-servants, and women-servants, 
and gave them unto Abraham, and restor- 
ed him Sarah his wife. 

15 And Abimelech said, q Behold, my land 
is before thee: dwell 3 where it pleasetb. 
thee. 

16 And unto Sarah he said, Behold, I have 
given thy r brother a thousand pieces of sil- 
ver: behold, he is to thee a covering of the 



eyes, unto all that are with thee, and with 
all other: thus she was reproved. 

17 So Abraham 8 prayed unto God: and 
God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and 
his maid-servants ; and they bare children. 

18 For the Lord had * fast closed up all 
the wombs of the house of Abimelech. be- 
cause of Sarah, Abraham's wife. 

CHAPTER XXI. 

2 Isaac is born, y Hagar and Ishmael east forth: 
17 an angel comforte'th her. 22 Abimelech makes 
a covenant with Abraham. 

AND the Lord a visited Sarah as he had 
■ £ ^- said, and the Lord did unto Sarah b as 
he had spoken. 

2 For Sarah conceived, e and bare Abra- 
ham a son in his old age, at the set time of 
which God had spoken to him. 

3 And Abraham d called the name of his 
son that was born unto him, whom Sarah 
bare to him, Isaac. 

4 And Abraham e circumcised his son 
Isaac being eight days old, as God had 
commanded him. 

5 And Abraham was an hundred years old 
when his son Isaac was born unto him. 

6 And Sarah said, /God hath made me to 
laugh, so tlxat all that hear will ° laugh with 
me. 

7 And she said, Who would have said unto 
Abraham, that Sarah should have given 
children suck? h for I have born him a son 
in his old age. 

8 And the child grew, and was weaned: 
and Abraham made a great feast the same 
day that Isaac was weaned. 

9 IT And Sarah saw the * son of Hagar the 
Egyptian, which she had born unto Abra- 
ham, i mocking. 

10 Wherefore she said unto Abraham, 
* Cast out this bond-woman and her son: 
for the son of this bond-woman shall not 
be hek with my son, even with Isaac. 

11 And the thing was very l grievous in 
Abraham's sight because of bis son. 

12 And God said unto Abraham, Let it 
not be grievous in thy sight because of the 
lad, and because of thy bond-woman ; in all 
that Sarah hath said unto thee, htarktn 
unto her voice; for "* in Isaac shall thy 
seed be called. 

13 And also n of the son of the bond-wo- 
man will I make a nation, because he is 
thy seed. , . 

14 And Abraham rose up early m the 
morning, and took bread and a bottle of 
water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it 
on her shoulder, and the child, and ° sent 
her away. And she departed, and wander- 
ed in the wilderness of Beer-sheba. 

15 And p the water was spent in the bot- 
tle, and she cast the child under one of the 
shrubs. 

16 And she went, and sat her down over 
against him a good way off, as it were a 
bow-shot; for she said, * Let me not see the 
death of the child. And she sat over against 
him, and lift up hor voice, and wept. 



Abraham's Intercession. 



GENESIS, XIX. 



Lot's Entertainment. 



upon a piece of bread, is dipped, before 
being conveyed by the fingers to the 
mouth, milk— a bowl of camel's milk 
ends the repast, he stood by them under the 
tree— the host himself, even though he has a 
number of servants, deems it a necessary act 
of politeness to stand while his guests are at 
their food, and Abraham evidently did this 
before he was aware of the real character of 
his visitors. 

9-15. Reproof of Sarah. An inquiry 
about his wife, so surprising in strangers— 
the subject of conversation, and the fulfil- 
ment of the fondly-cherished promise within 
a specified time, showed Abraham that he 
had been entertaining more than ordinary 
travellers (Reb. 13. 2.). 10. Sarah . . . tent . . . 
door . . . behind— the women's apartment is in 
the back of the tent, divided by a thin par- 
tition from the men's. 12. laughed within 
herself— long delay seems to have weakened 
faith. Sarah treated the announcement as 
incredible, and when taxed with the silent 
sneer, she added falsehood to distrust. It 
was an aggravated offence (Acts 5. 4), and 
nothing but grace saved her (Ro. 9. 18.). 

16-22. Disclosure of Sodom's Doom. 
men rose , . Abraham went with them— it is 
customary for a host to escort his guests a 
little way. 17. the Lord said, Shall I hide— 
the chief stranger— no other than the Lord 
disclosed to Abraham the awful doom about 
to be inflicted on Sodom and the cities of the 

flain for their enormous wickedness. 20. 
will go down and see— language used after 
the manner of men. These cities were to be 
made ensamples to all future ages of God's 
severity; and therefore ample proof given 
that the judgment was neither rash nor ex- 
cessive (Ez. 18. 23; Jer. 18. 7.). 

23-33. Abraham's iNTERCEsrioN. Abra- 
ham drew near, &c— the scene described is 
full of interest and instruction— showing in 
an unmistakeable manner the efficacy of 

Srayer and intercession. (See also Pro. 15. 8, 
a. 5. 16.) Abraham reasoned justly as to 
the rectitude of the divine procedure Ro. 3. 
5, 6.), and many guilty cities and nations 
have been spared on account of God's people 
(Matth. 5. 13; Matth. 24. 22.). 33. the Lord 
left communing, and Abraham returned to his 
place— why did Abraham cease to carry his 
intercessions farther ? Either because he 
fondly thought that he was now sure of the 
cities being preserved (Luke 13.9.), or because 
the Lord restrained his mind from farther 
intercession (Jer. 7. 16; 11. 14.). But there 
were not ten " righteous persons." There 
was only one, and he might without injustice 
have perished in the general overthrow 
(Eccl. 9. 2.). But a difference is sometimes 
made, and on this occasion the grace of God 
was manifested in a signal manner for the 
sake of Abraham. What a blessing to be 
connected with a saint of God ! 
CHAPTER XIX. 
Ver. 1-38. Lot's Entertainment. There 
came two angels— most probably two of those 
that had been with Abraham commissioned 
\o execute the divine judgment against 
Sodom. Lot sat in the gate— In eastern cities 
it is the market, the seat of justice, of social 
intercourse and amusement, especially a 
favourite lounge in the evenings, the arched 
roof affording a pleasant shade, turn in . . . 
tarry all night— offer of the same generous 
hospitalities as described in the preceding 
17 



chapter, and which are still spontaneously 
practised in the small towns. Nay; but we 
will abide in the street all night— Where there 
are no inns, and no acquaintance, it is not un- 
common for travellers to sleep in the street 
wrapped up in their cloaks. 4. the house- 
On removing to the plain, Lot intended at 
first to live in his tent apart from the people. 
But he was gradually drawn in, dwelt in the 
city, and he and his family were connected 
with the . citizens by marriage ties. 4. men 
of Sodom compassed the house— appalling proofs 
are here given of their wickedness. It is 
evident that evil communications had cor- 
rupted good manners, otherwise Lot would 
never have acted as he did. 12-14. Hast thou 
here any besides ? ... we will destroy this nlace— 
apostolic authority has declared Lot was " a 
righteous man" (2 Pe. 2. 8^, at bottom good, 
though he contented himself with lamenting 
the sins that he saw, instead of acting on his 
own convictions, and withdrawing himself 
and family from such a sink of corruption. 
But favour was shewn him: and even his bad 
relatives had, for his sake, an offer of delive- 
rance, which was ridiculed and spurned (2 Pe. 
3. 4.). 15-23. The kindly interest the angels 
took in the preservation of Lot is beautifully 
displayed. But he "lingered." Was it from 
sorrow at the prospect of losing all his pro- 
perty, the acquisition of many years ? or was 
it that his benevolent heart was paralysed 
by thoughts of the awful crisis ? This is the 
charitable way of accounting for a delay that 
must have been fatal but for the friendly 
violence and urgency of the angel. 18. Lot 
said, Oh ! not so my lord ... I cannot escape to 
the mountain— what a strange want of faith 
and fortitude, as if He who had interfered 
for his rescue would not have protected him 
in the mountain solitude. 21. See, I have ac- 
cepted thee concerning this also— his request 
was granted him, the prayer of faith availed, 
and to convince him, from his own expe- 
rience, that it would have been best and 
safest at once to follow implicitly the divine 
directions. 22. Haste . . for I cannot do 
any thing till thou be come thither— The ruin 
of Sodom was suspended till he was secure. 
What care does God take of His people Re. 
1 7. 3.)— what a proof of the love which God 
' bore to a good though weak man ! 24. Then 
the Lord rained brimstone and fire from heaven 
—God, in accomplishing His purposes, acts 
immediately or mediately through the agency 
of means; and there are strong grounds for 
believing that it was in the latter way he 
effected the overthrow of the cities of the 
plain— that it was, in fact, by a volcanic 
eruption. The raining down of fire and 
brimstone from heaven is perfectly accordant 
with this idea, since those very substances 
being raised into the air by the force- of the 
volcano, would fall in a fiery shower on the 
surrounding region. This view seems counte- 
nanced by Job. Whether it was miraculousl y 
Eroduced, or the natural operation employed 
y God, it is not of much consequence to de- 
termine : it was a divine judgment, foretold 
and designed for the punishment of those 
who were sinners exceedingly. 25. Lot was 
accompanied by his wife and two daughters. 
But whether it was from irresistible curiosity 
or perturbation of feeling, or she was about 
to return to save something, his wife lingered, 
and while thus disobeying the parting counsel 
"to look not back, nor stay in all the plain," 



The covenant with Abimelech. 



GENESIS, XXIL 



God tries Abraham's faith. 



17 And r God heard the voice of the lad ; 
and the angel of God called to Hagar out 
of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth 
thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath heard 
the voice of the lad where he is. 

18 Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in 
thine hand; for * I will make him a great 
nation. 

19 And God ' opened her eyes, and she 
saw a well of water; and she went and 
filled the Dottle with water, and gave the 
lad drink. 

20 And u God was with the lad; and he 

grew, and v dwelt in the wilderness, and 
ecame an archer. 

21 And he dwelt in the wilderness of Pa- 
ran: and his mother took him a wife out of 
the "land of Egypt. 

22 H And it came to pass at that time, 
that x Abimelech and Phichol the chief 
captain of his host spake unto Abraham, 
saying, v God is with thee in all that thou 
do est: 

23 Now therefore z swear unto me here by 
God, l that thou wilt not deal falsely with 
me, nor with my son, nor with my son's 
6on: but according to the kindness that I 
have done unto thee, thou shalt do unto 
me, and to the land wherein thou hast so- 
journed. 

24 And Abraham said, I will swear. 

25 And Abraham reproved Abimelech be- 
cause of a well of water, which Abimelech 's 
servants had a violently taken away. 

26 And Abimelech said, b I wot not who 
hath done this thing; neither didst thou 
tell me, neither yet heard I of it, but to-day. 

27 And Abraham took sheep and oxen, 
and gave them unto Abimelech; and both 
of them c made a covenant. 

28 And Abraham set seven ewe lambs of 
the flock by themselves. 

29 And Abimelech said unto Abraham, 
d What mean these seven ewe lambs which 
thou hast set by themselves? 

30 And he said, For these seven ewe lambs 
shalt thou take of my hand, that 6 they 
may be a witness unto me, that I have 
digged this well. 

31 Wherefore he /called that place 2Beer- 
sheba; because there they sware both of 
them. 

32 Thus they made a covenant at Beer- 
sheba: then Abimelech rose up, and Phi- 
chol the chief captain of his host, and they 
returned into the 5 ' land of the Philistines. 

33 IT And Abraham plant2d a 3 grove in 
Beer-sheba, and called there on the name 
of the Lord, the h everlasting God. 

31 And Abraham sojourned m the Philis- 
tines' land many days. 

CHAPTER XXII. 

1 Abraham, offering Isaac, 11 is stayed by the 
Anqel: 15 he is blessed again. 20 Generation of 
Ifahor unto Rebekah. 

AND it came to pass after these things 
**"* that a God did tempt Abraham, and 
said unto him, Abraham: and he said, 
1 Behold, here I am. 

2 And he said, b Take now thy son, thine 
only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get 
thee into the c land of Moriah; and oner 
him there for a burnt offering upon one of 
the mountains which I will tell thee of. 

3 And Abraham d rose up early in the 
morning, and saddled his ass, and took 
two of his young men with him, and Isaac 
his son, and clave the wood for the burnt 

18 



B. C. 1892. 



CHAP. 21. 
r Ex. 3, 7. 

2 Ki. 13, 4, 

23. 
a ver. 13. 

ch. 25, 12. 

Judg.8,24. 
t Nu. 22, 31. 

2 Ki. 6, 17, 

20. 

Luko 24, 

10, 31. 
u ch. 39, 2, 

3,21. 
V ch. 16, 12. 
w ch. 24, 4. 
x ch. 20, 2. 
y ch. 26, 28. 

Isa. 8, 10. 
z Josh. 2, 12. 

1 Sam. 24, 

21. 

1 if thou 
shalt lie 
unto mo. 

a ch. 26, 

15-22. 
b 2 Ki. 5, 

20-24. 
c ch. 26, 

28-31. 
d ch. 33, 8. 
e ch. 31, 48. 
/ ch. 26, 33. 

2 i. e. The 
well of the 
oath. 

g Josh. 13, 2. 

3 or, tree. 

h De. 33, 27. 
Ps. 90, 2. 
Is. 40, 28. 
Jer. 10,10. 



CHAP. 22. 
a James 1, 

12-14. 

He. 11, 17. 

1 Behold me. 
b John 3, 16. 
c 2 Ch. 3, 1. 
d Heb. 11, 

17-19. 
e Jn. 19, 17. 
1 Pe. 2, 24. 

2 Behold me. 

3 or, kid. 

/ 1 Pe. 1, 19, 

20. 
g John 10, 

17, 18. 

He. 11, 17. 
Ms. 53,6-12. 
ilSa.15,22. 
j ch. 26, 5. 

Bo. 8, 32. 

Ja. 2, 22. 
k 1 Cor. 6, 7, 

8. 

4 i. e. The 
LORD will 
see, or, 
provide. 

I Ps. 105, 9. 
to ch. 15, 5. 
n ch. 13, 16. 

5 lip. 

Ps. 2, 8. 
o ch. 24, 60. 

Micahl,9. 
p ch. 12, 3. 

ch. 18, 18. 

Gal. 3, 8. 

9,16,18. 
q ver. 3, 10. 
r cji. 11, 29. 
a Job 1, 1. 
t ch. 24, 15. 



and rose up, and went unto the 
had told him. 



offering, 

place of which God 1 
4 Then on the third day Abraham lifted 



up his eyes, and saw the place alar off. 

5 And Abraham said unto his young men, 
Abide ye here with the ass ; ana I and the 
lad will go yonder and worship, and come 
again to you. 

6 And Abraham took the wood of the 
burnt offering, and e laid it upon Isaac his 
son ; and he took the fire in his hand, and 
a knife ; and they went both of them to- 
gether. 

7 And Isaac spake unto Abraham his fa- 
ther, and said, My father: and he said. 

2 Here am I. my son. And he said, Behold 
the fire and the wood; but where is the 

3 lamb for a burnt offering? 

8 And Abraham said, My son,/ God will 
provide himself a lamb for a burnt ottering: 
so they went both of them together. 

9 And they came to the place which God 
had told him of; and Abraham built an 
altar there, and laid the wood in order, and 
? bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the 
altar upon the wood. 

10 And Abraham h stretched forth his 
hand, and took the knife to slay his son. 

11 And the angel of the Lokd called unto 
him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, 
Abraham: and he said, Here am I. 

12 And he said, « Lay not thine hand upon 
the lad, neither do thou any thing unto 
him: for now J I know that thou Tearest 
God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy 
son, thine only son, from me. 

13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and 
looked, and behold behind him a ram 
caught in a thicket by hi* horns: and Ab- 
raham went and took the ram, and offered 
him up for a burnt offering * in the stead 
of his son. 

14 And Abraham called the name of that 
place 4 Jehovah-jireh: as it is said to this 
day, In the mount of the Lord it shall be 
seen. 

15 And the angel of the Lord called unto 
Abraham out of heaven the second time, 

16 And said, l By myself have I sworn, 
saith the Lord ; for because thou hast done 
this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, 
thine only son; 

17 That in blessing I will bless thee, and 
in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as 
the m stars of the heaven, and as the n sand 
which is upon the sea 5 shore; and thy seed 
shall ° possess the gate of his enemies; 

18 And p in thy seed shall all the nations 
of the earth be blessed ; q because thou hast 
obeyed my voice. 

19 So Abraham returned unto his young 
men. and they rose up and went together 
to Beer - sheba ; and Abraham dwelt at 
Beer-sheba. 

20 tf And it came to pass after these 
things, that it was told Abraham, saying, 
Behold, r Milcah, she hath also bom chil- 
dren unto thy brother Nahor; 

21 8 Huz his first-born, and Buz his bro- 
ther, and Kemuel the father of Aram, 

22 And Chesed, and Hazo, and Pildash, 
and Jidlaph, and Bethuel. 

23 And * Bethuel begat Rebekah : these 
eight Milcah did bear to Nahor, Abraham's 
brother. 

24 And his concubine, whose name was 
Reumah, she bare also Tebah, and Gahain, 
and Thahash, and Maachah. 



Abraham's Denial of his Wife. GENESIS, XX, XXI. 



Birth of Isaac. 



the torrent of liquid lava enveloped her, so 
that she became the victim of her supine in- 
dolence or sinful rashness. 27. Abraham gat 
up early in the morning, &c— Abraham was 
at this time in Mamre, near Hebron, and a 
traveller last year verified the truth of this 
passage. ' From the height which overlooks 
Hebron, where the patriarch stood, the ob- 
server at the present dayhas an extensive view 
spread out before him towards the Dead Sea. 
A cloud of smoke rising from the plain would 
be visible to a person at Hebron now, and 
could have been, therefore, to Abraham as he 
looked toward Sodom on the morning of its 
destruction by God.' [Hack.] It must have 
been an awf-ul sight, and is frequently alluded 
to in Scripture iDeu. 29. 23; Is. 13. 19; Jude 7.). 
* The plain which is now covered by the Salt 
or Dead Sea shews in the great difference of 
level between the bottoms of the northern 
and southern ends of the lake— the latter 
being 13 feet and the former 1,300 — that the 
southern end was of recent formation, and 
submerged at the time of the fall of the 
cities.' [Lynch.] 29. when God destroyed 
the cities, &c— This is most welcome and in- 
structive after so painful a narrative. It shews 
if God is a " consuming fire" to the wicked, 
He is the friend of the righteous. He " re- 
membered" the intercessions of Abraham, 
and what confidence should not this give us 
that He will remember the intercessions of a 
greater than Abraham in our behalf. 
CHAPTER XX. 
Ver. 1--18. Abraham's Denial of his 
Wife. Journeyed from thence and dwelt be- 
tween Kedesh and Shur— Leaving the encamp- 
ment, he migrated to the southern border of 
Canaan. In the neighbourhood of Gerar 
was a very rich and well-watered pasture 
land. 2. Abraham said of Sarah, She is my 
sister— fear of the people amongst whom he 
was tempted him to equivocate. His con- 
duct was highly culpable. It was deceit de- 
liberate and premeditated— there was no 
sudden pressure upon him— it was the second 
offence of the kind— it was a distrust of God 
every way surprising, and it was calculated 
to produce injurious effects on the heathen 
around. Its mischievous tendency was not 
long in being developed. Abimelech (father- 
king) sent and took Sarah— to be one of his 
wives. In the exerciseof a privilege claimed by 
Eastern sovereigns, already explained, ch.12. 
19. 3-8. But God came to Abimelech in a dream- 
in early times a dream was often made the 
medium of communicating important truths ; 
and this method was adopted for the preser- 
vation of Sarah. 9. then Abimelech called 
Abraham and said, What hast thou done?— in 
what a humiliating plight does the patri- 
arch now appear— he, a servant of the true 
God, rebuked by a heathen prince. Who 
would not rather be in the place of Abime- 
lech than of the honoured but sadly offend- 
ing patriarch ! What a dignified attitude is 
that of the king— calmly and justly reproving 
the sin of the prophet, but respecting his 
person, and heaping coals of fire on his head 
by the liberal presents made to him. 10, 11. 
Abraham said, I thought surely the fear of God 
is not— from the horrible vices of Sodom he 
seems to have taken up the impression, that 
all other cities of Canaan were equally cor- 
rupt. There might have been few or none 



honour and a greater abhorrence of crimes 
than a true worshipper! 12. yet indeed sue 
is my sister— See on en. 11. 31. what a poor 
defence Abraham made. The statement ab 
solved him from the charge of direct and ab- 
solute falsehood, but he had told a moral 
untruth, because there was an intention to 
deceive, cf. ch. 12. 11-13. "Honesty is always 
the best policy." Abraham's life would have 
been as well protected without the fraud as 
with it: and what shame to himself— wh at 
distrust of God— what dishonour to religion 
might have been prevented! " Let us speak 
truth every man to his neighbour." 
CHAPTEE XXI. 

Ver. 1-13. Birth of Isaac. The Lord 
visited Sarah— The language of the historian 
seems designedly chosen to magnify the 
power of God as well as his faithfulness to 
his promise. It was God's grace that brought 
about Jiat event, as well as the raising of 
spiritual children to Abraham, of which the 
birth of this son was typical. [Cal.] 3, 4. 
Abraham called . . . circumcised— God was ac- 
knowledged in the name which, by divine 
command, was given for a memorial (cf. ch. 
17. 19.i, and also in the dedication of the 
child by administering the seal of the cove- 
nant cf. 17. 10-12.). 8. the child grew, fee- 
children are suckled longer in the East than 
in Euro] e— boys usually for two or three 
years. Abraham made a great feast, &c— in 
Eastern countries this is always a season of 
domestic festivity, and the newly-weaned 
child is formally brought, in presence of the 
assembled relatives and friends, to partake 
of some simple viands. Isaac, attired in the 
symbolic robe— the badge of birthright— was 
then admitted heir of the tribe. [Eos.] 9. 
Sarah saw, &c.— Ishmael was aware of the 
great change in his prospects, and under the 
impulse of irritated or resentful feelings, in 
which he was probably joined by his mother, 
treated the young heir with derision and 
probably some violence (Gal. 4. 29.). 10. 
cast out this bondwoman— nothing but the ex- 
pulsion of both could now preserve harmony 
in the household. Abraham's perplexity 
was relieved by an announcement of the 
divine will, which in every thing, however 
painful to flesh and blood, all who fear God 
and are walking in his ways will, like him, 
promptly obey. This story, as the Apostle 
tells us, is " an allegory," and the " persecu- 
tion" by the son of the Egyptian was the 
commencement of the four hundred years' 
affliction of Abraham's seed by theEgyptians. 
in all that Sarah hath said— it is called the 
Scripture (Gal. 4. 30.). 13. also of the son of 
the bondwoman, <fec— thus Providence over- 
ruled a family brawl to give rise to two 
great and extraordinary peoples. 

14. Expulsion of Ishmael. Abraham 
rose up early, &c— early, that the wanderers 
might reach an asylum before noon. Bread 
includes all sorts of victuals— bottle, a leath- 
ern vessel, formed of the en tire skin of a lamb 
or kid sewed up, with the legs for handles, 
usually carried over the shoulder. Ishmael 
was a lad of seventeen years, and it is quite 
customary for Arab chiefs to send out their 
sons at such an age to do for themselves: 
often with nothing but a few days' provisions 
in a bag. 14. wandered in the wilderness, &c.— 
I in the southern border of Palestine, but out 



who feared God, but what a sad thing when [ of the common direction, a wide-extending 
men of the world show a higher sense of ; desert, where they missed the track. 15. the 
13 



TJie death of Sarah. 



GENESIS, XXIII, XXIV. Abraham sweareth his servant. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

1 Sarah's age and death. 6 The purchase of 
JlachpeiUh. \'J where Sarah was buried. 

A Nx> Sarah was aii hundred and seven 
-"- and twenty years old; tlmse were the 
years of the life of Sarah. 

2 And Sarah died in Kirjath-arba; the 
Baine is Hebron in the land of Canaan: and 
AJtraham came a to mourn for Sarah, and 
to weep lor her. 

o 1 A ad Abraham stood up from before 
his dt:ad, and spake unto the sons of Heth, 
B&yiJig, 

4 1 a//i 6 a stranger and a sojourner with 
you: give me a possession of c a burying- 
place with you, that I may bury my dead 
out of my sight. 

5 And the children of Heth answered 
Abraham. Baying unto him, 

6 Hear us, my lord: Thou art 1 a mighty 
<* prince among us: in the choice of our se- 
pulchres bury thy dead; none of us shall 
withhold from thee his sepulchre, but that 
thou mayest bury thy dead. 

7 And Abraham stood up, and e bowed 
himself to the people of the land, even to 
the children of Heth. 

a And he communed with them, saying, 
If it be your mind that I should bury my 
dead out of my sight, hear me, and entreat 
for me to Ephron the son of Zohar, 

9 That he may give me the cave of Mach- 
pelah, which he hath, which is in the end 
of his held; for - as much money as it is 
worth he shall give it me for a possession 
of a burying-place amongst you. 

10 And" Ephron dwelt among the children 
of Heth. And Ephron the Hittite answered 
Abraham in the a audience of the children 
of Heth, even of all that went in at /the 
gate of his city, saying, 

11 ° .Nay, mv lord, hear me: the field give 
I thee, and the cave that is therein, I give 
it thee; in the presence of the sons of my 
people give I it thee: bury thy dead. 

12 And Abraham bowed down himself be- 
fore the people of the land. 

13 And he spake unto Ephron in the au- 
dience of the people of the land, saying, 
But if thou wilt give it, I pray thee, hear 
me: * I will give thee money tor the held; 
take it of me, and I will bury my dead 
there. 

11 And Ephron answered Abraham, say- 
ing unto him, 

Id My lord, hearken unto me: the land is 
worth four hundred » shekels of silver ; what 
is that betwixt me and thee? bury there- 
fore thy dead. 

16 And Abraham hearkened unto Ephron ; 
and Abraham i weighed to Ephron the 
silver, which he had named in the au- 
dience of the sons of Heth, four hundred 
shekels of silver, current money with the 
merchant. 

17 And * the field of Ephron, which was in 
Machpelah, which was before Mamre, the 
field, and the cave which was therein, and 
all the trees that were in the field, that 
wen in all the borders round about, were 
made sure 

18 Cnto Abraham for a possession in the 
presence of the children of Heth, before all 
that went in at the gate of his city. 

19 And after this, ' Abraham buried Sarah 
Iris wile in the cave of the field of Machpe- 
lah before Mamre: the sauu is Hebron in 
the land of Canaan. 

19 



b. c. lseo. 



CHAP. 23. 
a John 11, 

31,35. 
6 Ps. 39, 12. 

Pb.106, IS. 

He. 11, 9, 

13. 
c ch. 49, 30. 

1 a prince of 
God. 

d ch. 13, 2. 

ch. 14. 14. 

ch. 24, 35. 
e Ro. 13, 7. 

2 full 
money. 

3 ears, 
/ch. 34,20, 

24. 

Ruth 4, 4. 
g 2 Sam. 24, 

20-24. 
h Phil. 4, 

5-8. 
i Ex. 30, 13. 

Ezek.25,12. 
j Jer. 32, 

9-12. 
* ch. 25, 9. 

Ch. 49, 30, 

bl, 38. 

ch. 50, 13. 

Ac. 7. 16. 
I ch. 35. 29. 
m Ruth 4, 7, 
8, 9, 10. 
Jer. 32, 
10, 11. 



CHAP. 24. 

a ch. 18, 11. 
1 g-one into 

davs. 
6ch!l3. 2. 

Gal. 3, 9. 
c ch. 15, 2. 
d ver. 10. 

ch. 39, 4-6. 
e ch. 47. 29. 

Lam. 5, 6. 
/Ex. 34, 16. 

Deu. 7, 3. 

2 Cor. 6, 

14-17. 
g ch. 23, 2. 
h 2 Pet. 2, 

20-22. 
ich. 12,1,7. 
i ch. 13, 15. 

Ex. 32, 13. 
k Ex. 23, 20. 

Ps. 34, 7. 

Is. 63, 9. 

1 Joshua, 2. 
USD. 

2 or, and. 

m ch. 27, 43. 

3 women 
which 
draw 
water go 
forth. 

n Ex. 2, 16. 

1 Sa. 9, 11. 
o ver. "i7. 

ch. 26, 24. 

Ex. 3, 6,15. 
p Phil. 4, 6. 
q Pro. 19, 14. 
r Jud*. 6, 

17-37. 

1 Sa. 6, 7. 
8 Ps. 34, 15. 
t ch. 11, 29. 
u ch. 26, 7. 

4 jood of 
counte- 



20 And the field, and the cave that is 
therein, were " made sure unto Abraham 
for a possession of a burying-place by the 
sons or Heth. 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

1 Abraham sendeth his servant to get a wife for 
his son Isaac : M he obtaiiicth Rtbekah : 02 Isaac 
rneeteth her. 

A XI) Abraham a was old, and ' well 
^ stricken in age : and the Lord had 
& blessed Abraham in all things. 

2 And Abraham said c unto His eldest ser- 
vant of his house, that d ruled over all that 
he had, e Put, I pray thee, thy hand under 
my thigh: 

3 And 1 will make thee swear by the Lord, 
the God of heaven, and the God of the earth, 
that thou /shaft not take a wife unto ray 
son of the daughters of the Canaanites, 
among whom I dwell: 

4 But thou shalt go g unto my country, and 
to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son 
Isaac. 

5 And the servant said unto him. Perad- 
venture the woman will not be willing to 
follow me unto this land: mast I needs 
bring thy son again unto the land from 
whence thou earnest? 

6 And Abraham said unto him, h Beware 
thou that thou bring not my son thither 
again. 

/ The Lord God of heaven, which * took 
me from mv father's house, and from the 
land of mv kindred, and which spake unto 
me, and that sware unto me, Baying, J L'nto 
thy seed will I give tins land ; he shall send 
* his angel before thee, and thou shalt take 
a wife unto my son from thence. 

8 And if the woman will not be willing to 
follow thee, then thou shalt * be clear from 
this my oath: only bring not my son thither 
again. 

9 And the servant put his hand under the 
thigh of Abraham his master, and sware to 
him concerning that matter. 

10 tf And the servant took ten camels of 
the camels of his master, and departed; 

2 for all the goods of his master wtre in his 
hand: and he arose, and went to Mesopo- 
tamia, unto the ■" city of Xahor. 

11 And he made his camels to kneel down 
without the city by a well of water at the 
time of the evening, even the time 3 that 
women n go out to draw water. 

12 And he said, ° O Lord God of my mas- 
ter Abraham, * I pray thee, send me good 
speed this day, and show kindness unto my 
master Abraham. . 

13 Behold. I stand here by the well of 
water ; and the daughters of the men of the 
city come out to draw water: 

11 And let it come to pass, that the damsel 
to whom I shall say, Let down thy pitcher. 
I pray thee, that I may drink; and she shall 
sav. Drink, and I will give thy camels drink 
also: let the same be she q that thou hast 
appointed for thy servant Isaac ; and ''there- 
by shall I know that thou hast showed kind- 
ness unto my master. 

15 f And it came to pass, * before he had 
done speaking, that, beliold, Rebekah came 
out, who was born to Bethuel, son of 'Mil- 
cah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham's brother, 
with her pitcher upon her shoulder. 

16 And the damsel was u very 4 fair to 
look upon, a -virgin, neither had any man 
known her: and she went down to the well, 
and filled her pitcher, and came up. 



Offering Isaac* 



GENESIS, XXn, XXIXX. 



Age and Death of Sarah. 



water, &c— Ishmael sunk exhausted from 
fati?ue and thirst— his mother laid his head 
under one of the bushes to smell the damp, 
while she herself, unable to witness his dis- 
tress, sat down at a little distance in hope- 
less sorrow. 17-19. God opened her eyes— had 
she forgotten the promise? (ch. 16. 11.) "Whe- 
ther she looked to God or not. He regarded 
her and directed her to a fountain close be- 
side her, but probably hid amid brushwood, 
by the waters of which her almost expiring 
son was revived. 20, 21. God was with the 
lad, &c— Paran, i. e., Arabia, where his pos- 
terity have ever dwelt (cf. 16. 12; also Isa. 48. 
19; 1 Pe. 1. 25.). his mother took him a wife— 
on a father's death, the mother looks out for 
a wife for her son, however young ; and as 
Ishmael was now virtually deprived of hi« 
father, his mother set about forming a mar- 
riage coimection for him, it would seem, 
amongst her relatives. 



self a lamb for a burnt-offering." It has been 
supposed, that the design of this extraordi- 
nary transaction was to show him, by action 
instead of words, the way in which all the 
families of the earth should be blessed; and 
that in his answer to Isaac, he anticipated 
some substitution. It is more likely that 
his words were spoken evasively to his son 
—in ignorance of the issue— yet in unbound- 
ed confidence that that son, though sacri- 
ficed, would, in some miraculous way, be 
restored (Heb. 11. 19.). 9. Abraham built an 
altar, &c— Had not the patriarch been sus- 
tained by the full consciousness of acting in 
obedience to God's will, the effort must 
have been too great for human endurance; 
and had not Isaac— then upwards of twenty 
years of age displayed equal faith in submit- 
ting—this great trial could not have been 
, gone through. 11-12. The Angel called, &c. 
—The sacrifice was virtually offered— the 



22-24. Covenant. Abimelech and Phichol I intention, the purpose to do it, was shown 
—here a proof of the promise (ch. 12. 2.) being in all sincerity and fulness. The Omnisci- 
fuhilled, in a native prince wishing to form • ent witness likewise declared his acceptance 
a solemn league with Abraham. The pro- 1 in the highest terms of approval; and the 

Sosal was reasonable and agreed to. 25-31. apostle speaks of it as actually made (Heb. 
.braham reproved . . . because of a well— wells 11. 17; Ja. 2. 21.). 13. Behold a ram, Ac- 
were of great importance to a pastoral chief. No method was more admirably calculated 
and on the successful operation of sinking a ! to give the patriarch a distinct idea of the 
new one, the owner was solemnly infeft in purpose of grace, than this scenic represen- 
person. If, however, they were allowed to j tation: and hence our Lord's allusion to it 
get out of repair, the restorer acquired a Jo. 8. 56.). 
right to them. In unoccupied lands the CHAPTER XXHI. 

possession of wells gave a right of property | Ver. 1-2. Age and Death of Sarah.— 
in the land, and dread of this had caused the Sarah was 120 years old, &c. — the only wo- 
offence for which Abraham reproved Abime- man in Scripture whose age, death, and 
lech. Some describe four, others five wells burial are mentioned, probably to do hon- 
in Beer-sheba. 33. Abraham planted a grove our to the venerable mother of the Hebrew 
—Heb. of tamarisks, in which sacrihcial people. Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, 
worship was offered, as. in a roofless temple. I <fec— he came from his own tent to take his 
Abraha n sojourned, &c.— a picture of pastoral station at the door of Sarah's. The " mourn- 
andan emblem of Christian life. ling" describes his conformity to the custo- 

CHAPTER XXII, I mary usage of sitting on the ground for a 

Ver. 1-13. Offering Isaac. God did tempt time; while the "weeping" indicates the 
Abraham— not incite to sin (Ja. 1. 13, I but natural outburst of his sorrow. 



try, prove— give occasion for the develop' 
ment of his faith (1 Pe. 1. 7.). called Abraham, 
and he said, &c— ready at a moment's warn- 
ing for God's service. 2. Take now thy son, 



3-18. Purchase of a Burying Place. 
Abraham stood up, <fec— Eastern people are 
always provided with family burying-places; 
but Abraham's life of faith— his pilgrim 



&c.— Every circumstance mentioned was state— had prevented him acquiring even so 
calculated to give a deeper stab to the pa- ! small a possession A. 7. 5.). spake unto the 
rental bosom. To lose his only son, and by sons of Heth— he bespoke their kind offices 
an act of his own hand, too !— what a host of to aid him in obtaining possession of a cave 
conflicting feelings must the order have that belonged to Ephron— a wealthy neigh- 
raised; but he heard and obeyed without a bour. 9. Machpelah— the double cave. 10. 
murmur (Gal. 1. 16; L. 14.26.). 3. Abraham Ephron dwelt— tit. was "sitting" among the 
rose early, &c— That there might be no ap- children of Heth in the gate of the city where 

Searance of delay or reluctance on his part, all business was transacted. But, though a 
e made every preparation for the sacrifice chief man among them, he was probably 
before setting out— the materials, the knife, unknown to Abraham. 11 - 15. Ephron an- 
the servants to convey them— from Beer- swered, Nay, my lord, &c. — Here is a great 
sheba to Moriah, being a journey of two show of generosity— but it was only a show ; 
days; he had the painful secret pent up in for while Abraham wanted only the cave— 
his bosom all that time: and as so distant a he joins " the field and the cave; and though 
place must have been chosen for some im- he offered them both as free gifts— he, of 
portant reason, it is generally thought that course, expected some costly presents in 
"the place of which God had told him" was return— with which, he would not have been 
one of the hills of Jerusalem, on which the easily satisfied. The patriarch, knowing 
Great Sacrifice was afterwards offered. 4. this, wished to make a purchase, and asked 
on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, the terms. 15. The land is worth 400 shekels, 
<fcc— Leaving the servants at the foot, the <fec— as if Ephron had said, Since you wish 
father and son ascended the hill— the one to know the value of the property, it is so 
bearing the knife; the other, the wood for and so; but that is a trifle, which you may 
consuming the sacrifice. But there was no pay or not as it suits you. They spoke in 
victim; and to the question so naturally put the common forms of Arab civility, and this 
by Isaac, Abraham contented himself with indifference was mere affectation. 16. Abra- 
replying, "My son, God will provide him- . ham weighed the silver— The money, amount- 
19 



Abi'aham's servant at Haran, 



GENESIS, XXIV. 



Obtains Rebekah for Isaac. 



17 And the servant ran to meet her, and 
laid, v Let me, 1 pray thee, drink a little 
water of thy pitcher. 

18 And she said. w Drink, my lord: and she 
hasted, and lot down her pitcher upon her 
hand, and gave him drink. 

19 And when she had done giving him 
drink, she said, I will draw water for thy 
camels also, until they have done drinking. 

20 And she hasted, and emptied her pitcher 
into the trough, and ran again unto the 
well to draw water, and drew for all his 
camels. 

21 And the man * wondering at her held 
his peace, to wit whether the Lord had 
made his journey prosperous or not. 

22 And it came to pass, as the camels had 
done drinking, that the man took a golden 
& earring v of half a shekel weight, and two 
bracelets for her hands often sliekels weight 
of gold; 

23 And said, Whose daughter art thou? 
tell me, I pray thee: is there room in thy 
father's house for us to lodge in? 

24 And she said unto him, I am the 
daughter of Bethuel the son of Milcah, 
which she bare unto Nahor. 

25 She said moreover unto him, z We have 
both straw and provender enough, and 
room to lodge in. 

26 And the man ° bowed down his head, 
and worshipped the Lord. 

27 And he said, b Blessed be the Lord God 
of my master Abraham, who hath not left 
destitute my master of c his mercy and his 
truth: I being in the way, d the Lord led 
me to the house of my master's brethren. 

28 And the damsel ran, and told them of 
her mother's house these things. 

29 1[ And Rebekah had a brother, and his 
name was e Laban: and Laban ran out unto 
the man, unto the well. 

30 And it came to pass, when he saw the 
earring, and bracelets upon his sister's 
hands, and when he heard the words of 
Rebekah his sister, saying, Thus spake the 
man unto me, that he came unto the man; 
and, behold, he stood by the camels at the 
well. 

31 And he said, Come in, /thou blessed of 
the Lord; wherefore standest thou with- 
out? for I have prepared the house, and 
room for the camels. 

32 And the man came into the house: and 
he ungirded his camels, and ° gave straw 
and provender for the camels, and water to 
wash his feet, and the men's feet that were 
with him. 

33 And there was set meat before him to 
eat: but he said, h I will not eat, until I have 
told mine errand. And he said, Speak on. 

31 And he said, I am Abraham's ser- 
vant 

35 And the Lord hath * blessed my master 
greatly; and he is become great: and he 
hath given him i flocks, and herds, and 
silver, and gold, and men-servants, and 
maid-servants, and camels, and asses. 

30 A nd Sarah my master's wife k bare a 
son to my master when she was old: and 
* unto him hath he given all that he hath. 

37 And my master " l made me swear, say- 
ing, Thou shalt not take a wife to my son 
of the daughters of theCanaanites, in whose 
land I dwell: 

38 But thou shalt go unto my father's 
house, and to my kindred, and take a wile 
unto my son. 



B. C. 1857. 



CHAP. 24. 
v Jn. 4, 9. 
w 1 Pe. 3, 8. 

1 Pe. 4, 9. 
* Lu. 2, 19, 

61. 
6 or, jewel 

for the 

forehead. 
V Ex. 32, 2,3. 

Isa. 3, 19, 

20. 

1 Pe. 3, 3. 
« 1 Pe. 4, 9. 
« ver. 62. 

Ex. 4, 31. 
6 Ex. 18. 10. 

Ruth 4, 14. 

1 Sam. 25, 
32. 

2 Sam. 18, 
28. 

Luke 1,68. 
« ch. 32, 10. 

Ps. 98, 3. 
d ver. 48. 

Prov. 3, 6. 
e ch. 29, 5. 
/ ch. 26, 29. 

Jud. 17, 2. 

Ru. 3, 10. 

Ps 115, 15. 
ff ch. 43, 24. 

Jud. 19,21. 
h Job 23, 12. 

John 4, 34. 

Eph. 6,6-7. 
i ver. 1. 

ch. 13, 2. 
3 Job 1, 3. 
k ch. 21, 2. 
I ch. 21, 10. 

ch. 25, 5. 
"* ver. 3. 
n ver. 7. 
o ch. 5, 

22-24. 

ch. 17, 1. 
P Ex. 23, 20. 
9 ver. 8. 
r 1 Kings 

1,36. 

Acts 10, 

7, 8, 22. 
« Ne. 1, 11. 

Ps. 90, 17. 

Ro. 1, 10. 
t ver. 13. 
«* He. 13, 2. 

V ver. 15. 
w 1 Sam. 1, 

13. 

la. 65, 24. 
* Ezek. 16, 
11, 12. 

V ver. 26. 

« Ps. 32, 8. 

Ps. 48, 14. 

Ps. 107, 7. 

Is. 48, 17. 
« ch. 47, 29. 

Josh. 2, 14. 
b Ps. 118, 23. 

Mat. 21,42. 

Mark 12, 

11. 
e ch. 20, 15. 
d Ex. 3, 22. 

Ex. 11, 2. 

Ex. 12, 36. 

6 vessels. 

e 2 Ch. 21, 3. 

Erra 1,6. 
/vers. 56, 59. 

7 or, a full 



months. 
9 ver. 40. 



39 And I said unto my master, Perad- 
venture the woman will not follow me. 

40 And n he said unto me, The Lord, be- 
fore whom ° I walk, will send Ms v angel 
with thee, and prosper thy way; and thou 
shalt take a wile lor my son of my kindred, 
and of my father's house: 

41 q Then shalt thou be clear from this my 
oath ; when thou comest to my kindred; 
and if they give not thee one, thou shalt be 
clear from my oath. 

42 And I came this day unto the well, and 
said, r O Lord God of my master Abraham, 
if now thou do * prosper my way which I 
go: 

43 * Behold, I stand by the well of water; 
and it shall come to pass, that when the 
virgin cometh forth to draw water, and I 
say to her, Give me, I pray thee, a little 
water of thy pitcher to drink* 

44 And she say to me, u Both drink thou, 
and I will also draw for thy camels: let the 
same be the woman whom the Lord hath 
appointed out for my master's son. 

45 And " before I had done w speaking in 
mine heart, behold, Rebekah came forth 
with her pitcher on her shoulder; and she 
went down unto the well, and drew wattr: 
and I said unto her, Let me drink, I pray 
thee. 

46 And she made haste, and let down her 
pitcher from her shoulder, and said, Brink, 
and I will give thy camels drink also: so 
I drank, and she made the camels drink 
also. 

47 And I asked her, and said, Whose 
daughter art thou? And she said, The 
daughter of Bethuel, Nahor's son, whom 
Milcah bare unto him: and I put the x ear- 
ring upon her face, and the bracelets upon 
her hands. 

48 And I y bowed down my head, and 
worshipped the Lord, and blessed the 
Lord God of my master Abraham, which 
had * led me in the right way to take my 
master's brother's daughter unto his son. 

49 And now if ye will a deal kindly and 
truly with my master, tell me: and it not, 
tell me; that I may turn to the right hand, 
or to the left. 

50 Then Laban and Bethuel answered and 
said, b The thing proceedeth from the Lord; 
w r e cannot speak unto thee bad or good. 

51 Behold, Rebekah is c before thee, take 
her. and go, and let her be thy master's 
son s wife, as the Lord hath spoken. 

52 And it came to pass, that, when Abra- 
ham's servant heard their words, he wor- 
shipped the Lord, bowing himself to the 
earth. 

53 And the sen-ant brought forth d jewels 
of silver, and 6 jewels of gold, and raiment, 
and gave them to Rebekah: he gave also 
to her brother and to her mother r precious 
things. 

54 And they did eat and drink, he and the 
men that were with him, and tarried all 
night: and they rose up in the morning; and 
he said, / Send me away unto my master. 

55 And her brother and her mother said, 
Let the damsel abide with us i a few days, 
at the least ten; after that she shall go. 

5G And he said unto them, Hinder me not, 
seeing the Lord hath v prospered my way; 
send me away that I may go to my master. 

57 And they said, We will call the damsel, 
and enquire at her mouth. 

58 And they called Rebekah, and said unto 



A Marriage Commission. 



GENESIS, XXIV, XXV. 



Sons of Abraham. 



ing to L 50, was paid in presence of the 
assembled witnesses; and it was weighed. 
The practice of weighing money, which is 
often in lumps or rings, stamped each with 
their weight, is still common in many parts 
of the East; and every merchant at the gates 
or the bazaar has his scales at his girdle. 
19. Abraham buried Sarah — Thus he got 
possession of Machpelah, and deposited the 
remains of his lamented partner in a family 
vault, which was the only spot of ground he 
owned. 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

Ver. 1-9. A Marriage Commission. And 
Abraham was old . . . take a wife— His anxiety 
to see his son married was natural to his 
position as a pastoral chief interested in 
preserving the honour of his tribe, and still 
more as a patriarch who had regard to the 
divine promise of a numerous posterity. 3, 
thou shalt not take a wife, &c— Among the 
pastoral tribes the matrimonial arrange- 
ments are made by the parents, and a youth 
must marry, not among strangers, but in his 
own tribe— custom giving him a claim, which 
is seldom or never resisted, to the hand of 
his first cousin. But Abraham had a far 
higher motive— a fear least if his son married 
into a Canaanitish family he might be gra- 
dually led away from the true God. said unto 
his eldest servant— Abraham being too old, and 
as the heir of the promise not being at liberty 
to make even a temporary visit to his native 
land, was obliged to entrust this delicate mis- 
sion to Eliezer, whom, although putting entire 
confidence in him, he on this occasion bound 
by a solemn oath. A pastoral chief in the 
present day would take the same plan if he 
could not go himself. 

10-65. The Journey. 10. The servant took 
ten camels, <fec.— So great an equipage was to 
give the embassy an appearance worthy of the 
rank and wealth of Abraham; to carry pro- 
visions; to bear the marriage presents, which 
as usual would be distributed over several 
beasts; besides one or two spare camels in 
case of emergency, went to Mesopotamia, &c. 
—A stranger in those regions, who wishes to 



are worn from the elbow to the wrist, com- 
monly made of silver, copper, brass, or horn. 
23-31. He said, Whose daughter art thou?— 
After telling her name and family, the kind- 
hearted damsel hastened home to give notice 
of a stranger's arrival. 28. She told them of 
her mother's house— the female apartments. 
This family were in an advanced stage of 
pastoral life, dwelling in a settled place and 
a fixed habitation. 30-31. Rebekah . . . brother 
. . . Laban ran out— from what we know of his 
character, there is reason to believe that the 
sight of the dazzling presents increased both 
his haste and his invitation. 32. The man 
came into the house— What a beautiful pic- 
ture of piety, fidelity, and disinterestedness 
in a servant ! He declined all attention 
to his own comforts till he had told his name 
and his errand. 50. Then Laban and Bethuel 
answered— The brothers conduct all the mar- 
riage negotiations, their father being proba- 
bly dead, and without consulting their sister. 
Their language seems to indicate they were 
worshippers of the true God. 53. Jewels of sil- 
ver and gold— These are the usual articles, with 
money, that form a woman's dowry among 
the pastoral tribes. Eebekah was betrothed, 
and accompanied the servant to Canaan. 
G4. she alighted from her camel— If Isaac was 
walking it would have been most unman- 
nerly for her to have continued seated; an 
inferior, if riding, always alight in presence 
of a person of rank, no exception being made 
for women. 65. she took a veil and covered 
herself— The veil is an essential part of female 
dress. In country places it is often thrown 
aside, but on the appearance of a stranger it 
is drawn over the face, so as to conceal all 
but the eyes. In a bride it was a token of 
her reverence and subjection to her husband. 
67. Brought her into his mother's tent— thus 
establishing her at once in the rights and 
honours of a wife before he had seen her fea- 
tures. Disappointments often take place, 
but when Isaac saw his wife " he loved her. 
CHAPTER XXV. 
Ver. 1-6. Sons of Abraham. Abraham 
took a wife— rather, had taken; for Keturah 



obtain information, stations himself at one I is called Abraham's concubine, or secondary 
of the wells in the neighbourhood of a town, j wife (1 Chron. 1. 32) ; and as, from her bear- 
and he is sure to learn all the news of the place j ing six sons to him, it is improbable that he 
from the women who frequent them every j married after Sarah's death; and also as he 



morning and evening. Eliezer followed this 
course, and letting his camels rest, he waited 
till the evening time of water-drawing. 12. 
And he said, Lord Gcd of my master — The 
servant appears worthy of the master he 



sent them all out to seek their own inde- 
pendence, during his life-time, it is clear 
that this marriage is related here out of its 
chronological order, merely to form a proper 
winding up of the patriarch's history. 5, 6. 



served. He resolves to follow the leading of j gave unto Isaac . . . unto the sons of the con- 
Providence; and while he shews good sense j cubiues— While the chief part of the inheri- 
in the tokens he fixes upon of ascertaining tance went to Isaac— the other sons, ishmael 



the temper and character of the future bride, 
never doubts but that in such a case God 
will direct him. 15-21. Before he had done 
speaking— as he anticipated, a young woman 
unveiled, as in pastoral regions, appeared 
with her pitcher on her shoulder. Her comeiy 
appearance, her affable manners, her obliging 
courtesy in going down the steps to fetch 
water not only to him, but to pour it into 
the trough for his camels, afforded him the 
most agreeable surprise. She was the very 
person his imagination had pictured, and he 



included, migrated to "the East country," 
i. e. Arabia— received each a portion of the 
patrimony, perhaps in cattle and other 
things; and this settlement ot Abraham's 
must have given satisfaction, since it is still 
the rule followed among the pastoral tribes. 
7-11. Death oe Abraham. These are tue 
days of Abraham— His death is here related, 
though he lived till Isaac and Esau were 
fifteen years, just one hundred years alter 
coming to Canaan, " The father oltheiaithuil," 
'"the friend of God." died; and even in his 



proceeded to reward her civility. 22. the ; death, the promises were fulfLled (cf. 15. 1 
man took a golden earring, &c— The ring was We might have wished some memorials of 
not for the ear, but the nose, and the armlets j his death-bed experience; but the Sprit of 
such as young women in Syria and Arabia God has withheld them— nor was it neces- 
still appear daily at wells decked in. Ihey i sary; for ^see M. 7 10./ from earth he passed 
20 



Abraham's death. 



GENESIS, XXV. 



Birth of Esau and Jacob, 



her. Wilt thou go with this man? And she 
said, 1 will go/ 

59 And they sent away Rehekah their 
Bister, and her h nurse, and Abraham's ser- 
vant, and his men. 

60 And they blessed Rebekah, and said 
unto her, Thou art our sister, be thou * the 
mother of thousands of millions, and let 
thy J seed possess the gate of those which 
hate them. 

61 1f And Rebekah arose, and her damsels, 
and they rode upon the camels, and follow- 
ed the man: and the servant took Rebekah, 
and went his way. 

62 And Isaac came from the way of the 
well * Lahai-roi; for he dwelt in the south 
country. 

63 And Isaac went out 8 to l meditate in 
the field at the eventide: and he lifted up 
his eyes, and saw, and, behold, the camels 
were coming. 

64 And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and 
when she saw Isaac, she lighted m off the 
camel. 

65 For she had said unto the servant. 
What man is this that walketh in the field 
to meet us? And the servant had said, It 
is my master- therefore she took a n veil, 
and covered herself. 

66 And the servant told Isaac all things 
that he had done. 

67 And Isaac brought her into his mother 
Sarah's tent, and took Rebekah, and she 
became his wife: and he loved her: and 
Isaac was ° comforted after his mother's 
death. 

CHAPTER XXV. 

1 The sons of Abraham by Keturah: 7 his age 
and death. 12 The generations of Ishmael. 
23 The birth of Esau and Jacob. 29 Esau selleth 
his birthright. 

rpiIEN again Abraham took a wife, and 
x her name was Keturah. 

2 And she bare him a Zimran, and Jok- 
shan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, 
and Shuah. 

3 And Jokshan begat Sheba and Dedan. 
And the sons of Dedan were Asshurim, and 
Letushim. and Leummim. 

4 And the sons of Midian; Ephah, and 
Epher, and Hanoch, and Abidah, and 
Eldaah, All these were the children of 
Keturah. 

5 And Abraham b gave all that he had 
unto Isaac. 

6 But unto the sons of the concubines, 
which Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts, 
and c sent them away from Isaac his son, 
while he yet lived, eastward, unto the d east 
country. 

7 Ami these are the days of the years of 
Abraham's life which he lived, an hundred 
tl .recscore and fift een years. 

8 Then Abraham gave up the ghost, and 
died in e a good old age, an old man, and 
full of years; and was / gathered to his 
people. 

9 And his sons 9 Isaac and Ishmael buried 
him * in the cave of Machpelah, in the field 
of Kphron the son of Zohar the Iiittite, 
which is before Mamre; 

10 The * Held which Abraham purchased 
of the sons of Heth: there was Abraham 
buried, and Sarah his wife. 

11 And it came to pass after the death 
of Abraham, that God blessed his son 
Isaac: and Isaac dwelt by the well J* Lahai- 
roi. 

21 



B. C. 1857. 



CHAP. 24. 
h ch. 35, 8. 
t ch. 17, 16. 

Ruth 4, 11. 
j ch. 22, 17. 
k ch. 16, 14. 

ch. 25, 11. 
8 or, to 

pray. 
I Ps. 65, 17. 

Dan. 6, 10. 

Mat. 6, 5, 6. 

M«t. 14, 23. 

Mark 1, 35. 

Mark 6,46. 

Luke 5, 16. 

Luke 6, 12. 

Acts 10,9. 

m Jos. 16,18. 

1 Sam. 25, 

23. 

ni Cor .11,3, 

6, 7, 10, 
o 1 Thes. 4, 

13. 



CHAP. 25. 
oiChfl.32. 
6 ch. 24, 36. 
c ch. 21, 14. 
d Judg. 6, 3. 
« ch. 16, 16. 

ch. 47, 8,9. 
/ ch. 35, 29. 

eh. 49, 33. 

Ac. 13, 36. 
9 ch. 50, 13. 
h ch. 49, 29, 

30. 
t ch. 23, 15. 
j ch. 16, 14. 

ch. 24 62. 
k lCh.1,29. 
1 or Hadad, 

lCh.1,30. 

1 ch. 17, 20. 
w» ver. 8. 

ch. 49, 33. 
Mark 15, 
37. 
n 1 Sa. 15, 7. 

2 fell. 

° ch. 16, 12. 
P Mat. 1.2. 
9 ch. 24. 67. 
r ch. 22, 23. 
« ch. 24, 29. 
t 1 Sam. 1, 

11, 27. 
t*lCh.6,20. 

2Ch.33.13. 

Ezra 8, 23. 

v Rom. 9, 10. 

W 1 Sa. 9, 9. 

1 Sam. 

10,22. 

* ch. 24, 60. 
V ch. 27, 11. 

* Hos. 12, 3. 
a ch. 27, 36. 
6ch.27,3. 5. 
C Jobl, 1,8. 

Job 2, 3. 
d He. 11, 9. 
U venison 

was in his 

mouth. 
« ch. 27, 19. 
/ ch. 27, 6. 

4 with that 
red, with 
that red 
pottage. 

5 That is, 
red. 

6 going to 
die. 

g He. 12, 16. 
h 1 Co.15,32. 



12 11 Now these are the * generations of 
Ishmael, Abraham's son, whom llagar the 
Egyptian, Sarah's handmaid, bare unto 
Abraham: 

13 And these are the names of the sons of 
Ishmael, by their names, according to their 
generations: the first-born of Ishmael. Neba- 
joth; and Kedar, and Adbeel. and Mibsam, 

14 And Mishma, and Dumah, and Massa, 

15 1 Hadar, and Tema, Jetur, Naphish, 
and Kedemah: 

16 These are the sons of Ishmael, and 
these are their names, by their towns, and 
by their castles ; * twelve princes accord- 
ing to their nations. 

17 And these are the years of the life of 
Ishmael, an hundred and thirty and seven 
years: and he m gave up the ghost and died, 
and was gathered unto his people. 

18 And they dwelt from h Havilah unto 
Shur, that is before Egypt, as thou goest 
toward Assyria: and he 2 died in the ''pre- 
sence of all his brethren. 

19 IT And these are the generations of Isaac, 
Abraham's son: Abraham p begat Isaac: 

20 And Isaac was forty years old when he 
took ? Rebekah to wife, the r daughter of 
Bethuel the Syrian of Padan-aram, the 
8 sister to Laban the Syrian. 

21 And Isaac t entreated the Lord for his 
wife, because she was barren: and the Lord 
was u entreated of him, and Rebekah his 
wife v conceived. 

22 And the children struggled together 
within her; and she said, If it be so. why 
am I thus? And she went to w enquire of 
the Lord. 

23 And the Lord said unto her, Two na- 
tions are in thy womb, and two x manner 
of people shall be separated from thy 
bowels; and the one people shall be stronger 
than the other people; and the elder shall 
serve the younger. 

24 And when her days to be delivered 
were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in 
her womb. 

25 And the first came out red, v all over 
like an hairy garment; and they called his 
name Esau. 

26 And after that came his brother out, 
and 2 his hand took hold, on Esau's heel; 
and a his name was called Jacob: and Isaac 
was threescore years old when she bare 
them. 

27 And the boys grew: and Esau was a 
& cunning hunter, a man of the field; and 
Jacob was c a plain man, d dwelling in tents. 

28 And Isaac loved Esau, because 3 he did 
6 eat of his venison: /but Rebekah loved 
Jacob. 

29 And Jacob sod pottage: and Esau came 
from the field, and ne was faint: 

30 And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, 1 
pray thee, 4 with that same red pottage; 
for l am faint: therefore was his name called 
5 Edom. 

31 And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy 
birthright. 

32 And Esau said, Behold, I am, 6 at the 
point to die; and what profit shall this 
birthright do to me? 

33 And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; 
and he sware unto him: and he g sold his 
birthright unto Jacob. 

34 Then Jacob gavp Esau bread and pot- 
tage of lentiles ; and '' he did eat and drmk 
and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau 
despised his biithrigtit. 



Sojourn in Gerar, 



GENESIS, XXVI, XXVn. 



Intrmity of Isaac. 



into heaven (L. 16. 22.). Though dead he yet 
liveth (M. 22. 32.). 9, 10. his sons buried him— 
Death often puts an end to strife— reconciles 
those who have been alienated; and brings 
rival relations, as in this instance — to 
mingle tears over a father's grave. 

12-18. Descendants of Ishmael. Be- 
fore passing to the line of the promised seed, 
the historian gives a brief notice of Ishmael, 
to show that the promises respecting that 
son of Abraham, were fulfilled— first in the 
greatness of his posterity (cf. 17. 20); and, 
secondly, in their independence. 18. he died 
—rather, " it itheir lot) fell in the presence of 
their brethren" (cf. 16. 12.). 

19-34. History of Isaac. These are the 
generations— account of the leading events in 
his life. 21. entreated the Lord for his wife 
— Though tried in a similar way to his father, 
he did not follow the same crooked policy. 
Twenty years he continued unblessed with 
offspring, whose seed was to be "as the 
stars." But in answer to their mutual 
prayers (1 Pe. 3. 7 J Kebekah was divinely in- 
formed, that she was to be the mother of 
twins, who should be the progenitors of two 
independent nations; that the descendants 
of the younger should act the more powerful 
and subdue those of the other i±io. 9. 12; 
2 0hron. 21. 8. \ 27. the beys grew— from the 
first opposite to each other in character, 
manners, and habits. 28. The parents were 
divided in their affection; and while the 
grounds, at least, of the father's partiality, 
were weak — the distinction made between 
the children led, as such conduct always 
does, to unhappy consequences. 29. Jacob 
sod pottage— made of lentiles or small beans, 
which are common in Egypt and Syria. It 
is probable that it was made ot Egyptian 
beans, which Jacob had procured as a dainty; 
for Esau was a stranger to it. It is very 
palatable; and to the weary hunter, faint 
with hunger, its odour must have been irre- 
sistibly tempting. 31. Jacob said, Sell my 
thy birthright— i. e. the rights and privileges 
of the first-born— which were very important 
—the chief being that they were the family 
priests (Ex. 4. 22 ; and had a double portion 
of the inheritance tDeut. 21. 17.). 32. Esau 
said, I am at the point to die— i. e. I am run- 
ning daily risk of my life; and of what use 
will the birth-right be to me: so he despised 
or cared little about it, in comparison of 
gratifying his appetite— he threw away his 
religious privileges for a trifle; and thence 
he is styled— " a profane person" (He. 12. 16; 
also Job. 31. 7, 16; 6. 13; Phil. 3. 19. "There 
was never any meat, except the forbidden 
fruit, so dear bought, as this broth of Jacob." 
[Bishop Hai L.] 

CHAPTEE XXVI. 

Ver. 1-35. Sojourn in Gerar. Famine 
. . . Isaac went unto Gerar— The pressure of fa- 
mine in Canaan forced Isaac with his family 
and flocks to migrate into the land of the 
Philistines, where he was exposed to per- 
sonal danger, as his father had been on ac- 
count of his wife's beauty; but through the 
seasonable interposition of Providence he 
was preserved (Ps. 105. 14, 15.). 12. Then 
Isaac sowed— During his sojourn in that dis- 
trict he farmed a piece of land, which, by 
the blessing of God on his skill and industry, 
was very productive (Isa. 65. 13; Ps. 37. 19.), 
and by his plentiful returns he increased so 



rapidly iA wealth and influence, 

21 



Philistines, afraid or envious of his pros- 
perity, obliged him to leave the place iPro. 
27. 4; Eccles. 4. 4.'. This may receive illus- 
tration from the fact that many Syrian 
shepherds at this day settle for a year or 
two in a place, rent some ground, in the 
produce of which they trade with the neigh- 
bouring market, till the people, through 
iealousy of their growing substance refuse to 
renew their lease, and compel them to remove 
elsewhere. 15. wells . . . Philistines had stopped, 
(fee. — the same base stratagem for annoying 
those against whom they have taken an um- 
brage is practised still by choking the wells 
with sand or stones, or defiling them with 
putrid carcases. 17. valley of Gerar— torrent- 
bed or wady, a vast undulating plain, unoc- 
cupied and affording good pasture. 18-22. 
Isaac digged again— the naming of wells by 
Abraham, and the hereditary right of his 
family to the property— the change of the 
names by the Philistines to obliterate the 
traces of their origin— the restoration of the 
names by Isaac, and the contests between 
the respective shepherds to the exclusive 
possession of the water, are circumstances 
that occur amongst the natives in those re- 
gions as frequently in the present day as in 
the time of Isaac. 28-33. then Abimelech 
went unto him— as there was a lapse of ninety 
years between the visit of Abraham and 
of Isaac, the Abimelech and Phichol spoken 
of must have been different persons' offi- 
cial titles. Here is another proof of the 
promise (12. 2.) being fulfilled, in an over- 
ture of peace being made to him by the king 
of Gerar. By whatever motive the proposal 
was dictated— whether fear of his growing 
power, or regret for the bad usage they had 
given him, the king and two of his courtiers 
paid a visit to the tent of Isaac (Pro. 16. 7.). 
His timid and passive temper had submitted 
to the annoyances of his rude neighbours— 
but now that they wish to renew the cove- 
nant, he evinces deep feeling at their conduct, 
and astonishment at their assurance, or arti- 
fice, in coming near him. Being,howe ver, of a 
pacific disposition, he forgave their offence, 
accepted their proposals, and treated them 
to the banquet by which the ratification of a 
covenant was usually crowned. 34. Esau 
took to wife— if the pious feelings of Abraham 
recoiled from the idea of Isaac forming a 
matrimonial connection with a Canaanitish 
woman, that devout patriarch himself would 
be equally opposed to such a union on the 
part of his children ; and we may easily 
imagine how much his pious heart was 
wounded and the family peace destroyed, 
when his favourite but wayward son brought 
no less than two idolatrous wives among 
them— an additional proof that Esau neither 
desired the blessing nor dreaded the curse 
of God. These wives never gained the affec- 
tions of his parents, and this estrangement 
was overruled by God for keeping the chosen 
family aloof from the dangers of heathen 
influence. 

CHAPTEE XXVn. 
Ver. 1-27. Infirmtty of Isaac. When Isaac 
was old and eyes dim — He was in his 137th 
ear; and apprehending death to be near, he 
! prepared to make his last will— an act of the 
gravest importance, especially as it in- 
cluded the conveyance through a prophetic 
spirit of the patriarchal blessing. 4. mke 



that the savoury meat— perhaps to revive and strength- 



God blesseth Isaac. 



GENESIS, XXVI, XXVII. 



Abimelech' s covenant 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

1 Isaac because of famine gosth to Gerar- 23 God 
appeareth t>> ntm at Beer sheba, and blesseth 
htm. '26 Abimelech's covenant with him. 34 
Esau's wives. 

A XI) there was a famine in the land, 
-"• besides a the first famine that was in 
the days of Abraham. And Isaac went 
unto b Abimelech king of ihe Philistines 
u to Gerar. 

2 And the Lord appeared unto him, and 
said. Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the 
c land which I shall tell thee of: 

3 d Sojourn in this land, and * I will be 
with thee, and /will bless thee: for unto 
thee, and unto thy seed, 3 I will give all 
these countries; and I will perform A the 
oath which I sware unto Abraham thy 
father; 

4 And 1 1 will make thy seed to multiply 
as ti..> stars of heaven, and will give unto 
tin seed all these countries • and S in thy 
seed shall all the nations of the earth be 
blessed ; 

5 * Because that Abraham obeyed my 
voice, and kept my charge, my command- 
ments, mv statutes, and my laws. 

6 H And Isaac dwelt in Gerar: 

7 And the men of the place asked Mm of 
his wife; and he said, 'She is my sister: 
for * he feared to say, She is my wife ; lest, 
said! he, the men of the place should kill 
me for Rebekah; because she was n fair to 
look upon. 

8 And it came to pass, when he had been 
there a long time, that Abimelech king of 
the Philistines looked out at a window, 
and saw, and, behold, Isaac was sporting 
with Rehekah his wife. 

9 And Abimelech called Isaac, and said. 
Behold, of a suretv she is thy wife; and 
how saidst thou. She is my sister? And 
Isaac said unto him, Because I said, Lest 
1 die for her. 

10 And Abimelech said, What is this thou 
hast done unto us? one of the people might 
lightly have lien with thy wife, and ° thou 
shouldest have brought guiltiness upon 
us. 

11 And Abimelech charged all his people, 
saying. He that^toucheth this man or his 
wife shall surely be put to death. 

12 Then Isaac sowed in that land, and 
1 received in the same year q an hundred- 
fold: and the Lord r blessed him: 

13 And the man 8 waxed great, and 2 went 
forward, and grew until he became very 
great: 

14 For he had possession of flocks, and 
possession of herds, and great store of 3 ser- 
vants: and the Philistines * envied him. 

15 For all the wells * which his father's 
servants had digged in the days of Abraham 
his father, the Philistines had stopped 
them, and filled them with earth. 

1G And Abimelech said unto Isaac, Go 
from us ; for v thou art much mightier than 
we. 

17 V And Isaac departed thence, and 
pitched his tent in the valley of Gerar, and 
dwelt there. 

18 And Isaac digged again the wells of 
water which they had digged in the days of 
Abraham his father; for the Philistines had 
stopped them after the death of Abraham: 
•ana he called their names after the names 
by which his lather had called them. 

ly And JLsua-i's sen-ants digged in the 
22 



CHAP. 26. 
a C h. 12, 10. 

b ch. 2i, 2. 
c ch. 12. 1. 

Ps. 37. 3. 
dch. 90, I. 

Ps. 39. 12. 

He. 11. 9. 
« ch. 28, 15. 
/ ch. 12, 1. 
g ch. 13, 15. 
h Ps. 1<6. 9. 
i ch. 15, 5. 
j ch. 22. 18. 

Ps. 72, 17. 
k ch. 22. 16. 
I ch. 12. 13. 
m p r . 29, 25. 
n ch. 24, 16. 

ch. 2M, 9. 
PPs.lU5.15. 

1 found. 

9 Mat. 13, 8. 

Mark, 4. 8. 
r ch. 24, 1. 

Job 42, 12. 
« Pro. 10, 22. 

2 went go- 
ing. 

3 or, hus- 
bandry. 

t ch. 37", 11. 

Ec. 4. 4. 
« ch. 21, 30. 
v Ex. 1, 9. 
w ch. 21, 31. 

4 Uvinsr. 

x ch. 21, 25. 

5 That is, 
Contention. 

C Tliat is, 
. Hatred. 

7 That is, 
Room. 

V ch. 17, 6. 

Ex. 1. 7. 
« ch. 24. 12. 

Ex. 3. 6. 

Acta 7. 32. 
a ch. 15, 1. 
b vers. 3, 4. 
c ch. 12, 7. 

ch. 13. 18. 
dPs. 116,17. 
eJudg.ll. 7. 

8 Seeing we 
saw. 

/ch. 21. 22, 
23. 

9 If thou 
slialt, et«. 

9 ch. 24. 3L 
Ps. 115. 
15. 

h ch. 19. 3. 
i eh. 21. 31. 

10 That is, 
an oath. 

j ch. 21. 31. 

11 That is. 
the well 
of the 
oath. 

k ch. 36. 2. 
I ch. 27. 46. 
ch.23. 1,8. 

12 bitterness 
of spirit. 



CHAP. 27. 
a. ch. 48. 10. 

1 Sam. 3. 2. 

Ec. 12. 3. 
b Prov. 27. 1. 

Jam. 4. 14. 
c ch. 25. 27, 

28. 

1 liUilt, 



valley, and found there a well of 4 springing 
water. 

20 And the herdmen of Gerar x did strive 
with Isaac's herdmen, saying. The water is 
ours: and he called the name of the well 
5 Esek; because they strove with him. 

21 And they digged another well, and 
strove for that also : and he called the 
name of it 6 Sitnah. 

22 And he removed from thence, and 
digged another well; and for that they 
strove not: and he called the name of it 
7 Rehoboth ; and he said, For now the 
Lord ha** made room for us, and we shall 
be y fruitful in the land. 

23 And ne went up from thence to Beer- 
sheba. 

24 And the Lord appeared unto him the 
same night, and said, z I am the God of 
Abraham thy father: a fear not, for & I am 
with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply 
thy seed, for my servant Abraham's sake. 

25 And he c builded an altar there, and 
d called upon the name of the Lord, and 
pitched his tent there : and there Isaac's 
servants digged a well. 

26 11 Then Abimelech went to him from 
Gerar, and Ahnzzath one of his friends, 
and Phichol the chief captain of his 
army. 

27 And Isaac said unto them, Wherefore 
come ye to me, seeing e ye hate me, and 
have sent me away from you? 

28 And they said. 8 We saw certainly that 
the Lord /was with thee: and we said, Let 
there be now an oath betwixt us. even be- 
twixt us and thee, and let us make a cove- 
nant with thee; 

29 9 That thou wilt do us no hurt, as we 
have not touched thee, and as we have done 
unto thee nothing but j^ood, and have sent 
thee away in peace: *thou art now the 
blessed of the Lord. 

30 And h he made them a feast, and they 
did eat and chink. 

31 And they rose up betimes in the morn- 
ing, and * sware one to another: and Isaac 
sent them away, and they departed from 
him in peace. 

32 And it came to pass the same day, that 
Isaac's servants came, and told him con- 
cerning the well which they had digged, 
and said unto him, We have found water. 

33 And he called it » Shebah: i therefore 
the name of the city is u Beer-sheba unto 
this day. 

34 11 * And Esau was forty years old when 
he took to wife Judith the daughter of Beeri 
the Hittite, and Bashemath the daughter 
ofElontheHittite: 

35 Which * were ^ a grief of mind unto 
Isaac and to Rebekah. 

CHAPTER XXVII. 

1 Isaac sendeth Esau for venison. 6 Jacob, in- 
structed by Rebekah, obtaineth the blessing: 34 
Esau's complaint: 41 he threateneth Jacob s life. 
42 Rebekah sendeth Jacob to Laban. 
A ND it came to pass, that when Isaac 
^ was old, and a his eyes were dim, so 
that he could not see, he called Esau his 
eldest son, and said unto him, My son: and 
he said unto him, Behold, here am I. 

2 And he said, Behold now, I am old, & I 
know not the day of my death. 

3 c Now therefore take, I pray thee, thy 
weapons, thy quiver and thy bow, and go 
out to the held, and " 
son: 



i take me some veni- 



The Blessing. 



genesis, xxvm. 



Jacob's Departure. 



en him tor the duty, or rather "as eating and ! tual ones, which formed the grand distinc- 



drinking" were used on all religious occasions 
he could not convey the right, till he had 
eaten of the meat provided for the purpose 
by him who was to receive the blessing, 

tA. Clarke], (cf. 18. 7.). that my soul may 
iless thee — It is difficult to imagine him 
ignorant of the divine purpose (cf. 20. 23 J. 
But natural affection, prevailing through 
age and infirmity, prompted him to entail 
the honours and powers of the birthright on 
his eldest son; and, perhaps, he was not 
aware of what Esau had clone (25. 34.). 5-10. 
Rebekah spake unto Jacob — she prized the 
blessing as invaluable— she knew that God 
intended it for the younger son; and in her 
anxiety to secure its being conferred on the 
right object— on one who cared for religion- 
she acted in the sincerity of faith; but in 
crooked policy — with unenlightened zeal; 
on the false principle that the end would 
sanctify the means. 11, 12. Jacob said, 
Esau ... a hairy man — It is remarkable 
that his scruples were founded not on 
the evil of the act; but the risk and con- 
sequences of deception. 13-17. Rebekah 
said, Upon me be thy curse — His conscience 
being soothed by his mother—preparations 
were hastily made for carrying out the 
device; consisting, first, of a kid's flesh, 
which, made into a ragout, spiced with salt, 
onions, garlic, and lemon-juice, might easily 
be passed oh on a blind old man, with blunted 
senses, as game: secondly, of pieces of goat's 
skin bound on his hands and neck, its soit 
silken hair resembling that on the cheek of a 
young man; thirdly, of the long white robe 
—the vestment of the first-born, which, trans- 
mitted from father to son, and kept m a chest 
among fragrant herbs and perfumed flowers, 
used much in the East to keep away moths 
—his mother provided for him. 18-27. he 
came unto his father— The scheme planned 
by the mother was to be executed by the 
son in the father's bed-chamber; and it is 
painful to think of the deliberate falsehoods, 
as well as daring profanity, he resorted to. 
The disguise, though wanting in one thing, 
which had nearly upset the whole plot, suc- 
ceeded in misleading Isaac; and while giv- 
ing his paternal embrace, the old man was 
roused into a state of high satisfaction and 
delight. 27. the smell ... is as of a field— 
The aromatic odours of the Syrian fields and 
meadows, often impart a strong fragrance to 
the person and clothes, as has been noticed 
by many travellers. 

28-46. The Blessing. God give thee of 
the dew— To an Oriental mind, this phrase- 
ology implied the highest flow of pros] erity. 
The copious fall of dew is indispensable to 
the fruitfulness of lands, which would be 
otherwise arid and sterile through the vio- 
lent heat; and it abounds most in hilly 
regions— such as Canaan— hence called the 
iat land (IS eh. 9. 25, 35. . plenty of corn and 
wine— Palestine was famous for vineyards, 
and it produced varieties of corn, viz. wheat, 
barley, oats, and rye. Let people serve thee 
—fulfilled in the discomfiture of the hostile 
tribes that opposed the Israelites in the 
wilderness; and in the pre-eminence and 
power they attained after their national 
establishment in the promised land. This 
J.essing was not realised to Jacob, but to his 
descendants ; and the temporal blessings 
promised, were but a shadow of those spiri- 
22 



tion of Jacob's posterity. g0-35. Esau 
came in from his hunting— scarcely had the 
former scene been concluded, when the fraud 
was discovered. The emotions of Isaac, as 
well as Esau, may easily be imagined— the 
astonishment, alarm, and sorrow of the one 
—the disappointment and indignation of the 
other. But a moment's reflection convinced 
the aged patriarch that the transfer of the 
blessing was " of the Lord," and now irre- 
vocable. The importunities of Esau, how- 
ever, overpowered him; and as the pro- 
phetic afflatus was upon the patriarch, he 
added what was probably as pleasing to a 
man of Esau's character, as the other would 
have been. 39, 40. Behold thy dwelling — 
The first part is a promise of temporal pro- 
sperity, made in the same terms as Jacob's— 
the second refers to the roving life of hunting 
freebooters, which he and his descendants 
should lead. Though Esau was not person- 
ally subject to his brother, his posterity 
were tributary to the Israelites, till the 
reign of Joram— when they revolted, and 
established a king of their own (2 Ki. 8. 20; 
2 Chr. 21. 8-10.). 41. Esau hated Jacob — It 
is scarcely to be wondered at— that Esau re- 
sented the conduct of Jacob, and vowed 
revenge. The days of mourning for my 
father— a common Oriental phrase for the 
death of a parent. 42-45. words of Esau were 
told Rebekah— Poor woman; she now early 
begins to reap the bitter fruits of her fraudu- 
lent device; she is obliged to part with her 
son,for whom she planned it,never,protably, 
seeing him again; and he felt the retributive 
justice of heaven fall upon him heavily in his 
own future family, why should I be deprived 
of you both— This refers to the law of Goel- 
ism, by which the nearest of kin would be 
obliged to avenge the death of Jacob upon 
his brother. 46. Rebekah said to Isaac— 
Another pretext her cunning had to devise 
to obtain her husband's consent to Jacob's 
journey to Mesopotamia; and she succeeded 
by touching the aged patriarch in a tender 
point, afflicting to his pious heart— the pro- 
per marriage of their younger son. 
CHAPTER XXVILL 
Ver. 1-19. Jacob's Departure. 1. Isaac 
called J? cob — He entered fully into EeLek- 
ah's feelings— and the burden of his parting 
counsel to his son was, to avoid a marriage 
alliance with any but the Iviesopotamian 
branch of the family. At the same time he 
gave him a solemn blessing— pronounced be- 
iore unwittingly, now designedly, and with a 
cordial spirit. It is more explicitly and fully 
given, and Jacob was thus acknowledged "the 
heir of the promise." 6-9. when Esau saw, 
<fcc.— desirous to humour his parents, and if 
possible get the last will revoked, he be- 
came wise when too late (see Matth. 25. 10.:, 
and hoped by gratifying his parents in one 
thing to atone for all his forixer delin- 
quencies. But he only made bad worse, and 
though he did not marry a "wife of the 
daughters of Canaan," he married into a 
family which God had rejected — it shew- 
ed a partial reformation, but no repent- 
ance, for he gave no proofs of abating his 
vindictive purposes against his brother, nor 
cherishing that pious spirit that would have 
gratified his father— he was like Micah isee 
Jud. 17. 13.). 10. Jacob went out, &c. — his 
departure from his father's house was an igno- 



Jacob by deceit 



GENESIS, XXYII. 



obtaineth the blessing. 



4 And make me savoury meat, such as I 
love, and bring it to me, that I may eat • 
that my soul d may bless thee before I 
die. 

5 And Rebekah heard when Isaac spake 
to Esau his son. And Esau went to the 
field to hunt for venison, and to brmg it. 

6 r And llebekah spake unto Jacob her 
son, saying. Behold, I heard thy lather 
speak onto Esau thy brother, saying, 

7 Bring me venison, and make me savoury 
meat, that I may eat, and bless thee before 
the Lord before my death. 

8 Now therefore, my son, e obey mv voice 
according to that which I command thee. 

9 Go now to the nock, and fetch me from 
thence two good kids of the goats ; and I 
will make them / savoury meat ior thy 
father, such as he loveth: 

10 And thou shalt bring it to thy father, 
that he mav eat, and that he g may bless 
thee before his death. 

11 And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, 
Behold, h Esau mv brother is a hairy man, 
and I am a smooth man: 

12 My father peradventure will » feel me. 
and I shall seem to him as a deceiver; and 
I shall bring i a curse upon me, and not a 
blessing. 

13 And his mother said unto him, * Upon 
me be thy curse, my son : only obey my 
voice, and go fetch me them. 

14 And he went, and fetched, and brought 
thtm, to his mother: and his mother l made 
savourv meat, such as his father loved. 

15 And Rebekah took 2 goodly m raiment of 
her eldest son Esau, which were with her 
in the house, and put them upon Jacob her 
younger son: 

16 And she put the skins of the kids of the 
goats upon his hands, and upon the smooth 
of his neck: 

17 And she gave the savoury meat and the 
bread, which she had prepared, into the 
hand of her son Jacob. 

18 1F And he came unto his father, and 
said, My father: and he said, Here am I; 
who art thou, my son? 

19 And Jacob said unto his father, I am 
Esau thy first-born; n I have done accord- 
ing as thou badest me: arise, I pray thee, 
sit and eat of my venison, ° that thy soul 
may bless me. 

20 And Isaac said unto his son. How is it 
that thou hast found it so quickly, my son? 
And he said, Because the p Loud thy God 
brought it 3 to me. 

21 And Isaac said unto Jacob, Come near, 
I pray thee, that I « may feel thee, my son, 
whether thou be my very son Esau or 
not. 

22 And Jacob went near unto Isaac his 
father; and he felt him, and said, The voice 
is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the 
hands of Esau. 

23 And he discerned him not, because r his 
hands were hairy, as his brother Esau's 
hands: so he blessed him. 

24 And he said, Art thou my very son 
Esau? And he said, 8 I am. 

25 And Le said, Bring it near to me, and 
I will eat of my son's venison, * that my 
soul may bless thee. And he brought it 
near to him, and he did eat: and he brought 
him wine, and he drank. 

26 And his father Isaac said unto him, 
Come near now, and kiss me ; my son. 

27 And he came near, and k^td him: and 

23 



B. C. 1760. 



CHAP. 27. 

d ver. '27. 

ch. 43, 9, 

15. 

ch. 49, 28. 

Deu. 33, 1. 

He. 11, 20. 
e ver. 13. 
/ ver. 4. 
g ch. 43, 15. 
h ch. 25. 25. 
i ver. 22. 
j ch. 9. 25. 

De. 27. 18. 
k ch. 43, 9. 

1 Sa. 25,24. 

2 Sa. 14, 9. 
Matt. 27, 
25. 

1 ver. 4, 9. 

2 desirable. 
m ver. 27. 
n 1 Kin. 13, 

18. 

lKi.14,2. 

Isa.28.15. 

Zech. 13,4. 
o ver. 4. 
p Ex. 20, 7. 

3 before me. 
q ver. 12. 

r ver. 16. 

Ro. 3, 7, 8. 
Eph. 4, 25. 

t ver. 4. 

m Hos. 14.6. 

Sod- 2, 13. 

Heb. 6, 7. 
V Heb. 11, 20. 
WDe. 33,13. 

2Sa. 1,21. 
a: Nu. 18,12. 
y De. 33, 23. 

Ps. 65, 9. 

Zee. 9. 17. 
z ch. 9, 25. 

ch. 25, 23. 
a ch. 49. 8. 
6ch. 12,3. 

Num. 24. 9. 
c ver. 4. 

4 trembled 
with a great 
trembling 
greatly. 

5 hunted. 

d ch. 28, 3, 4. 

Xu. 23, 20. 

Eph. 1, 3. 

Ro. 11, 29. 
e Heb. 12. 17. 
/lThes.4.6. 
g ch. 25, 26. 

6 That is, a 
supplanter. 

h ch. 25, 33. 
i Fulfilled, 

2 Sa. 8, 14. 
j ver. 23. 

7 Or, sup- 
ported. 

k He. 12, 17. 

1 He. 11, 20. 

8 Or, of the 
fatness. 

w» ch. ^5. 23. 

2 Sa. 8,14. 

Obad. 18, 

19, 20. 
n Ful fined, 

2Ki.8,20. 
o ch. 37, 4, 8. 
P ch. 50, 3, 

4,10. 
q Obad. 10. 

1 John, 3, 

12. 
r Ps. 64, 5. 
« ch> 11, 31. 



he smelled the smell of his raiment, and 
blessed him, and said, See, u the smell oi 
my son is as the smell of a field which th« 
Lord hath blessed: 

28 Therefore v God give thee of the w dew 
of heaven, and the x fatness of the earth, 
and y plenty of corn and wine: 

29 z Let people serve thee, and nations 
bow down to thee: be lord over thybrethren, 
and a let thy mother's sons bow down to 
thee: b cursed be every one that curseth 
thee, and blessed be he that blessetu 
thee. 

30 1T And it came to pass, as soon as Isaac 
had made an end of blessing Jacob, and 
Jacob was yet scarce gone out from the 

Eresence of Isaac his father, that Esau Ids 
rother came in from his hunting. 

31 And he also had made savoury meat, 
and brought it unto his father, and said 
unto his father, Let my father arise, and 
c eat of his son's venison, that thy soul may 
bless me. 

32 And Isaac his father said unto him, 
Who art thou? And he said, I am thy 
son, thy first-born, Esau. 

33 And Isaac 4 trembled very exceedingly, 
and said, Who? where is he that hath 

5 taken venison, and brought it me, and I 
have eaten of all before thou earnest, and 
have blessed him? yea, d and he shall be 
blessed. 

34 And when Esau heard the words of his 
father, e he cried with a great and exceed- 
ing bitter cry, and said unto his father, 
Bless me, even me also, O my father! 

35 And he said, Thy brother came / with 
subtilty, and hath taken away thy bless- 
ing. 

36 And he said, 9 Is not he rightly named 

6 Jacob? for he hath supplanted me these 
two times: h he took away my birthright; 
and, behold, now he hath taken away my 
blessing. And he said, Hast thou not re- 
served a blessing for me? 

37 And Isaac answered and said unto 
Esau, ■ Behold, I have made him thy lord, 
and all his brethren have I given to him 
for sen-ants ; and with i corn and wine have 
I " sustained him: and what shall I do now 
unto thee, my son? 

38 And Esau said unto his father, Hast 
thou but one blessing, my father ? bless me, 
even me also, O my father! And Esau 
lifted up his voice, * and wept. 

39 Ana Isaac his father answered and said 
unto him, Behold, l thy dwelling shall be 
8 the fatness of the earth, and of the dew 
of heaven from above ; 

40 And by thy sword shalt thou live, and 
m shalt serve thy brother; and n it shall 
come to Dass when thou shalt have the do- 
minion, that thou shalt break his yoke from 
on' thy neck. 

41 1F And Esau ° hated Jacob because of 
the blessing wherewith his father blessed 
him: and Esau said in his heart, p The days 
of mourning for my lather are at hand ; 
q then will I slay my brother Jacob. 

42 And these words of Esau her elder son 
were told to Rebekah: and she sent and 
called Jacob her younger son, and said un- 
to him, Behold, thy brother Esau, as 
touching thee, doth r comfort himself, pur- 
posing to kill thee. 

43 2s ow therefore, my son, obey mv voice; 
and arise, flee thou to Laban my brother 
to*Harau; 



Jacob's Departure, 



GENESIS, XXIX. 



The Well of Haran, 



minious flight: and for fear of being pursued 
or waylaid by his vindictive brother, he did 
not take the common road, but went by lonely 
and unfrequented paths, which increased 
the length and dangers of the journey. 11. 
he lighted, &c— by a forced march he had 
reached Beth-el, about forty-eight miles 
from Beer-sheba, and had to spend the 
night in the open field, he took of the stones, 
&c— "the nature of the soil is an existing 
comment on the record of the stony territory 
where Jacob lay." [Clarke's Trav.J 12. 
he dreamed ... a ladder — some writers are 
of opinion that it was not a literal ladder 
that is meant, as it is impossible to conceive 
any imagery stranger and more unnatural 
than that of a ladder, whose base was on 
earth, while its top reached heaven, without 
having anything on which to rest its upper 
extremity. They suppose that the little 
heap of stones, on which his head reclined 
for a pillow, being the miniature model of 
the object that appeared to his imagination, 
the ladder was a gigantic mountain pile, 
whose sides, indented in the rock, gave it 
the appearance of a scaling ladder. There 
can be no doubt that this use of the original 
term was common among the early Hebrews; 
asJosephiis.describingthe townofPtolemais 
(Acre,) says it was bounded by a mountain, 
which, from its projecting sides, was called 
44 the ladder; " and the stairs that led down to 
the city are, in the original, termed a ladder 
(Neh. 3,) though they were only a flight of 
steps cut in the side of the rock. But whether 
the image presented to the mental eye of 
Jacob were a common ladder, or such a moun- 
tain pile as has been described, the design of 
this vision was to afford comfort, encourage- 
ment, and confidence to the lonely fugitive, 
both in his present circumstances and as to 
his future prospects. His thoughts during 
the day must have been painful— he would be 
his own self-accuser that he had brought 
exile and privation upon himself— and above 
all, that though he had obtained the forgive- 
ness of his father, he had much reason to fear 
lest God might have forsaken him? Soli- 
tude affords time for reflection ; and it was 
now that God began to bring Jacob under 
a course of religious instruction and train- 
ing. To dispel his fears and allay the in- 
ward tumult of his mind, nothing was 
better fitted than the vision of the gigan- 
tic ladder, which reached from himself to 
heaven, and on which the angels were con- 
tinually ascending and descending from God 
himself on their benevolent errands fJo.l. 51.) 
13. the Lord stood, &c — that Jacob might 
be at no loss to know the purport of the 
vision, he heard the Divine voice; and the 
announcement of His name, together with a 
renewal of the covenant, and an assurance 
of personal protection, produced at once the 
most solemnizing and inspiriting effect on 
his mind. 16. Jacob awoke, &c— His lan- 
guage and his conduct were alike that of a 
man whose mind was pervaded by senti- 
ments of solemn awe, of fervent piety, and 
lively gratitude (Jer. 31. 36.). 18, 19. Jacob 
set up a stone, &c— the mere setting up of the 
stone might have been as a future memorial 
to mark the spot; and this practice is still 
common in the East, in memory of a religi- 
ous vow or engagement. But the pouring 
oil upon it was a consecration. Accordingly 
he gave it a new name, Beth el, " the house 
23 



of God" (Hof. 12. 4.) ; and it will not appear 
a thing forced or unnatural to call a stone 
a house, when one considers the common 
practice in warm countries of sitting in the 
open air by or on a stone, as are those of 
this place, " broad sheets of bare rock, some 
of them standing like the cromlechs of Druid- 
ical monuments." [Stanley. ] 

20-22. Jacob's Vow. Jacob vowed a vow— 
His words are not to be considered as imply- 
ing a doubt, far less as stating the condition 
or terms on which he would dedicate himself 
to God. Let 44 if" be changed into "since," 
and the language will appear a proper ex- 

Eression of Jacob's faith— an evidence of his 
aving truly embraced the promise. How 
edifying often to meditate on Jacob at 
Beth-el! 

CHAPTEK XXIX. 
Ver. 1-35. The Well of Haran. 1. Then 
Jacob went, &.c.—Heb„ lifted up his feet. He 
resumed his way next morning with a light 
heart and elastic step after the vision of the 
ladder; for tokens of the divine favour tend 
to quicken the discharge of duty (Neh. 8. 10.). 
and came into the land, &c— Mesopotamia and 
the whole region beyond the Euphrates are 
by the sacred writers designated "the east" 
(Jud. 6. 3; 1 Kings 4. 32; Job 1. 3.). Between 
the first and the second clause of this verse 
is included a journey of four hundred miles. 2. 
And he looked, &c— as he approached the place 
of his destination, he, according to custom, re- 
paired to the well adjoining the town where he 
would obtain an easy introduction to his re- 
latives. 3. three flocks. . . and a stone, &c— In 
Arabia, owing to the shifting sands, and in 
other places, owing to the strong evapora- 
tion, tne mouth of a well is generally covered, 
especially when it is private property. Over 
many is laid a broad, thick, flat stone, 
with a round hole cut in the middle, forming 
the mouth of the cistern. This hole is covered 
with a heavy stone which it would require 
two or three men to roll away. Such was the 
description of the well at Haran. 4. Jacob 
said. My brethren — Finding from the shep- 
herds who were reposing there with flocks, 
and who all belonged to Haran, that his rela- 
tives in Haran were well, and that one of the 
family was shortly expected, he enquired why 
they were idling the best part of the day there 
instead of watering their flocks, and sending 
them back to pasture? 8. They said, We 
cannot, until— In order to prevent* the conse- 
quences of too frequent exposure in places 
where water is scarce, it is not only covered, 
but it is customary to have all the flocks 
collected round the well before the covering 
is removed in presence of the owner or one 
of his representatives; and it was for this 
reason that those who were reposing at the 
well of Haran with the three flocks were 
waiting the arrival of Bachel. 9-11. While 
he yet spake, Rachel came— among the pasto- 
ral tribes the young unmarried daughters of 
the greatest sheicks tend the flocks, going 
out at sunrise, and continuing to watch their 
fleecy charge till sunset. Watering them, 
which is done twice a-day, is a work of time 
and labour, and Jacob rendered no small 
service in volunteering his aid to the young 
shepherdess. The interview was affecting, 
the reception welcome, and Jacob forgot all 
his toils in the society of his Mesopotamian 
relatives. Can we doubt that he returned 
thanks to God for His goodness by the way ? 



Jacob is sent to Padan-aram: GENESIS, XXVIII, XXIX. 



Bis vow at Beth-el. 



44 And tarry; with him a few days, until 
thy brother's fury turn away; * 

45 Until thy brother's anger turn away 
from thee, and he forget that which thou 
hast done to him: then I will send and 
fetch thee from thence: why should I be 
deprived also of you both in one day? 

46 And Kebekah said to Isaac, * I am 
weary of my life because of the daughters 
of lieth: u if Jacob take a wife of the 
daughters of Heth, such as these which 
are of the daughters of the land, what good 
shall my life do me? 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 

1 Jacob is blessed, and sent to d'adan-aram: 10 
his vision, and God's promise in a dream. Id 
The stone at Beth-el. 'JO Jacob's vow. 
AND Isaac called Jacob, and a blessed 
-"- him, and charged him, and said unto 
him, Thou shalt not take a wife of the 
daughters of Canaan. 

2 Arise, go to Padan-aram, to the house 
of BethueT thy mother's father; and take 
thee a wife from thence of the daughters of 
Labau thy mother's brother. 

3 b And God Almighty bless thee, and 
make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that 
thou mayest be i a multitude of people; 

4 And give thee c the blessing of Abraham, 
to thee, and to thy seed with thee; that 
thou mavest inherit the land 2 wherein 
thou art « a stranger, which God gave unto 
Abraham. 

5 And Isaac sent away Jacob: and he 
went to Padan-aram unto Laban, son of 
Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebek- 
ah, Jacob's and Esau's mother. 

6 H When Esau saw that Isaac had blessed 
Jacob, and sent him away to Padan-aram, 
to take him a wife from thence ; and that, 
as he blessed him, he gave him a charge, 
saying, Thou shalt not take a wife of the 
daughters of Canaan; 

7 And that J acob obeyed his father and his 
mother, and was gone to Padan-aram; 

8 And Esau seeing e that the daughters of 
Canaan 3 pleased not Isaac his father; 

9 Then went Esau unto Ishmael, and took 
unto the wives which he had/Mahalath 
the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham's son, 
the g sister of Nebajoth, to be his wife. 

10 11 And J acob went out from Beer-sheba 
and went toward h Haran. 

11 And he lighted upon a certain place, 
and tarried there all m^-ht, because the sun 
was set; and he took ol the stones of that 
place, and put them for his pillows, and lay 
down in that place to sleep. 

12 And he * dreamed, ana behold a ladder 
set up on the earth, and the top of it reach- 
ed to heaven: and behold i the angels of 
God ascending and descending on it. 

13 * And. behold! the Lord stood above it, 
and said, * I am the Lord God of Abraham 
thy father, and the God of Isaac: m the land 
whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, 
and to thy seed; 

14 And n thy seed shall be as the dust of 
the earth; and thou shalt 4 spread abroad 
to the ° west, and to the east, and to the 
north, and to the south: and in thee and 
P in thy seed shall all the families of the 
earth be blessed. 

15 And, behold, q I am with thee, and will 
r keep thee in all places whither thougoest, 
and will * bring thee again into this land; 
for ' I will not leave thee, u until 1 have 
doue tha I which " have spoken to thee of. 



B. C 


. 11 


00. 


CHAP. 


27. 


t eh. 


•JO, 


35, 


eh. 


28 


8. 


M ch 


B* 


3. 



CHAP. 28. 
a ch. 27, 33. 
b ch. 17,1,6. 

1 an assem- 
bly of peo- 
ple. 

c ch. 12, 2. 

2 of thy so- 
journings. 

d ch. 17, J». 
e ch. 24, 3. 

3 were evil 
in the eyes, 
etc. 

/ch. 36, 3, 
she is cal- 
led Bashe- 
math. 

g ch. 25, 13. 

h Called, 
Acts 7, 2, 
Charran. 

ich. 41. 1. 
Job 33, 15. 

j John 1, 51. 
Heb. 1, 14. 

k ch. 35, 1. 
ch. 48, 3. 

I ch. 20, 24. 

«* ch. 13, 15. 

n ch. 13, 16. 

4 break 
forth. 

o ch. 13, 14. 

De. 12, 20. 
P ch. 12, 3. 
q ch. 20, 24. 

ch. 31, 3. 
r ch. 48, 16. 

Pa. 121, 5. 
ch. 35, 6. 
t Deut. 31 ,6. 
u Nu. 23, 19. 
v Exod. 3, 5. 

Josh. 5, 15. 
M» Judg. 1, 

23,26. 

Hos. 4, 15. 
6 That is, 

the house 

of God. 

* ch. 3i, ia 

Ju. 11, 30. 

2Sa. 15,8. 
V ver. 15. 
« 1 Tim. 6. 8. 

• Ju. 11,31. 
2 Sam. 19, 
24, 30. 

b De. 26, 17. 

2 Sa. 15, 8. 

2 Kin. 5.17. 
c ch. 35,7,14. 
d Lev. 27, 30. 



CHAP. 29. 

1 lift up his 
fee*.. 

a Nu. 23, 7. 
Ho. 12, 12. 

2 children. 

3 Is there 
peace to 
him? 

b ch. 43, 27. 

4 yet the day 
is great. 

e Ex. 2, 16. 
d Ex. 2, 17. 
« ch. 33, 4. 

ch. 45, 14. 
/ ch. 13, 8. 

ch. 14, 14. 
g ch. 24. 28. 



16 IT And Jacob awaked out of Ms sleep, 
and he said, Surely the Lord is in v this 
place ; and 1 knew it not. 

17 And he was afraid, and said, How 
dreadful is this place! this is none other 
but the house of God, and this is the gate 
of heaven. 

18 And Jacob rose up early in the morn- 
ing, and took the stone that he had put for 
his pillows, and set it up /or a pillar, and 
poured oil upon the top of it. 

19 And he called the name of w that place 
5 Beth-el ; but the name of that city was 
caUed Luz at the first. 

20 x And Jacob vowed a vow saying, If 
y God will be with me, and will keep me in 
this way that I go, and will give me z bread 
to eat, and raiment to put on, 

21 So that a I come again to my father's 
house in peace, b then shall the Lord be 
my God: 

22 And this stone, which I have set for a 
pillar, c shall be God's house: d and of all 
that thou shalt give me 1 will surely give 
the tenth unto thee. 

CHAPTER XXIX. 
1 Jacob, cominq to the ive'l of Haran, 9 meeteth 
Rachel, and is entertained by Laban: Id he 
covenanteth for her, '21 but is deceived with Leah. 
28 Rachel also given him to wife on a new aqree- 
tnerd. HI Leah beareih Reuben, Simeon, Levi, 
and Judah. 

rPHEN Jacob * went on his journey, a and 
*■ came into the land of the 2 people of 
the east. 

2 And he looked, and behold a well in the 
field, and, lo, there were three flocks of 
sheep lving by it; for out of that well they 
watered the nocks: and a great stone was 
upon the well's mouth. 

3 And thither were all the flocks gathered: 
and they rolled the stone from the well's 
mouth, and watered the sheep, and put the 
stone again upon the well's mouth in his 
place. 

4 And Jacob said unto them, My breth- 
ren, whence be ye? And they said, Of 
Haran are we. 

5 And he said unto them. Know ye Laban 
the son of Nahor? And they said, We 
know him. 

6 And he said unto them, 3 7s b he well? 
And they said, He is well: and, behold, 
Rachel nis daughter cometh with th« 
sheep. 

7 And he said, Lo, 4 it is yet high day, 
neither is it time that the cattle should bt 
gathered together: water ye the sheep, and 
go and feed tJiem. 

8 And they said, "We cannot, until all th« 
flocks be gathered together, and till they 
roll the stone from the well's mouth; then 
we water the sheep. 

9 11 And while he yet spake with them, 
c Rachel came with her father's sheep ; lor 
she kept them. 

10 And it came to pass, when Jacob saw 
Rachel the daughter of Laban his mother's 
brother, and the sheep of Laban his 
mother's brother, that Jacob went near, 
and d rolled the stone from the well's 
mouth, and watered the flock of Laban 
his mother's brother. 

11 And Jacob e kissed Rachel, and lifted 
up his voice, and wept. 

12 And Jacob told Rachel that he was 
/her father's brother, and that he was 
Rebekah's son: ° and she ran and told uer 
father. 



Domestic Jealousies. 



GENESIS, XXX. 



Jacob's Covenant with Laban. 



12. Jacob told Rachel, &c— according to the 
practice of the East, the term "brother" is 
extended to remote degrees of relationship, 
as uncle, cousin, or nephew. 14-20. he abode 
a month— Among pastoral people a stranger 
is freely entertained for three days; on the ; 
fourth he is expected to tell his name and i 
errand and if he prolongs his stay after that ' 
time, he must set his hand to work in some 
way, as may be agreed upon. A similar rule 
obtained in Laban's establishment, and the 
wages for which his nephew engaged to con- 
tinue in his employment was the hand of 
Rachel. 17. Leah tender-eyed— i.e., soft blue eyes 
—thought a blemish. Rachel beautiful and well- 
favoured— i.e., comely and handsome in form. 
The latter was Jacob's choice. 18. I will serve 
seven years— a proposal of marriage is made 
to the father without the daughter being 
consulted, and the match is effected by the 
suitor either bestowing costly presents on 
the family, or by giving cattle to the value 
the father sets upon his daughter, or else 
by giving personal services for a specified 
period. The last was the course necessity 
imposed on Jacob; and there for seven years 
he submitted to the drudgery of a hired 
shepherd, with the view of obtaining Rachel. 
The time went rapidly away; for even severe 
and difficult duties become light when love 
is the spring of action. 21. Jacob said. Give me 
my wife— At the expiry of the stipulated term 
the marriage festivities were held. But an in- 
famous fraud was practised on Jacob, and on 
his shewing a righteous indignation, the usage 
of the country was pleaded in excuse. No 
plea oi kindred should ever be allowed to 
come in opposition to the claim of justice. 
But this is often overlooked by the selfish 
mind of man, and fashion or custom rules 
instead of the will of God. This was what 
Laban did, as he said, " it must not be so 
done in our country, to give the younger be- 
fore the first-born." But, then, if that were 
the prevailing custom of society at Haran, 
he should have apprized his nephew of it at 
an early period and in an honourable man- 
ner. This, however, is too much the way 
with the people of the East still. The duty of 
marrying an elder daughter before a younger, 
the tricks which parents take to get off an 
elder daughter that is plain or deformed, and 
in which they are favoured by the long bridal 
veil that entirely conceals her features all the 
wedding day, and the prolongation for a week 
of the marriage festivities among the greater 
shiecks, are accordant with the habits of the 
people in Arabia and Armenia in the present 
day. 28. gave him Rachel also— It is evident that 
the marriage of both sisters took place nearly 
about the same time, and that such a connex- 
ion was then allowed, though afterwards pro- 
hibited (Lev. 18. 18.). 29. gave to Rachel . . . 
Bilhah for her maid— A father in good circum- 
stances still gives his daughter from his house- 
hold a female slave, over whom the young 
wife, independently of her husband, has the 
absolute control. 31. Leah hated— i.e., not 
loved so much as she ought to have been. 
Her becoming a mother ensured her rising in 
the estimation both of her husband and of 
society. 32-35. son . . . called his name — 
names were always significant; and those 
which Leah gave to her sons were expressive 
of her varying feelings of thankfulness or joy, 
or allusive to circumstances in the history of 
the family. There was piety and wisdom in 
24 



attaching a signification to names, as it tended 
to keep the bearer in remembrance of his 
duty and the claims of God. 

CHAPTER XXX. 

Ver. 1--24. Domestic Jealousies. 1. 
Rachel envied her sister— The maternal rela- 
tion confers a high degree of honour in the 
East, and the want of that status is felt as a 
stigma, and deplored as a grievous calamity, 
else I die — either be reckoned as good as 
dead, or pine away from vexation. The in- 
tense anxiety of Hebrew women for children 
arose from the hope of giving birth to the 
promised seed. Rachel's conduct was sinful, 
and contrasts unfavourably with that of Re- 
bekah (cf. 25. 22.) and of Hannah (1 Sam. 1. 11.). 
3-9. Bilhah, Zilpah— following the example 
of Sarah with regard to Hagar, an example 
which is not seldom imitated still, she adopt- 
ed the children of her maid. Lean took the 
same course. A bitter and intense rivalry 
existed between them,all the more from their 
close relationship as sisters ; and although 
they occupied separate apartments, with 
their families, as is the uniform custom 
where a plurality of wives obtains, and the 
husband and father spends a day with each 
in regular succession, that did not allay their 
mutual jealousies. The evil lies in the sys- 
tem, which being a violation of God's origi- 
nal ordinance, cannot yield happiness. 20. 
Leah said, . . . good dowry— the birth of a son 
is hailed with demonstrations of joy, and 
the possession of several sons confers upon 
the mother an honour and respectability 
proportioned to their number. The husband 
attaches a similar importance to the posses- 
sion, and it forms a bond of union which 
renders it impossible for him ever to 
forsake or to be cold to a wife who has borne 
him sons. This explains the happy antici- 
pations Leah founded on the possession of 
her six sons. 21. afterwards, a daughter— the 
inferior value set on a daughter is displayed 
in the bare announcement of the birth. 

25-43. Jacob's Covenant with Laban. 
When Rachel had born Joseph— Shortly after 
the birth of this son, Jacob's term of servi- 
tude expired, and feeling anxious to estab- 
lish an independence for his family, he pro- 
bably, from knowing that Esau was out of 
the way, announced his intention of return- 
ing to Canaan (Heb. 13. 14,). In this resolu- 
tion the faith of Jacob was remarkable, for 
as yet he had nothing to rely on but the 
promise of God (cf. 28. 15.). 27. Laban said, 
... I have learned— his selfish uncle was averse 
to a separation, not from warmth of affection 
either for Jacob or his daughters, but from 
the damage his own interests would sustain. 
He had found, from long observation, that 
the blessing of heaven rested on Jacob, and 
that his stock had wonderfully increased 
under Jacob's management. This was a re- 
markable testimony that good men are 
blessings to the places where they reside. 
Men of the world are often blessed with 
temporal benefits on account of their pious 
relatives, though they have not always, like 
Laban, the wisdom to discern, or the grace to 
acknowledge it. 28. appoint me thy wages— 
the Eastern shepherds receive for their hiie 
not money, but a certain amount of the in- 
crease or produce of the hock ; but Laban 
would at the time have done anything to 
secure the continued services of his nephew, 
and make a show of liberality, which Jacob 



Jacob marricth Leah and Rachel. GENESIS, XXX. Rachel's grief for her barremuss. 



13 And it came to p.-uss, when Laban heard 
the & tidings of Jscob his sister's sen, that 
'< he ran to meet him, and embraced him, 
and kissed him, and brought him to his 
house. And he told Laban all these 
things. 

14 And Laban said to him, » Surely thou 
art my bone and my fiesh. And he abode 
with him 6 the space of a month. 

15 H And Laban said unto Jacob, Because 
thou art my brother, shouldes-t thou there- 
fore serve me for nought? tell me, what 
shall thy wages be? 

16 And Laban had two daughters: the 
name of the elder was Leah, and the name 
of the younger was Rachel. 

17 Leah was tender-eyed; but Rachel was 
beautiful and well favoured. 

18 And Jacob loved Rachel; and said, 3 I 
will serve thee seven years lor Rachel thy 
younger daughter. 

19 And Laban said, It is better that 1 give 
her to thee, than that I should give her to 
another man: abide with me. 

20 And Jacob * served seven years for 
Rachel ; and they seemed unto him but a 
few days, for l the love he had to her. 

21 1F And Jacob said unto Laban, Give me 
my wife, for my days are fulhlled, tiiat I 
may m go in unto her. 

22 And Laban gathered together all the 
men of the place, and n made a feast. 

23 And it came to pass in the evening, that 
he took Leah his daughter, and brought her 
to him • and he went in unto her. 

24 And Laban gave unto his daughter Leah 
Zilpah his maiu/or an handmaid. 

25 And it came to pass, that in the morn- 
ing, behold, it was Leah: and he said to 
Laban, What is this thou hast done unto 
me? did not I serve 'with thee for Rachel? 
wherefore then hast ttiou beguiled me? 

26 And Laban said, It must not be so done 
In our 7 country, to give the younger before 
the first-born. 

27 "Fulfil her week, and we will give thee 
this also for the service which thou shalt 
serve with me yet seven other years. 

28 And Jacob did so, and fulfilled her 
week: and he gave him Rachel his daugh- 
ter to wife also. 

29 And Laban gave to Rachel his daugh- 
ter Bilhah his handmaid to be her maid. 

30 And he went in also unto Rachel, and 
he loved also Rachel more than Leah, and 
served with him yet^ seven other years. 

31 IF And when the Lord q saw that Leah 
was hated, he r opened her womb: but 
Rachel was barren. 

32 And Leah conceived, and bare a son, 
and she called his name 8 Reuben: for she 
said, Surely the Lord hath 8 looked upon 
my affliction; now therefore my husband 
will love me. 

33 And she conceived again, and bare a 
son ; and said, Because the Lord hath 
heard that 1 was hated, he hath therefore 
given me this son also: and she called his 
name 9 Simeon. 

34 And she conceived again, and bare a 
son; and said, Now this time will my hus- 
band be joined unto me. because I have 
born him tlnee sons : therefore was his 
name called h) Levi. 

35 And she conceived again, and bare a 
son: and she said, Now will I praise the 
Lord: therefore she called his name u Ju- 
dah: and is left bearing. 

to 



B. C. 1750. 



| CHAP. 29. 
: 6 hearing. 
■ ft ch. 24, 29. 
t ch. 2, 23. 

Jud ; . 9, 2. 

2 Sam. 19, 

12, 13. 

6 a month of 
days. 

/ ch. 31, 41. 

2 Sa. 3, 14. 

* ch. 30. 26. 

I Son:,' 8, 7. 
m Judg.15,1. 
«Jud. 14,10. 

John 2, 1. 

7 place. 

o Jud. 14. 12. 
P ch. 31, 41. 
Hos. 12, 12. 
9 Ps. 127, 3. 
r ch. 30, 1. 

8 That is, see 
a son. 

8 Ex. 3, 7. 
£x. 4, 31. 
Deut. 20,7. 
Ps. 25. 18. 
Ps. 10b, 44. 

9 That is, 
hearing. 

10 That is, 
joined. 
Num. 18, 
2,4. 

II That is, 
praise. 

12 stood from 
bearing. 



CHAP. 30. 
a ch. 29. 31. 
6 ch. 37. 11. 
c Job 5. 2. 
d ch. 16. 2. 

1 Sam. 1. 6. 
« ch. 16. 2. 
/ch. 50. 23. 

Job 3. 12. 
9 ch. 16. 2. 

1 be built by 
her. 

ft ch. 35. 22. 
i Ps. 35. 24. 

Ps. 43. 1. 

Lam. 3. 59. 

2 That is, 
judging. 

3 Wrestlings 
of God. 

4 That is, my 
wrestling. 

j Called, 
Mat. 4. 13, 
Nephth*- 
lim. 

6 That is, a 
troop, or, 
company. 
Is. 65. 11. 

6 In my hap- 
piness. 

* Pro. 31.28. 
Luke 1.48. 

7 That is, 
happy. 

I Song 7. 13. 

Precious 

fruits, or 

swoet 

flowers. 
in ch. 25. 30. 
» Num. 16.9. 

8 That is, an 
hire. 

9 That is, 
dwelling. 

10 That is, 
juU-riiiciit. 



CHAPTER XXX. 

1 Rachel's grief for her barrenness: 5 Bilhah 
b areth Dan and ftaphtali: 9 Zilpah Ix.ireln 
Gad and Asher: 17 Leah beartth issachor, 
Zebulutj and Dinah: 22 Rachel beareth Joseph. 
25 Jacvb's new covenant with Laban: iS7 hi» 
policy to becoine rich. 

X ND when Rachel saw that ° she bare 
^ Jacob no children, Rachel & envied her 
sister; and said unto Jacob, Give me chil- 
dren, c or else I die. 

2 And Jacob's anger was kindled against 
Rachel: and he said, d Am I in God's stead, 
who hath withheld from thee the fruit of 
the womb? 

3 And she said, Behold e my maid Bilhah, 
go in unto her;/ and she shall bear upon 
my knees, 9 that I may also l have children 
by her. 

4 And she gave him Bilhah her handmaid 
h to wife: and Jacob went in unto her. 

5 And Bilhah conceived, and bare Jacob 
a son. 

6 And Rachel said, God hath * judged me, 
and hath also heard my voice, and hath 
given me a son: therefore called she his 
name 2 Dan. 

7 And Bilhah, Rachel's maid, conceived 
again, and bare Jacob a second son. 

8 And Rachel said, With ;i great wrest- 
lings have 1 wrestled with my sister, and 1 
have prevailed: and she called his name 
* i Naphtali. 

9 When Leah saw that she had left bear- 
ing, she took Zilpah her maid, and gave her 
Jacob to wife. 

10 And Zilpah, Leah's maid, bare Jacob a 
son. 

11 And Leah said, A troop cometh: and she 
called his name 5 Gad. 

12 And Zilpah, Leah's maid, bare Jacob a 
second son. 

13 And Leah said, 6 Happy am I, for the 
daughters * will call me ulessed: and she 
called his name 7 Asher. 

14 IT And Reuben went in the days of 
wheat harvest, and found * mandrakes in 
the field, and brought them unto his mo- 
ther Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, 
m Give me, I pray thee, of thy sou's man- 
(it**lIcp^ 

15 And she said unto her, n Is it a small 
matter that thou hast taken my husband? 
and wouldest thou take away my son's 
mandrakes also? And Rachel said, There- 
fore he shall lie with thee to-night for thy 
son's mandrakes. 

16 And Jacob came out of the field in the 
evening, and Leah went out to meet him, 
and said, Thou must come in unto me ; for 
surely I have hired thee with my son's 
mandrakes. And he lay with her that 
night. 

17 And God hearkened unto Leah, and she 
conceived, and bare Jacob the fifth son. 

18 And Leah said, God hath given me my 
hire, because 1 have given my maiden to 
my husband: and she called his name d Is- 

OQ /»Vj •IT* 

19 Aiid Leah conceived again, and bare 
Jacob the sixth son. 

20 And Leah said, God hath endued me 
with a good dowry; now will my bus hand 
dwell with me, because I have born him 
six sons: and she called his name u Zebu. 
lun. 

21 And afterwards she bare a daugnter, 
and called her name ^ Dinah. 



Envy of Laban and Sons. 



GENESIS, XXXI. 



Ldban Pursueth Jacob. 



weU knew was constrained. 31. Jacob said, and called Rachel and Leah— His wives and 
Thou si alt not give, &c— a new agreement \ family were in their usual residence ; and 
was made, the substance of which was, that i whether he wished them to be present at the 
lie was to receive remuneration in the usual i festivities of sheep-shearing, as some think; 
way, but on certain conditions which Jacob i or. because he could not leave his flock, he 
specified. 32. I will pass through, &c— East- i called them both to come to him, in order 
ern sheep being generally white, the goats ! that, having resolved on immediate depart- 
Ilack, and spotted or speckled ones cornpa- [ ure, he might communicate his intentions, 
ratively few and rare, Jacob proposed + o re- ! Rachel and Leah only were called, for the 
move all existing ones of that description i other two wives, being secondary, and still 
from the flock, and to be content with what j in a state of servitude, were not entitled to 
might appear at the nextlambing-time. The I be taken into account. Jacob acted the part 
proposal seemed so much in favour of Laban, j of a dutiful husband in telling them his 
that be at once agreed to it. But Jacob has been ! plans; for husbands, that love their wives, 
accused of taking advantage of his uncle, and i should consult with them, and trust in them 
though it is difficult to exculpate him from I (Prov. 31. 1.). 6. Ye know that I have served— 
practising some degree of dissimulation, he ! Having stated his strong grounds of dissatis- 
was only availing himself of the results of j faction with their fathers conduct, and the 
his great skill and experience in the breed- ! ill requital he had got, for all his faithful 
ing of cattle. But it is evident from the next services— he informed them of the blessing of 



chapter, 5-13, that there was something mi 
raculous, and that the means he had em- 
ployed had been suggested by a divine 



God, that had made him rich notwithstand- 
ing Laban's design to ruin him ; and finally, of 
the command from God he had received to 



intimation. 37. Jacob took rods, &c— there I return to his own country, that they might 



are many varieties of the hazel, some of 
which are more erect than the common 
hazel, and it was probablyone of the varie- 
ties Jacob employed. The styles are of 
a bright red colour, when peeled ; and along 



not accuse him of caprice, or disaffection to 
their family; but be convinced, that in re- 
solving to depart, he acted from a principle 
of religious ooedience. 14. Rachel and Leah 
answered— Having heard his views, they ex- 



with them he took wands of other shrubs, | pressed their entire approval; and from griev 



which, when stripped of the bark, had white 
streaks. These, kept constantly before the 
eyes of the female at the time of gestation, 
his observation had taught him would have 
an influence, through the imagination, on the 
future offspring. 38. watering troughs— usu- 
ally a long stone block hollowed out, from 
which several sheep could drink at once, but 
sometimes so small as to admit of one only 
drinking at a time. 

CHAPTER XXXI. 
Ver. 1—21. Envy of Laban ant> Sons. 
He heard the words of Laban's sons— It must 
have been from rumour that Jacob got know- 
ledge of the invidious reflections cast upon 
him by his cousins ; for they were separated at 
the distance of three days' journey. 2. And 
Jacob beheld the countenance of Laban— lit. was 



ances of their own. were fully as desirous 
of a separation as himself. They display not 
only conjugal affection, but piety in foil owing 
the course described— 'whatsoever God hath 
said unto thee, do." *' Those that are really 
their husbands' helps meet, will never be 
their hindrances in doing that to which God 
calls them." [Henry.] 17. Then Jacob rose 
up— Little time is spent by pastoral people 
in removing. The striking down the tents 
and poles, and stowing them among their 
other baggage; the putting their wives and 
children in houdas like cradles, on the backs 
of camels, or in panniers on asses; and the 
ranging of the various parts of the flock 
under the respective shepherds; all this is a 
short process. A plain that is covered in the 
morning with a long array of tents, and with 



not the same as yesterday, and the day before ; j browsing flocks, may, in a few hours, appear 
—a common Oriental form of speech. The in- so desolate, that not a vestige of the en- 
sinuations against Jacob's fidelity by Laban's ! campment remains, except the holes in which 
sons, and the sullen reserve, the churlish j the tent-poles had been fixed. 20. Jacob 
conduct, of Laban himself, had made Jacob's j stole away— The result showed the prudence 
situation, in his uncle's establishment, most and necessity of departing secretly; other- 
trying and painful. It is always one of the wise, Laban might have detained him by 
vexations attendant on wordly prosperity, violence or artifice. 18. he carried the cattle 
that it excites the envy of others lEccl. 4. 4 ; of his getting — i.e., his own and nothing 
and that, however careful a man is to main- 1 more. He did not indemnify himself for 
tain a good conscience, he cannot always i his many losses by carrying off any thing of 
reckon on maintaining a good name, in a cen- 1 Laban's, but was content with what Provi- 
sorious world. This, Jacob experienced ;! dence had given him. Some may think that 
and it is probable that, like a good man, he ! due notice should have been given; but when 
had asked direction and relief in prayer. 3. a man feels himself in danger— the law of 
the Lord said, Return— Notwithstanding the self-preservation prescribes the duty of 
ill usa^e he had received. Jacob might not immediate flight, if it can be done con- 
have deemed himself at liberty to quit his pre- [ sistently with conscience, 
sent sphere, under the impulse of passionate ! 22-52. Laban Pursueth Jacob — tiietr 
xretfulness and discontent. Having been Covenant at Galeed. 22. It was told 
conducted to Haran by God (28. 15) ; and hav- Laban on the third day— No sooner did the in- 
inggot a promise that the same heavenly telligence reach Laban than he set out in pur- 
Guardian would bring him again into the suit, and he being not encumbered, advanced 
land of Canaan— he might have thought he rapidly; whereas J acob, with a young family 
ought not to leave it, without being clearly and numerous flocks, had to march slowly, 
persuaded as to the path of duty, bo ought , so that he overtook the fugitives after seven 
we to set the Lord before us, and to acknow- 1 days' journey, as they lay encamped on the 
ledge him in all our ways, our journeys, our j brow of mount Gilead, an extensive range of 
settlement.* and plans in life. 4. Jacob seat 1 hills forming the eastern boundary of Canaan. 
25 



Jacob's policy to become rich. 



GEXESIS, XXXI. 



He returns to Canaan. 



CHAP. 30. 
o ch. 8. 1. 

1 Sa. 1. 19. 
P ch. 29. 31. 
«1 Sam. 1.6. 

Is. 4. 1. 

Luke 1. 25. 

11 That is 
adding. 

r ch. 35. 17. 
« ch. 24. 54. 
t ch. 18. 33. 

ch. 31. 65. 
« ch. 29. 20. 
fch. 39,3.5. 

Ps. 1. 3. 

Isa. 61. 9. 
w ch. 26. 24. 
x ch. 29. 15. 
V ch. 31. 6, 

33, 39, 40. 

Mat. 24. 

45. 

Tit. 2. 10. 

12 broken 
forth. 

13 at my 
foot. 

ziTim.5.8. 
a ch. 31. 8. 
6 Ps. 37, 6. 

14 to-mor- 
row. 

Ex. 13. 14. 
c ch. 31. 9. 
d ver. 30. 

ch. 28. 15. 

Job 1. 3. 

Ec. 2. 7. 

Ez. 39. 10. 
e ch. 13. 2. 

ch. 24. 35. 

ch. 26. 13. 



22 H And God ° remembered Rachel, and i B c. 1745. 
(rod hearkened to her, and p opened her 
womb. 

23 And she conceived, and bare a son; 
and said, God hath taken away * my re- 
proach: 

24 And she called his name ll Joseph ; and 
said, r The Lord shall add to me another 
son. 

25 1T And it came to pass, when Rachel 
had bora Joseph, that Jacob said unto La- 
ban, 8 Send me away, that I may go unto 
* mine own place, and to my country. 

26' Give nie my wives and my children, 
u for whom I have served thee, and let me 
go: for thou knowest my service which I 
nave done thee. 

27 And Laban said unto him, I pray thee, 
if i have found favour in thine eyes, tarry: 
for v I have learned by experience that the 
Lokd hath blessed me M ' for thy sake. 

28 And he said, * Appoint me thy wages, 
and I will give it. 

2y And he said unto him, v Thou knowest 
how I have served thee, and bow thy 
cuttle was with me. 

30 For it teas little which thou hadst be- 
fore 1 came, and it is now 12 increased unto 
a multitude; and the Lord hath blessed 
thee 13 since my coming: and now when 
shall I z provide for mine own house also? 

31 And ne said, What shall I give thee? 
And Jacob said, Thou shalt not give me 
any tiring. If thou wilt do this thing for 
me, I will again feed and keep thy nock: 

32 I will pass through all thy nock to-day. 
removing from thence all the speckled and 
spotted cattle, and all the brown cattle 
among the sheep, and the spotted and 
speckled among the goats: ana ° of such 
shall be my hire. 

33 So shall my b righteousness answer for 
me 14 in time to come, when it shall come 
for my hire before thy face: every one that 
is not speckled and spotted among the 
goats, and brown among the sheep, that 
6hall be counted stolen with me. 

34 And Laban said, Behold, I would it 
might be according to thy word. 

35 And he removed that day the he-goats 
that were ringstraked and spotted, and all 
the she-goats that were speckled and spot- 
ted, and every one that had some white in 
it, and all the brown among the sheep, and 
gave tfiem into the hand ol Ms sons. 

3b' And he set three days' journey betwixt 
himself and Jacob: and Jacob fed the rest 
of Laban 's flocks. 

37 f And c Jacob took him rods of green 
poplar, and of the hazel and chesnut tree ; 
and pilled white strakesin them, and made 
the white appear which was in the rods. 

38 And he set the rods which he had pilled 
before the nocks in the gutters in the 
watering troughs when the hocks came to 
drink, that they should conceive when they 
came to drink. 

39 And the flocks conceived before the 
rods, and brought forth cattle ringstraked, 
speckled, and spotted. 

40 And Jacob did separate the lambs, and 
set the faces of the flocks toward the ring- 
straked and all the brown in the flock of 
Laban; and he put his own flocks by 
themselves, and put them not unto Laban's 
cattle. 

41 And it came to pass, whensoever the 
stronger cattle did conceive, that Jacob 

26 



AND 



CHAP. 31. 

« Job 5. 2. 
Job 31. 31. 
Ps. 57. 4. 
Pr. 14. 30. 
Ec. 4. 4. 
Bo. 13. 13. 
Titus 3. 3. 
Ja. 3. a 
6 Ps. 49 16. 
c ch. 4. 5. 
dDeu 28.54 
1 as yester- 
day and 
the day be- 
fore. 

1 Sa. 19. 7. 
e ch. 23. 15. 

ch. 32. 9. 

/ ver. 2. 

g ch. 21. 22. 

Is. 41. 10. 

He. 13. 5. 

h ch. 3D. 29. 

ver. 41. 
) Nu. 14. 22. 
Neh.4. 12. 
Job 19. 3. 
Zeeh. 8.23. 
k ch. 20. 6. 

Ps.lu5. 14, 
{ ch. 30. 32. 
■» ver. 1, 16. 
2 Or, he- 
goats, 
n ch. 48. 16. 
o Ex. 3. 7. 
Deu.S4. 15. 
Ps. 12. 5. 
Eph. 6. 9. 
P ch. 28. 18. 
q ver. 3. 

ch. 32. 9. 
r ch. 2. 24. 
« ch. 2». 15. 



laid the rods before the eyes of the cattle 
in the gutters, that they might conceive 
among the rods. 

42 But when the cattle were feeble, he 

Eut them not in: so the feebler were La- 
an's, and the stronger Jacob's. 

43 And the man d increased exceedingly, 
and e had much cattle, and maid-servants, 
and men-sen-ants, and camels, and asses. 

CHAPTER XXXI. 
Uaco*) departeth secretly f twit L than: 19 Rachel 
stealeih awav her father's images. 22 Laban 
pursueth Jacob ; 44 their covenant at GaUed. 

he a heard the words of Laban's 
sons, saying, Jacob hath taken away 
all that was bur father's- and of that which 
was our father's hath he gotten all this 
b glory. 

2 And Jacob beheld c the countenance of 
Laban, and ; behold, it was not d toward 
him l as betore. 

3 And the Lord said unto Jacob, e Return 
unto the land of thy fathers, and to thy 
kindred; and I will be with thee. 

4 And Jacob sent and called Rachel and 
Leah to the field unto his flock, 

5 And said unto them, / 1 see your father's 
countenance, that it is not toward me as 
before ; but the God of my father y hath 
been with me. 

6 And h ye know that with all my power 

1 have served your father. 

7 And your father hath deceived me, and 

* changed my wages i ten times; but God 

* suffered him not to hurt me. 

8 If he said thus, * The speckled shall be 
thy wages ; then all the cattle bare speckled: 
and if ne said thus. The ringstraked shall 
be thy hire; then bare all the cattle ring- 
straked. 

9 Thus God hath m taken away the cattle 
of your father, and given them to me. 

10 And it came to pass at the tune that 
the cattle conceived, that I lifted up mine 
eyes, and saw in a dream, and, behold, the 

2 rams which leaped upon the cattle were 
ringstraked. speckled, and grisled. 

11 And n the angel of God spake unto me 
in a dream, saying, Jacob: and I said, 
Here am I. 

12 And he said. Lift up now thine eyes 
and see, all the rams which leap upon the 
cattle are ringstraked, speckled, and gris- 
led: for ° I have seen all that Laban doeth 
unto thee. 

13 I am the God of Beth-el, P where thon 
anointedst the pillar, and where thou 
vowedst a vow unto me: now q arise, get 
thee out from this land, and return unto 
the land of thv kindred. 

14 And Rachel and Leah answered and 
said unto him, r Is there yet any portion or 
inheritance for us in our father's noose? 

15 Are we not counted of him strangers? 
for 8 he hath sold as, and hath quite de- 
voured also our money. 

16 For all the riches which God hath taken 
from our father, that is ours, and our chil- 
dren's: now then, whatsoever God hath 
said unto thee, do. 

17 11 Then Jacob rose up, and set his sons 
and his wives upon camels ; 

18 And he earned away all his cattle, and 
all his goods which he had gotten, the 
cattle of his getting, which he had gotten 
in Radan-aram, for to go to Isaac his fath- 
er in the land of Canaan. 

19 And Laban went to shear his sheep: 



Hie Covenant at Oaleed. 



GENESIS, XXXII. 



__ Mission to Emu. 

Being accompanied by a number ot his both parties seated on the stones around it. 
people, he might have used violence had he To this day heaps of stones, which have been 
not been divinely warned in a dream to give used as memorials, are found abundantly in 
no interruption to his nephew's journey, the region where this transaction took place. 
How striking and sudden a change ! For 52. This heap be a witness— Objects of nature 
several days he had been full of rage, and were frequently thus spoken of. But over 
was now in eager anticipation that his ven- and above, there was a solemn appeal to God; 
geance would be fully wreaked, when, lo ! his and it is observable that there was a marked 
hands are tied by invisible power (Ps. 76. 10.). difference in the religious sentiments of the 
He durst not touch Jacob, but there was a war two. Laban spake of the God of Abraham 
of words. 25-42. Laban said, What hast thou and Nahor, their common ancestors; but 
done?— Not a word is said of the charge, v. 1. Jacob, knowing that idolatry had crept in 
His reproaches were of a different kind. His among that branch of the family, swore by 
first charge was for depriving him of the satis- the Fear of Isaac. They who have one God 
faction of giving Jacob and his family the I should have one heart; they who are agreed 
usual salutations at parting. In the East it is in religion should endeavour to agree in 
customary, when any are setting out to a great every thing else, 
distance, for their relatives and friends to ac- ; CHAPTEE XXXII. 

company them a considerable way with music Ver. 1, 2. Vision of Angels, angels of 
ai d valedictory songs. Considering the past God met— It is not said whether this angelic 
coi d ict of Laban, his complaint on this manifestation was made in a vision by day, 
ground was hypocritical cant. But his second or a dream by night. There is an evident 
charge was a grave one— the carrying off his allusion, however, to the appearance upon 
gods— ilefr. Teraphim, small images of human the ladder cf. 28. 12,) and this occurring to 



figure, used not as idols or objects of wor- 
ship, but as talismans, for superstitious pur- 
poses. 32. Jacob said, With whomsoever, <fcc. 
—Conscious of his own innocence, and little 
suspecting the misdeed of his favourite wife, * 
he boldly challenged a search, and denounced and the Jabbok 
the heaviest penalty on the culprit. A per- brook 
sonal scrutiny was made by Laban, who 
examined every tent* and having entered 
Bachel's last, would have infallibly discov 



Jacob on his return to Canaan, was an en- 
couraging pledge of the continued presence 
and protection of God (Ps. 34. 7; Heb. 1. 14.), 
2. Mahanaim— two hosts or camps. The 
place was_ situated between mount Gllead 
near the banks of that 



3-32. Mission to Esau, sent messengers 
i. e. had sent. It was a prudent precau- 
tion to ascertain the present temper of Esau, 



ered the stolen images had not Rachel made as the road, on approaching the eastern con 
an appeal to him which prevented further fines of Canaan, lay near the wild district 
search. 34. had put them in the camel's furni- j where his brother was now established, the 
ture, and sat upon them— the common pack- , land of Seir— A highland country on the east 
saddle is often used as a seat or a cushion, | and south of the Dead Sea, inhabited by 
against which a person squatted on the floor the Horites, who were dispossessed by Esau, 
may lean. 36-43. Jacob was wroth— Eecrimina- or his posterity (Deut. 11. 12.). When, and 
tion on his part was natural in the circum- in what circumstances he had emigrated 
stances, and, as usual, when passion is high, j thither— whether the separation arose out of 
the charges took a wide range. He rapidly I the undutiful conductand idolatrous habits of 
enumerated his grievances for twenty years, j his wives, which had made them unwelcome 
and in a tone of unrestrained severity des- i inmates in the tent of his parents, or 
cribed the niggard character and vexatious j whether his roving disposition had sought a 
exactions of his uncle, together with the country from his love of adventure and the 



hardships of various kinds he had pati 
ently endured, the rams have I not eaten- 



chase, he was living in a state of power and 
affluence, and this settlement on the outer 



Eastern people seldom kill the females for borders of Canaan, though made of his own 
food except they are barren. That which free-will— was overruled by Providence to 
was torn of beasts— The shepherds are strictly pave the way for Jacob's return to the pro- 
responsible for losses in the flock, unless mised land. 4. Thus shall ye say— The pur- 
they can prove these were occasioned by j port of the message was that, after a resi 



wild beasts. 40. in the day drought, and the 
frost by night— the temperature changes oiten 
in twenty-four hours from the greatest ex- 
tremes of heat and cold, most trying to the 
shepherd who has to keep watch by his 
flocks. Much allowance must be made for 
Jacob. Great and long-continued provoca- 
tions ruffle the mildest and most disciplined 
tempers. It is difficult to "be angry and sin 
not. But these two relatives, after having 
given utterance to their pent up feelings, 
came at length to a mutual understanding, or 
rather, God influenced Laban to make re- 
conciliation with his injured nephew (Pro. 
16. 7.). 44. Come, let us make a covenant— The 
way in which this covenant was ratified was 
by a heap of stones being laid in a circular 
pile, to serve as seats, and in the centre of 
this circle a large one was set up perpendi- 
cularly for an altar. It is probable that 
a sacrifice was first offered, and then that the 
feast of reconciliation was partaken of by 
26 



dence of twenty years in Mesopotamia, he 
was now returning to his native land— that 
he did not need anything, for he had abun- 
dance of pastoral wealth— but that he could 
not pass without notifying his arrival to his 
brother, and paying the homage of his re- 
spectful obeisance. Acts of civility tend to 
disarm opposition, and. soften hatred (Eccl. 
10. 4.). Thy servant Jacob — He had been 
made lord over his brethren (cf. 27. 29.). But 
it is probable he thought this referred to a 
spiritual superiority- or if to temporal, that 
it was to be realised only to his posterity. 
At all events, leaving it to God to fulfil that 
purpose, he deemed it prudent to assume 
the most kind and respectful bearing. 6. 
The messengers returned— Their report left 
Jacob in painful uncertainty as to what was 
his brother'sviews and feelings. Esau's stud- 
ied reserve, gave him reason to dread the 
worst. Jacob was naturally timid; but his 
conscience told him that there was much 



Laban parsneth Jacob? 



GENESIS, XXXI, XXXII. 



Their covenant at Galeed. 



and Rachel had stolen the 3 images * that 
were her lather's. 

20 And Jacob stole away * unawares to 
Laban the Syrian, in that he told him not 
that he lied. 

21 So he fled with all that he had; and he 
rose up, and passed over the river, and 
** set his face toward the mount Gilead. 

22 And it was told Laban on the third day 
that Jacob was fled. 

23 And he t« ok his" brethren with him, 
and pursued after him seven days' journey; 
and they overtook him in the mount Gil- 
ead. 

24 And God w came to Laban the Syrian 
in a dream by night, and said unto him, 
Take heed that thou * speak not to Jacob 
& either good or bad. 

25 H Then Laban overtook Jacob. Now 
Jacob had pitched his tent in the mount: 
and Laban with his brethren pitched in the 
mount of Gilead. 

26 And Laban said to Jacob, What hast 
thou done, that thou hast stolen away un- 
awares to me, and y earned away my 
daughters, as captives taken with the 
sword? 

27 Wherefore didst thou flee away secret- 
ly, and 6 steal away from me ; and didst 
not tell me, that I might have sent thee 
away with mirth, and with songs, -with 
tabret, and with harp? 

28 And hast not suffered me z to kiss my 
son s and my daughters? a Thou hast now 
done foolishly in so doing. 

29 It is in the power of my hand to do you 
hurt: but the » God of your father spake 
unto me c yesternight, saying. Take thou 
heed that thou speak not to Jacob either 
good or bad. 

30 And now, though thou wouldest needs 
be gone, because thou sore longedst after 
thy father's house, yet wherefore hast thou 
«* stolen my gods? 

31 And Jacob answered and said to La- 
ban, Because I was afraid: for I said, Per- 
adventure thou wouldest take by force thy 
daughters from me. 

32 With whomsoever thou findest thy gods, 
* let him not live: before our brethren dis- 
cern thou what is thine with me, and take 
it to thee. For Jacob knew not that Ra- 
chel had stolen them. 

33 And Laban went into Jacob's tent, and 
into Leah's tent, and into the two maid- 
servants' tents; but he found them not. 
Then went he out of Leah's tent, and 
entered into Rachel's tent. 

34 Now Rachel had taken the images, and 
put them in the camel's furniture, and sat 
upon them. And Laban 7 searched all the 
tent, but found them not. 

35 And she said to her father, Let it not 
displease my lord that I cannot/ rise up 
before thee; for the custom of women is 
upon me. And he searched, but found not 
the o images. 

36 1F And Jacob » was wroth, and chode 
with Laban: and Jacob answered and said 
to Laban, What is my trespass? what is 
my sin, that thou hast so hotly pursued 
after me? 

37 Whereas thou hast 8 searched all my 
6tuft', what hast thou found of all thy 
household stuff? * set it here before my 
brethren and thy brethren, that they may 
judge betwixt us both. 

36 This twenty years have I been with 

27 



B. C. 1739. 



CHAP. 31. 

3 teraphim. 
Judg. 17. 5. 

1 Sa. 19. 13. 
Eze. 21.21. 
Hos. 3. 4. 

t ch. 36. 2. 

4 the heart 
of Laban. 

u ch. 46. 28. 

2 Kings, 
12. 17. 
Luke 9. 61. 

v ch. 13. 8. 
w ch. 20. 3. 

Job 33. 15. 

Mat. 1. 20. 

* ch. 24. 50. 
6 from good 

to bad. 

V 1 Sa. 30. 2. 

6 hast stolen 
rne. 

z Ruth 1. 9. 

1 Ki 19.20. 
Acts 20. 37. 

oiSa.13.13. 

2 Chr. 16. 
9. 

b ch. 28. 13. 
c ver. 24. 
d ver. 19. 

Judg. 18. 

24. 
e ch. 44. 9. 

7 felt. 
/Ex.20. 12. 

Ley. 19.32. 

Eph. 6. 1. 
9 ver. 19. 
h Eph. 4. 26. 

8 felt. 

i 1 Sa. 12. 3. 

1 Cor. 6. 6. 

/ Ex. 22. 10. 

ft Ex. 22. 12. 

I ch. 29. 27. 
m, ver. 7. 

n Ps. 124. 1. 
ver. 63. 

Isa. 8. 13. 
P ch. 29. 32, 

Ex. 3. 7. 

9 1 Chr. 12. 
17. 

Jude 9. 
r ch. 26. 28. 
Josh. 24. 

27. 

* ch. 28. 18. 

9 That is, the 
heap of 
witness. 
Chald. 

10 That is, 
the heap cf 
witness. 
Heb. 

« Jos. 24. 27. 
v Judg. 11. 
29. 

1 Sam. 7. 5. 

II That is, a 
beacon.or, 
watch 
tower. 

w ch. 16. 6. 

* ch. 21. 23. 

V ver. 42. 

12 Or, killed 

beasts. 
« ch. 28. 1. 

2 Sa. 6. 20. 
<* ch. 18. 33. 

ch. 30. 25. 



CHAP. 32- 
a Ps. 91. Li. 

Heb. L 14. 



thee ; thy ewes and thy she-goats have not 
cast their young, and the rams of thy flock 
have 1 not eaten. 

39 i That which was torn of beasts I 
brought not unto thee ; I bare the loss of 
it: of * my hand didst thou require it, 
whether stolen by day, or stolen by night. 

40 Thus I was; in the day the drought 
consumed me, and the frost by night ; and 
my sleep departed from mine eyes. 

41 Thus have 1 been twenty years in thy 
house; I l served thee fourteen years for 
thy two daughters, and six years for thy 
cattle: and m thou hast changed my wages 
ten times. 

42 n Except the God of my father, the God 
of Abraham, and the ° Fear of Isaac, had 
been with me, surely thou hadst sent me 
away now empty. ? God hath seen mine 
affliction and the labour of my hands, and 
2 rebuked thee yesternight. 

43 1T And Laban answered and said unto 
Jacob, These daughters are my daughters, 
and these children are my children, and 
these cattle are my cattle, and all that thou 
seest is mine: and what can I do this day 
unto these my daughters, or unto their 
children which they have born? 

44 Now therefore come thou, r let us make 
a covenant, I and thou; 8 and let it be lor 
a witness between me and thee. 

45 And Jacob < took a stone, and set it up 
for a pillar. 

46 And Jacob said unto his brethren. 
Gather stones; and they took stones, ana 
made an heap: and they did eat there upon 
the heap. 

47 And Laban called it 9 Jegar-sahadutha: 
but Jacob called it 10 Galeed. 

48 And Laban said, u This heap is a wit- 
ness between me and thee this day. There- 
fore was the name of it called Galeed; 

49 And v n Mizpah ; for he said, The Lord 
watch between me and thee, when we are 
absent one from another. 

50 If thou shalt afflict my daughters, or if 
thou shalt take oilier wives besides my 
daughters, no man is with us; see, God is 
witness betwixt me and thee. 

51 And Laban said to Jacob, Behold this 
heap, and behold Ms pillar, which 1 have 
cast betwixt me and thee ; 

52 This heap be witness, and this pillar be 
witness, that I will not pass over this heap 
to thee, and that thou shalt not pass over 
this heap and this pillar unto me, for harm. 

53 The God of Abraham, and the God of 
Nahor, the God of their father, w judge 
betwixt us. And Jacob * sware by v the 
Fear of his father Isaac. 

54 Then Jacob 12 ottered sacrifice upon the 
mount, and called his brethren to eat 
bread: and they did eat bread, and tarried 
all night in the mount. 

55 And early in the morning Laban rose 
up, and kissed his sons and his daughters, 
and z blessed them: and Laban departed, 
and a returned unto his place. 

CHAPTER XXXII. j 

1 Jacob's vision at MahanaAm .- 3 his message to 
E;au. 6 He is afraid of Esau's coming; and 
vrayethfor deliverance .- 13 he sendeth a present 10 
Esau: 24 he wrestleth with an Angel at Feniel, 
and is called Israel. 31 He halteth. 

Jacob went on his way, and a the 
angels of God met him. 
2 And when J«<"^ saw them, he said, This 



AND 

Xi one 



Missioii to Esau. 



GENESIS, XXXTEI. Kindness of Jacob and Esau. 



ground for apprehension, and his distress 
was all the more aggravated that he had to 
provide for the safety of a large and helpless 
family. 9-12. Jacob said, God — In this 
great emergency, he had recourse to prayer. 
This is the first recorded example of prayer 
in the Bible. It is short, earnest, and bear- 
in * directly on the occasion. The appeal is 
made to God, as standing in a covenant-re- 
lation to his family, just as we ought to put 
our hopes of acceptance with God in Christ. 
It pleads the special promise made to him- 
self of a safe return; and after a most hum- 
ble and affecting confession of un worthiness, 
breathes an earnest desire for deliverance 
from the impending danger. It was the 
prayer of a kind husband, an affectionate 
father, a firm believer in the promises. 
13-23. Took a present— Jacob combined active 
exertions with earnest prayer; and this 
teaches us that we must not depend upon 
the aid and interposition of God in such a 
way as to supersede the exercise of prudence 
and foresight. Superiors are always ap- 
proached with presents, and the respect 
expressed is estimated by the quality and 
amount of the gift. The present of Jacob 
consisted of 550 head of cattle, of different 
kinds, such as would be most prized by Esau. 
It was a most magnificent present, skilfully 
arranged and proportioned. The milch 
camels alone were of immense value; for the 
she-camels form the principal part of Arab 
wealth ; their milk is a chief article of diet ;and 
in many other respects, they are of the great- 
est use. 16. every drove by themselves— There 
was great prudence in this arrangement; for 
the present would thus have a more impos- 
ing appearance; Esau's passion would have 
time to cool as he passed each successive 
company; and if the first was refused, the 
others would hasten back to convey a timely 
warning, he commanded the foremost— The 
messengers were strictly commanded to 
say the same words, that Esau might be 
more impressed, and that the uniformity of 
the address might appear more clearly to 
have come from Jacob himself. 21. himself 
loiged— not the whole night, but only a part 
of it. 22. ford of Jabbok— now the Zerha—a, 
stream that rises among the mountains of 
Gilead, and running from east to west, enters 
the Jordan, about forty miles south of the 
Sea of Tiberias. At the ford it is ten yards 
wide. It is sometimes forded with diffi- 
culty; but in summer, very shallow, he rose 
up and took— Unable to sleep, he waded the 
ford in the night-time by himself; and hav- 
ing ascertained its safety, he returned to the 
north bank, and sent over his family and 
attendants— remaining behind, to seek anew, 
in solitary prayer, the divine blessing on 
the means he had set in motion. 24-30. 
There wrestled a man with him— This myste- 
rious person is called an angel (Hos. 12. 5,) 
and God, (v. 28, 30; Hos. 12. 4); and the 
opinion that is most supported is, that he 
was " the angel of the covenant," who, in a 
visible form, appeared to animate the mind, 
and sympathize with the distress of his 
pious servant. It has been a subject of 
much discussion whether the incident de- 
scribed was an actual conflict, or a visionary 
scene. Many think that as the narrative 
makes no mention in express terms either 
of sleep, or dream or vision, it was a real 
transaction; while others, considering the 



bodily exhaustion of Jacob, his great mental 
anxiety, the kind of aid he supplicated, as 
well as the analogy of former manifestations 
with which he was favoured— su^h as the 
]adder— have concluded that it w , ., a vision. 
[Cal., Hess., Heng] The moral desi n of 
it was to revive the sinking spirit of the 
patriarch, and to arm him with confidence 
in God, while anticipating the dreaded 
scenes of the morrow. To us it is highly 
instructive; showing, that, to encourage us 
valiantly to meet the trials to which we are 
subjected, God allows us to ascribe to the 
efficacy of our faith and prayers, the vic- 
tories which His grace alone enables us 
to make. 26. I will not let thee go, &c. — 
It is evident that Jacob was aware of the 
character of Him with whom he wrestled; 
and, believing that his power, though by far 
superior to human, was yet limited by his 
promise to do him good, he determined not 
to lose the golden opportunity of securing a 
blessing. And nothing gives God greater 
pleasure than to see the hearts of his people 
firmly adhering to him. 28. Thy name no 
more . . . Jacob— The old name was not to be 
abandoned; but, referring as it did to a dis- 
honourable part of the patriarch's history- 
it was to be associated with another descrip- 
tive of his now sanctified and eminently 
devout character. 29. Jacob asked, Tell me 
thy name— The request was denied, that he 
might not be too elated with his conquest, 
nor suppose that he had obtained such ad- 
vantage over the angel as to make him do 
what he pleased. 31, 32. halted on his thigh 
—As Paul had a thorn in the flesh given to 
humble him, lest he should be too elevated 
by the abundant revelations granted him; so 
Jacob's lameness was to keep him mindful 
of this mysterious scene, and that it was in 
gracious condescension the victory was 
yielded to him. In the greatest of these 
spiritual victories, which, through faith, any 
of God's people obtain, there is always some- 
thing to humble them. 32. the sinew which 
shrank— the nerve that fastens the thigh-bone 
in its socket. The practice of the Jews m 
abstaining from eating this in the flesh of 
animals, is not founded on the law of Moses, 
but is merely a traditional usage. The 
sinew is carefully extracted; and where 
there are no persons skilled enough for that 
operation, they do not make use of the hind 
legs at all. 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 
Ver", 1-11. Kindness of Jacob and Esatj. 
Behold, Esau and four hundred men— Jacob 
having crossed the ford, and ranged his wi ves 
and children in order— the dearest last, that 
they might be the least exuosed to danger 
—awaited the expected interview. His faith 
was strengthened and his fears gone (P3. 27. 
3.). Having had power to prevail with God, 
he was confident of the same power with 
man, according to the promise (cf. 32. 28.). 
3. he bowed himself seven times— The manner 
of doing this is by looking towards a superior 
and bowing with the upper part of the body 
brought parallel to the ground, then ad- 
vancing a few steps and bowing again, and 
repeating this obeisance till, at the seventh 
time, the suppliant stands in the immediate 

Eresence of his superior. The members of 
is family did the same. This was a token of 
profound respect, and, though very marked, 
it would appear natural; for Esau being the 



JbsmV' 9 message to Emu. 



GENESIS, xxxiri. 



He wrestleth with an Angel, 



is God's t> host: and he called the name of 
thai place * Mahanaira. 

3 And Jacob sent messengers before hira 
to Esau his brother, c unto the land of Seir, 
& the 2 country of Edom. 

4 And he commanded them, saying, e Thus 
shall ye speak unto my lord Esau; Thy ser- 
vant Jacob saith thus, 1 have sojourned 
with Laban, and stayed there until now: 

5 And/ 1 have oxen, and asses, tiocks, and 
men-servants, and women -serv ants: and I 
have sent to tell my lord, that 9 1 may find 
grace in thy sight. 

6 H And the messengers returned to Jacob. 
Baying, We came to thy brother Esau, and 
also h he cometh to meet thee, and four 
hundred men with him. 

7 Then Jacob was greatly afraid and ♦dis- 
tressed: and he J divided the people that 
was with Mm, and the flocks, and herds, 
and the camels, into two bands; 

8 And said, If Esau come to the one com- 
pany, and smite it, then the other company 
which is left shall escape. 

9 11 * And Jacob said . * O God of my fa- 
ther Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, 
the Lord "* which saidst unto me. Return 
unto thy country, and to thy kindred, and 
I will deal well with thee: 

10 3 1 am not n worthy of the least of all 
the ° mercies, and of all the truth, which 
thou hast showed unto thy servant; for 
with my ^ staff I passed over this Jordan, 
and now I am become two bands. 

11 ^ Deliver me, 1 pray thee, from the hand 
of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I 
fear him, lest he will come and smite me, 
and r the mother * with the children. 

12 And 8 thou saidst, I will surely do thee 
good, and make thy seed as the sand of the 
sea, which cannot he numbered for multi- 
tude. 

13 1T And he lodged there that same night ; 
and took of that which came to Ms hand a 
* present for Esau his brother; 

14 Two hundred she-goats, and twenty he- 
goats, two hundred ewes, and twenty rams, 

15 Ihirty milch camels with their colts, 
forty kine, and ten bulls, twenty she-asses, 
and ten foals. 

16 And he delivered them into the hand of 
Ms servants, every drove by themselves ; 
and said unto his servants, "Pass over be- 
fore me, and put a space betwixt drove and 
drove. 

17 And he commanded the foremost, say- 
ing. When Esau my brother meeteth thee. 
and asketh thee, saying, Whose art thou? 
and wMther goest thou? and whose are 
these before thee? 

18 Then thou shalt say, They be thy ser- 
vant Jacob's; it is a present sent unto my 
lord Esau: and, behold, also he is behind 
us. 

19 And so commanded he the second, and 
the third, and all that followed the droves, 
Baying, On this manner shall ye speak unto 
Esau, when ye find him. 

20 And say ye moreover, Behold, thy ser- 
vant Jacob is behind us. For he said, I 
will w appease him with the present that 
goeth before me, and afterward I will see 
Ms lace; peradventure he will accept & of 
me. 

21 So went the present over before him: 
and himself lodged that night in the com- 
pany. 

22 And h<> rose up that night, and took his 



B. C. 1739. 



CHAP. 32. 

b Josh. 5. 14. 
2 Ki. 6. 16. 
Ps. 103. 21. 
Ps. 148. 2. 
Luke,2.ia 

1 That is, 
two hosts, 
or camps. 

C ch.83.14.16. 
d ch. 36. 6-8. 

Deut. 2. 5. 

Josh. 24. 4. 

2 field. 

a Pro*. 15. L 
/ ch. SO. 43. 
0ch.33.8,l& 
tt ch. 33. 1. 
t ch. 35. 3. 
j Ps. 112. 5. 

Pr. 2. 11. 

Is. 28. 26. 

Mat. 10. 16. 

Bo. 16. 19. 

Eph. 5. 15. 
k Ps. 50. 15. 
I ch. 28. 13. 
vn ch.31.3,13 

3 I am less 
than an, 
etc. 

n2Sam.9.a 
Dan. 9. 9. 
o ch. 24. 27. 
p Job 8. 7. 
gPs.59.1,2. 
rHos.10.14. 

4 upon. 
« ch. 28. 

13-15. 
t ch. 43. 11. 

Pro. 18. 16 
« Pro. 21. 14. 

5 my face. 

V Deut. 3. 16. 

6 caused to 
pass. 

7 ascending 
of the 
morning. 

W Mat. 26.41. 
x Luke 24.28. 

V Hos. 12. 4. 

8 That is, a 
prince of 
God. 

z Hos. 12. 34. 

« ch. 25. 31. 

ch. 27. 33. 

6Jud.13.18. 

9 That is, 
the face of 
God. 

e Ex. 33. 20. 
Deut. 5. 24. 
Judg.6.22 
Jud.13.22. 
la. 6. 5. 



CHAP. 33. 
a ch. 32. 6. 
b ch. 18. 2. 
ch. 42. 6. 
ch. 43. 26. 
c ch. 32. 28. 
d ch. 46. 14. 

1 to thee. 
e ch. 48. 9. 

Ps. 127. 3. 
Is. 8. 18. 

2 W r hat is all 
this band 
to thee? 

/ ch. 32. 16. 
g ch. 32. 5. 

3 be that to 
thee that i: 
thine. 

h Mat. 18.10. 



two wives, and Ms two women-servants, and 
Ms eleven sons, and v passed over the ford 
Jabbok. 

23 And he took them, and 6 sent them over 
the brook, and sent over that he had. 

24 H And Jacob was left alone: and there 
wrestled a man with Mm until the * break- 
mg of the day. 

25 And when he saw that he prevailed not 
agamst him, he touched the hollow of his 
tMgh; and the 1 " hollow of Jacob's tMgh 
was out of joint as he wrestled with 
him. 

26 And x he said, Let me go, for the day 
breaketh. And he said, v I will not let thee 
go, except thou bless me. 

27 And he said unto Mm, What is thy 
name? And he said, Jacob. 

28 And he said. Thy name shall be called 
no more Jacob, but ° Israel: for as a prince 
hast thou * power with God and a with men, 
and hast prevailed. 

29 And Jacob asked him t and said, Tell 
me, I pray thee ; thy name. And he said, 
6 Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after 
my name? And he blessed him there. 

30 And Jacob called the name of the place 

Pemel: for c I have seen God face to face, 
and my hfe is preserved. 

31 And as he passed over Penuel the sun 
rose upon Mm, and he halted upon his 
tMgh. 

32 Therefore the children of Israel eat not 
of the sinew wMch sMank, which is upon 
the hollow of the tMgh, unto this day: be- 
cause he touched the hollow of Jacob's 
tMgh in the sinew that shrank. 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 

1 The kindness of Jacob and Esau at their meeU 
ing. 17 Jacob cometh to Succoth: 18 Me buyeth 
afield, and buildeth an altar. 

A ND Jacob lifted up Ms eyes, and looked, 
-"- and, behold, a Esau came, and with hiin 
four hundred men. And he divided the 
children unto Leah, and unto Rachel, and 
unto the two handmaids. 

2 And he put the handmaids and their 
children foremost, and Leah and her chil- 
dren after, and Rachel and Joseph Mn- 
dermost. ' 

3 And he passed over before them, and 
* bowed himself' to the ground seven times, 
until he came near to Ms brother. 

4 "And Esau ran to meet Mm, and em- 
braced him. d and fell on his neck, and kissed 
Mm: and they wept. 

5 And he lifted up Ms eyes, and saw the 
women and the children; and said. Who 
are those 1 with thee? And he said, The 
children e wMch God hath graciously given 
thy servant. 

6 Then the handmaidens came near, they 
and their children, and they bowed them- 
selves: 

7 And Leah also with her children came 
near, and bowed themselves : and after 
came Joseph near and Rachel, and they 
bowed themselves. 

8 And he said, 2 What meanest thou by 
/all tMs drove wMch I met? And he said, 

These are 9 to find grace in the sight of my 
lord. 

9 And Esau said. I have enough, my bro- 
ther; 3 keep that tnou hast unto thyself 

10 And Jacob said, Nay, I pray thee, if 
now I have found grace in thy sight, then 
receive my present at my hand; for there- 
fore I h have seen thy face, as though I had 



The Parting. 



GENESIS, XXXTV. 



TTie Dishonour of Dinah. 



elder brother, was, according to the custom 
of the East, entitled to respectful treatment 
from his younger brother. His attendants 
would be struck by it, and, according to 
Eastern habits, would magnify it in the hear- 
ing of their master. 4. Esau ran to meet him 
— What a sudden and surprising change ! 
Whether the sight of the princely present 
and the profound homage of Jacob had pro- 
duced this effect, or it proceeded from the 
impulsive character of Esau, the cherished 
enmity of twenty years in a moment disap- 
peared; the weapons of war were laid aside, 
and the warmest tokens of mutual affection 
reciprocated between the brothers. But, 
doubtless, the efficient cause was the secret, 
subduing influence of grace (Pro. 21. 1), which 
converted Esau from an enemy into a friend. 
5. Who are those with thee 1 ?— It might have 
been enough to say, They are my children; 
but Jacob was a pious man, and he could 
not give even a common answer but in the 
language of piety (Ps. 137. 3; 113. 9; 107. 41.). 
11. He urged him, and he took it— In the East 
the acceptance of a present by a superior is 
a proof of friendship, and by an enemy of re- 
conciliation. It was on both accounts Jacob 
was so anxious that his brother should re- 
ceive the cattle; and in Esau's acceptance 
he had the strongest proofs of a good feel- 
ing being established that eastern notions 
admit of. 

12-20. The Parting. 12. Let us take our 
journey— Esau proposed to accompany Jacob 
and his family through the country, both as 
a mark of friendship and as an escort to 
guard them. But the proposal was prudently 
declined. Jacob did not need any worldly 
state or equipage. Notwithstanding the pre- 
sent cordiality, the brothers were so different 
in spirit, character, and habits— the one so 
much a man of the world, and the other a 
man of God, that there was great risk of 
something occurring to disturb the harmony. 
Jacob having alleged a very reasonable ex- 
cuse for the tardiness of his movements, the 
brothers parted in peace. 14. until I come 
unto my lord— It seems to have been Jacob's 
intention, passing round the Dead Sea, to 
visit his brother in Seir, and thus, without 
crossing the Jordan, go to Beersheba to Isaac; 
but he changed his plan, and whether the 
intention was carried out then or at a future 
period has not been recorded. 17. journeyed 
to Succoth— that is, booths, that being the 
first station at which Jacob halted on his 
arrival in Canaan. His post' rity, when dwell- 
ing in houses of stone, built a city there and 
cailed it Succoth, to commemorate the fact 
that their ancestor, ' 'a Syrian ready to perish," 
was glad to dwell in booths. 18. Shalem— 
i.e., peace; and the meaning may be that 
Jacob came into Canaan, arriving safe and 
sound at the city Shechem— a tribute to Him 
who had promised such a return fcf. 28. 15.). 
But most writers take Shalem as a proper 
name— a city of Shechem, and that the site 
is marked by one of the little villages about 
two miles to the north-east. A little further 
in the valley below Shechem "he bought a 
parcel of a field, where he spread his tent, p 
thus being the first of the patriarchs who 
became a proprietor of land in Canaan. 
19. an hundred pieces of money— pieces, lit. % 
"lambs;" probably a coin with the figure of a 
lamb on it. 20. erected an altar— A beautiful 
proof of his personal piety, a most suitable 



conclusion to his journey, and a lasting 
memorial of a distinguished favour in the 
name "God, the God of Israel." Wherever 
we pitch a tent God should have an altar. 
CHAPTEE XXXTV. 
Ver. 1-31. The Dishonour op Dinah. 
1-4. Though freed from foreign troubles, 
Jacob met with a great domestic calamity 
in the fall of his only daughter. According 
to Josephus, she had been attending a festi- 
val; but it is highly probable that she had been 
often and freely mixing in the society of the 
place, and that being a simple, inexperienced, 
and vain young woman, had been flattered, 
by the attentions of the ruler's son. There 
must have been time and opportunities of 
acquaintance to produce the strong attach- 
ment that Shechem had for her. 5-7. Jacob 
held his peace — Jacob, as a father and a 
good man, must have been deeply dis- 
tressed. But he could do little. In the 
case of a family by different wives, it is 
not the father, but the full brothers, on 
whom the protection of the daughters de- 
volves—they are the guardians of a sister's 
welfare and the avengers of her wrongs. It 
was if or this reason that Simeon and Levi, 
the two brothers of Dinah by Leah, appear 
the chief actors in this episode; and though 
the two fathers would have probably brought 
about an amicable arrangement of the affair, 
the hasty arrival of these enraged brothers 
introduced a new element into the negotia- 
tions. 6. Hamor— i. e., ass; and it is a strik- 
ing proof of the very different ideas which, 
in the East, are associated with that animal, 
which there appears sprightly, well propor- 
tioned, and of great activity. This chief is 
called Emmor (A. 7. 16.). 7. were grieved and 
very wroth— Good men in such a case could 
not but grieve; but it would have been well 
if their anger had been less, or that they had 
known the precept " let the sun go down upon 
your wrath." No injury can justify revenge ; 
but Jacob's sons planned a scheme of revenge 
in the most deceitful manner (Deut. 32. 35; Eo. 

12. 9.). 8. Hamor communed with them— The 
prince and his son seem at first sight to have 
acted honestly, and our feelings are enlisted 
on their side. They betray no j ealou sy of the 
powerful shepherds; on the contrary, shew 
every desire to establish friendly intercourse. 
But their conduct was unjustifiable in neither 
expressing regret nor restoring Dinah to her 
family; and this great error was the true 
cause of the negotiations ending in so un- 
happy a manner. 11. Shechem said unto her 
father and brethren— The consideration of the 
proposal for marriage belonged to Jacob, 
and he certainly shewed great weakness in 
yielding so much to the fiery impetuosity of 
his sons. The sequel shows the unhappy 
consequences of that concession. 12. Ask me 
never so much dowry and gift— The gift refers 
to the presents made at betrothal, both to 
the bride elect and her relations (cf. 24. 53) ; 
the dowry to a suitable settlement upon her. 

13. The sons of Jacob answered— The honour 
of their family consisted in having the sign 
of the covenant. Circumcision was the ex- 
ternal rite by which persons were admitted 
members of the ancient Church. But that 
outward rite could not make the Shechem- 
ites true Israelites; and yet it does not ap- 

5 ear that Jacob's required anything more. 
lothing is said of their teaching them ta 
worship the true God, but only of theil 



Jacob builds an altar. 



GENESIS, XXXIV. 



The Shechemites slain. 



Been the face of God, and thou wast pleas- 
ed with me. 

11 Take, I pray thee, * my blessing that is 
brought to thee; because God hath dealt 
graciously with me, and because I have 
* enough. J And he urged him, and he took 
it. 

12 And he said, Let us take our journey, 
and let us go, and I will go before thee. 

13 And he said unto him, My lord know- 
eth that the children are tender, and the 
flocks and herds with young are with me ; 
and if men should overdrive them one day, 
all the flock will die. 

14 Let my lord, I prav thee, pass over be- 
fore his servant ; and I will lead on softly, 
according 5 as the cattle that goeth before 
tie and tne children be able to endure, un- 
:il I come unto my lord * unto Seir. 

15 And Esau said', Let me now 6 leave with 
thee some of the folk that are with me. 
And he said, 7 What needeth it? 'let me 
find grace in the sight of my lord- 
IB 1! So Esau returned that day on his way 

auto Seir. 

17 And Jacob journeyed to m Succoth, and 
built him an house, and made booths for 
his cuttle: therefore the name of the place 
is called 8 Succoth. 

18 If And Jacob came to w Shalem a city 
of 9 Shechem. which is in the land of Ca- 
iman, when he came from Padan-aram; 
and pitched his tent before the city. 

19 And ° he bought a parcel of a field, 
where he had spread his tent, at the hand 
of the children of lu Hamor, Shechem's fa- 
ther, for an hundred n pieces of money. 

20 And he erected there an altar, and 
P called it 12 El-elohe-IsraeL 

CHAPTER XXXIV. 

1 JMn-ih defiled. 20 The Shtchemites are circum- 
cised. 25 The sons of Jacob taking advantage 
thereof sla>j them, and spoil their city. 30 Ja- 
cob reproveth Simeon and Levi. 

A ND a Dinah the daughter of Leah, which 
she bare unto Jacot), b went out to see 
the daughters of the land. 

2 And when Shechem the son of Hamor 
the Hivite, prince of the country, c saw her, 
he d took her, and lay with her, and l de- 
tiled her. 

3 And his soul clave unto Dinah the 
daughter of Jacob, and he loved the dam- 
sel, and spake 2 kindly unto the damsel. 

4 And Shechem e spake unto his father 
Humor, saying, Get me this damsel to 
wife. 

5 And Jacob heard that he had defiled 
Dinah his daughter: now his sons were 
with his cattle in the field: and Jacob held 
his peace until thev were come. 

6 1| And Hamor "the father of Shechem 
went out unto Jacob to commune with 
him. 

7 And the sons of Jacob came out of the 
field when they heard it: and the men were 
grieved, and they were /very wroth, be- 
cause he had ? wrought folly in Israel, in 
lying with Jacob's daughter; h which thing 
ought not to be done. 

8 And Hamor communed with them, say- 
ing, The soul of my son Shechem longeth 
for your daughter: I pray you give her him 
to wife. 

9 And * make ye marriages with us, and 
give your daughters unto us, and take our 
daughters unto you. 

10 And ye shall dwell with us: and i the 

29 



C. 17 



CHAP. 33. 

i 2 Ki. 5. 15. 

4 all things. 

3 2 Ki. 5. 23. 

6 according 
to the foot 
of the work, 
etc., and ac- 
cording to 
the foot of 
the chil- 
dren. 

k ch. 32. 3. 

6 set, or, 
place. 

7 Wherefore 
is this? 

I Kuth 2. 13. 
m Josh. 13. 

27. 

Judg. 8. 5. 

8 That is, 
booths. 

n John 3. 23. 

9 Called, 
Acts, 7. 16, 
Sychem. 
Josh. 24.1. 

Josh. 24. 
32. 
John 4. 5. 

10 Called, 
Acts 7. 16, 
Eminor. 

11 or, lambs. 
p ch. 35. 7. 

12 That is, 
God the 
God of 
Israel. 



.13. 



CHAP. 34. 
a ch. 30. 21. 
b Tit. 2. 5. 
e ch. 6. 2. 

Ju. 14. 1. 
d ch. 20. 2. 

1 humbled 
her. 

Deut. 22. 
29. 

2 to the heart 
of the dam- 
sel. 

Is. 40. 2. 

Hos. 2. 14. 
e Judg. 14. 2. 
/ ch. 49. 7. 

2S 

21. 
g Josh. 7. 15. 

Judg. 20. 6. 
h Dent. 23. 

17. 

2 Sam. 13. 

12. 
i Ex. 23. 32. 

3 ch. 13. 9. 
ch. 20. 15. 

* ch. 42. 34. 
I ch. 47. 27. 
m Ex. 22 16. 

Deut. 22. 

29. 

1 Sam. 18. 

25. 
n 2 Sam. 13. 

24-29. 
Josh. 5. 9. 
p 1 Chr. 4. 9. 
q 2 Sa. 15. 2. 
Ruth 4. 1. 
r ch. 23. 10. 
e ch. 49. 5-7. 
3 mouth. 
t eh. 49. 6. 
« Josh. 7. 25. 
v Ex. 5. 21. 
lSa.13.1. 



land shall be before you; dwell and * trade 
ye therein, and l get you possessions 
therein. 

11 And Shechem said unto her father 
and unto her brethren, Let me find grace 
in your eyes, and what ye shall say unto me 
I will give. 

12 Ask me never so much m dowry and gift, 
and I will give according as ye shall say un- 
to me: but give me the damsel to wife. 

13 And the sons of Jacob answered She- 
chem and Hamor his father n deceitfully, 
and said, because he had defiled Dinah 
their sister: 

14 And they said unto them, We cannot do 
this thing, to give our sister to one that is 
uncircumcised; for that were & reproach 
unto us: 

15 But in this will we consent unto you: If 
ye will be as we be, that every male of you 
be circumcised; 

16 Then will we give our daughters unto 
you, and we will take your daughters to us, 
and we will dwell with you, and we will be- 
come one people. 

17 But ir ye will not hearken unto us, to 
be circumcised ; then will we take our 
daughter, and we will be gone. 

18 And their words pleased Hamor, and 
Shechem, Hamor's son. 

19 And the young man deferred not to do 
the thing, because he had delight in Ja- 
cob's daughter: and he was* more honour- 
able than all the house of his father. 

20 And Hamor and Shechem his son came 
unto the q gate of their city, and communed 
with the men of their city, saving, 

21 These men are peaceable with us • there- 
fore let them dwell in the land, and trade 
therein; for the land, behold, it is large 
enough for them ; let us take their daugh- 
ters to us for wives, and let us give them 
our daughters. 

22 Only herein will the men consent unto 
us for to dwell with us, to be one people, if 
every male among us be circumcised, as 
they are circumcised. 

23 Shall not their cattle and their sub- 
stance and every beast of theirs be ours? 
only let us consent unto them, and they will 
dwell with us. 

24 And unto Hamor. and unto Shechem 
his son, hearkened all that r went out of 
the gate of his city; and every male was 
circumcised, aU that went out of the gate 
of his city. 

25 1T And it came to pass on the third day, 
when they were sore, that two of the sons or 
Jacob, e Simeon and Levi, Dinah's breth- 
ren, took each man his sword, and came 
upon the city boldly, and slew all the 
males. 

26 And they slew Hamor and Shechem 
his son with the 3 edge of the sword, and 
took Dinah out of Snechem's house, and 
went out. 

27 The sons of Jacob came upon the slain, 
and spoiled the city, because they had de- 
filed tneir sister. 

28 They took their sheep, and their oxen, 
and their asses, and that which was in the 
city, and that which was in the field, 

29 And all their wealth, and all their little 
ones, and their wives took thev captive, and 
spoiled even all that was in the house. 

30 And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, 
* Ye have u troubled me v to make me to 
stink among the inhabitants of the land, 



Jacob's Removal to Bethel. 



GENESIS, XXXV, He Purgeth Ms Jwuse of Idols. 



insisting on their being circumcised; and it is 
evident that they did not seek to convert 
Shechem, but only made a show of religion 
—a cloak to cover their diabolical design. 
Hypocrisy and deceit, in all cases vici- 
ous, are infinitely more so when accompa- 
nied with a shew of religion; and here the 
sons of Jacob, under the pretence of con- 
scientious scruples, conceal a scheme of trea- 
chery as cruel and diabolical as was, perhaps, 
ever perpetrated. 20. Hainor and Shechem came 
unto the gate of their city— That was the place 
where everypublic communicationwas made : 
and in the ready obsequious submission of 
the people to this measure we see an evidence 
either of the extraordinary affection for the 
governing family, or of the abject despotism 
of the East, where the will of a chief is an 
absolute command. 30. Jacob said, Ye have 
troubled me— This atrocious outrage perpe- 
trated on the defenceless citizens and their 
families made the cup of Jacob's affliction 
overflow. We may wonder that, in speak- 
ing of it to his sons, he did not represent it 
as a heinous sin— an atrocious violation of the 
laws of God and man, but dwelt solely on the 
present consequences. It was probably be- 
cause that was the only view likely to rouse 
the cold-blooded apathy, the hardened con- 
sciences of those ruffian sons. Nothing but 
the restraining power of God saved him and 
his family from the united vengeance of 
the people (cf. 25. 5.). All his sons had not 
been engaged in the massacre. Joseph was 
a boy, Benjamin not yet born, and the other 
eight not concerned in it. Simeon and Levi 
alone, with their retainers, had been the 
guilty actors in the bloody tragedy. But the 
Canaanites would not be discriminating in 
their vengeance; and if all the Shechemites 
were put to death for the offence of their 
chiefs son, what wonder if the natives 
should extend their hatred to all the family 
of Jacob; and who, probably, equalled, in 
number, the inhabitants of that village. 
CHAPTER XXXV. 
Ver. 1-15. Removal to Bethel. God 
said to Jacob, Arise, &c. — This command 
was given as seasonably in point of time, as 
tenderly in respect of language. The dis- 
graceful and perilous events that had re- 
cently taken place in the patriarch's family 
must have produced in him a strong desire 
to remove without delay from the vicinity 
of Shechem. Borne down by an overwhelm- 
ing sense of the criminality of his two sons 
—of the offence they had given to God, and 
the dishonour they had brought on the true 
faith; distracted, too, with anxiety, about 
the probable consequences which their out- 
rage might bring upon himself and family, 
should the Canaanite people combine to 
extirpate such a band of robbers and mur- 
derers: he must have felt this call as affording 
a great relief to his afflicted feelings. At the 
same time it conveyed a tender rebuke, go up 
to Bethel, &c— Bethel was about thirty miles 
south of Shechem; and was an ascent from a 
low to a highland country. There, he would 
not only be released from the painful asso- 
ciations of the latter place, but be establish- 
ed on a spot, that would revive the most 
delightful and sublime recollections. The 
pleasure of revisiting it, however, was not 
altogether unalloyed, make an altar unto 
God that appeared— It too frequently hap- 
pens that early impressions <ue effaced 
2J 



through lapse of time— that promises made, 
in seasons of distress, are forgotten; or, if 
remembered on the return of health and 
prosperity, there is not the same alacrity and 
sense of obligation felt to fulfil them. Jacob 
was lying under that charge. He had fallen 
into spiritual indolence. It was now eight or 
ten years since his return to Canaan. He had 
effected a comfortable settlement; and had 
acknowledged the divine mercies, by which 
that return and settlement had been signal- 
ly distinguished (cf. 33. 19.). But for some 
unrecorded reason, his early vow at Bethel, 
in a great crisis of his life, remained unper- 
formed. The Lord appeared now to remind 
him of his neglected duty, in terms, how- 
ever, so mild, as awakened less the memory 
of his fault, than of the kindness of his hea- 
venly Guardian; and how much Jacob felt 
the touching nature of the appeal to that 
memorable scene at Bethel, appears in the 
immediate preparations he made to arise 
and go up thither (Ps. 66. 13.). 2. And he 
said . . . household put away strange gods— 
Heb. gods of the stranger— of foreign nations. 
Jacob had brought, in his service, a number 
of Mesopotamian retainers, who were ad- 
dicted to superstitious practices; and there 
is some reason to fear that the same high 
testimony as to the religious superintend- 
ance of his household could not have been 
borne of him as was done of Abraham 
(18. 19.). He might have been too negligent 
hitherto in winking at these evils in his 
servants; or, perhaps it was not till his ar- 
rival in Canaan, that he had learnt, for the 
first time, that one nearer and dearer to him. 
was secretly infected with the same corrup- 
tion (31. 34.). Be that as it may, he resolved 
on an immediate and thorough reforma- 
tion of his household; and in commanding 
them to put away the strange gods, he added, 
"be clean, and change your garments;" as if 
some defilement, from contact with idolatry, 
should still remain about them. In the law of 
Moses, many ceremonial purifications were 
ordained, and observed by persons who had 
contracted certain defilements, and without 
the observance of which, they were reckoned 
unclean and unfit to join in the social wor- 
ship of God. These bodily purifications 
were purely figurative; and as sacrifices were 
offered before the law, so also were external 
purifications, as appears from the words of 
Jacob; hence it would seem that types and 
symbols were used from the fall of man, 
representing and teaching the two great doc- 
trines of revealed truth— viz. the atonement 
of Christ, and the sanctification of our nature. 
4. They gave all the strange gods and ear- 
rings—Strange gods — the Teraphim (cf. 
31. 30,) as well, perhaps, as other idols 
got amongst the Shechemite spoil— earrings 
of various forms, sizes, and materials, which 
are universally worn in the East, and, then 
as now, connected with incantation and 
idolatry (cf. Hos. 2. 13.). The decided tone 
which Jacob now assumed, was the pro- 
bable cause of the alacrity with which those 
favourite objects of superstition were sur- 
rendered. Jacob hid them under the oak— 
or terebinth— a toM'ering tree, which, like all 
others of the kind, were striking objects in 
the scenery of Palestine; and beneath which 
at Shechem, the patriarch had pitched his 
tent. He hid the images and amulets, deliv- 
ered to him by Ms Mesopotamian utpeni- 



Jacob again blessed. 



GENESIS, XXXV, XXXVI. 



The death of Isaac. 



arnougthe Canaanites and the Perizzites: 
"'and I being few in number, they shall 
gather themselves together against me, and 
slay me; and I shall be destroyed, I and my 
house. 

31 And they said. x Should he deal with our 
sister as with an harlot? 

CHAPTER XXXV. 
1 God sendeth Jacob to Beth-el: 2 he purgeth his 
hottse of idols, 6 and buildeth an altar. 9 God 
blesseth him there. 16 Machel beareth Benja - 
mi'n. and dies. 23 The sons of Jacob. 28 Isaac's 
death. 

A ND God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up 
-^ to a Beth-el, and dwell there: and make 
there an altar unto God, *> that appeared 
unto thee c when thou fleddest from the lace 
of Esau thy brother. 

2 Then Jacob said unto his d household, 
and to all that were with him, Put away 
e the strange gods that are among you, and 
'be clean, and change your garments: 

3 And let us arise, and go up to Beth-el; 
and I will make there an altar unto God, 
° who answered me in the day of my dis- 
tress, h and was with me in the way which 
1 went. 

4 And they gave unto Jacob all the strange 
gods which were in their hand, and all their 
* earrings which were in their ears; and 
Jacob hid them under ) the oak which was 
by Shechem. 

5 And they journeyed: and k the terror of 
God was upon the cities that were round 
about them, and they did not pursue after 
the sons of Jacob. 

6 H So Jacob came to l Luz, which is in 
the land of Canaan, that is, Beth-el, he, 
and all the people that were with him. 

7 And he ■ built there an altar, and called 
the place i El-beth-el; because n there God 
appeared unto him, when he fled from the 
face of his brother. 

8 But ° Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died, 
and she was buried beneath Beth-el under 
an oak: and the name of it was called 2 Al- 
lon-bachuth. 

9 tf And * God appeared unto Jacob again, 
when he came out of Padan-aram, and 
blessed him. 

10 And God said unto him, Thy name is 
Jacob: « thy name shall not be called any 
more J acob, but r Israel shall be thy name : 
and he called his name IsraeL 

11 And God said unto him, * I am God 
Almighty; be fruitful and multiply ; a 'na- 
tion, and a company of nations, shall be of 
thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins ; 

12 And the land u which I gave Abraham 
and Isaac, to thee I will give it, and to thy 
seed after thee will I give the land. 

13 And God v went up from him in the 
place where he talked with him. 

14 And Jacob w set up a pillar in the 
place where he talked with him ; even a 
pillar of stone: and he poured a drmk offer- 
ing thereon, and he poured oil thereon. 

15 And Jacob called the name of the place 
where God spake with him. * Beth-eL 

16 H And they journeyed from Beth-el; 
and there was but 3 a little way to come to 
Ephrath: and Rachel travailed, and she 
had hard labour. 

17 And it came to pass, when she was in 
kard labour, that the midwife said unto 
her,Fear not ; *thou shalt have this son also. 

18 And it came to pass, as her soul was ui 
departing, for she died, that aac u*ilea *A6 



B. C. 1732. 



CHAP. 34. 

WDeu. 4.27. 

Ps. 105.18. 

* Pro?. 6. 34. 



CHAP. 35. 

a ch. 28. 19. 
6 ch. 28. 13. 
c ch. 27. 43. 
dch. 18.19. 

Jos. 24. 15. 
ach.31.19.34. 

1 Sam. 7. 3. 
/Ex.19. 10. 
g ch. 32. 7,24. 

Ps. 107. 6. 
h ch. 28. 20. 

ch. 31. 3.42. 
i Hos. 2. 13. 
j Josh. 24,26. 
kUn. 15 16. 

Ex. 34. 24. 

Deu. 11.25. 
I ch. 28. 22. 
m Eccl. 5. 4. 

1 That is, 
the God of 
Beth-el. 

n ch. 28. 13. 
o ch. 24. 59. 

2 That is, 
the oak of 
weeding. 

p Heb. 12. 4. 

V ch. 17. 5. 
r ch. 32. 28. 
« ch. 17. 1. 

Ex. 6. 3. 
t ch. 17. 5, e. 

ch. 48.4. 
u ch. 12. 7. 
ch. 28.13. 
v ch. 17. 22. 
w ch. 28. 18. 
* ch. 28. 19. 

3 a little 
piece of 
ground. 

V ch. 30. 24. 

4 That is, 
the son of 
mv sorrow. 

5 That is, 
the son of 
the right 
hand. 

« ch. 48. 7. 
a Ruth 1. 2. 

Mat. 2. 6. 
b 1 Sa. 10. 2. 
c Mic. 4. 8. 
d ch. 49. 4. 

lChr.5.1. 
« ch. 46. 8. 

Ex. 1. 2. 
/ ch. 13. 18. 
g Jos. 14. 16. 
h Ec. 12. 7. 
i ch. 15. 15. 
j ch. 25. 9. 

ch. 49. 31. 



CHAP. 36. 
a ch. 25. 30. 
6 ch. 26. 34. 
c ver. 25. 
d ch. 28. 9. 
«lChr.l.35. 

1 souls. 
/Deut.23.7. 
fl-ch.13.6,11. 
h ch. 17. 8. 

t ch. 32. 3. 
j ver. 1. 

2 Edom. 

k 1 Chr. 1. 
35, etc. 

3 Or, Zej.hL 
I hx. 1?. O. 



name 4 Ben-oni: but his father called hirn 
6 Benjamin. 

1U And * Rachel died, and was buried in 
the way to ° Ephrath, which is Beth-lehem. 

20 And Jacob set a pillar upon her grave: 
that is the pillar of Rachel's grave *unto 
this day. 

21 H And Israel journeyed, and spread his 
tent bevond c the tower of Edar. 

22 And it came to pass, -v\ hen Israel dwelt 
in that land, that Reuben went and d lay 
with Bilhah his father's concubine: ana 
Israel heard it. Now the sons of Jacob 
were twelve: 

23 The sons of Leah; e Reuben, Jacob's 
first-born, and Simeon, and Levi, and Ju- 
dah, and Issachar. and Zebulun: 

24 The sons of Rachel; Joseph and Ben- 
jamin: 

25 And the sons of Bilhah, Rachel's hand- 
maid; Dan and Naphtali: 

26 And the sons of Zilpah, Leah's hand- 
maid; Gad and Asher: these are the sons of 
Jacob, which were born to him in Padan- 
aram. 

27 tf And Jacob came unto Isaac his father 
mito / Mamre, unto the g city of Arba, 
which is Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac 
sojourned. 

28 And the days of Isaac were an hun* 
dred and fourscore years. 

29 And Isaac h gave up the ghost, and died, 
and * was gathered unto his people, being 
old and full of days: and i His sons Esau 
and Jacob buried him. 

CHAPTER XXXVI. 
2 Esau's family in Canaan. 6 He removeth to 
mount Seir. 9 Bis sons. 15 The dukes which 
descended of his sons. 20 The sons and dukes 
of Seir. 31 The kings of JSdom. 

"\ OW these are the generations of Esau, 
x> ° who is Edom. 

2 * Esau took his wives of the daughters 
of Canaan; Adah the daughter of Elon the 
Hittite, and c Aholibamah the daughter of 
Anah the daughter of Zibeon the Hivite ; 

3 And d Bashemath, Ishmael's daughter, 
sister of Nebaioth. 

4 And * Adah bare to Esau Eliphaz; and 
Bashemath bare Reuel; 

5 And Ahohbamah bare Jeush, and Ja- 
alam, and Korah : these are the sons of 
Esau, which were born unto him in the 
land of Canaan. 

6 And Esau took his wives, and his sons, 
and his daughters, and all the l persons of 
his house, and his cattle, and all his beasts, 
and all his substance, which he had got in 
the land of Canaan; and went into the 
country from the face of his / brother 
Jacob. 

7 g For their riches were more than that 
they might dwell together; and h the land 
wherein they were strangers could not bear 
them because of then cattle. 

8 Thus dwelt Esau in * mount Seir: * Esau 
is Edom. . 

9 IT And these are the generations of Esau 
the father of 2 the Edomites in mount Seir: 

10 These are the names of Esau's sons; 
* Eliphaz the son of Adah the wife of Esau, 
Reuel the son of Bashemath the wife or 
Esau. 

11 And the sons of Eliphaz were Teman, 
Omar, 3 Zepho, and Gatam : and Kenaz. 

12 And Timna was concubine to Eliphaz, 
Esau's son; and she bare to Eliphaz '• Ama* 
lck: these were the sons ofAdah^Esau'swife. 



Birth of Benjamin. 



GENESIS, XXXVT. 



Posterity of Esau. 



ents, at the root of this tree, 
being deemed a consecrated tree, to bury 
them at its root was to deposit them in a 
place where no bold hand would venture 
to disturb the ground; and hence it was 
called from this circumstance — " the plain 
of Meonenim" — i. e., the oak of enchant- 
ments ( Jud. 9. 37) ; and from the great stone 
which Joshua setup— "the oak of the pillar" 
(Jud. 9. 6.). The terror of God was upon the 
cities— There was every reason to apprehend 
that a storm of indignation would burst 
from all quarters upon Jacob's family, and 
that the Canaanite tribes would have formed 
one united plan of revenge. But a superna- 
tural panic seized them; and thus, for the 
sake of the "heir of the promise," the pro- 
tecting shield of Providence was specially 
held over his family. 6. So Jacob came to 
Luz . . that is, Beth-el— Tt is probable that this 
place was unoccupied ground when Jacob 
first went to it; and that after that period 
[Cal.], the Canaanites built a town, to which 
they gave the name of Luz, from the profu- 
sion of almond trees that grew around. The 
name of Bethel, which would, of course, be 
confined to Jacob and his family, did not 
supersede the original one till long after. 
It is now identified with the modern Beitin, 
and lies on the western slope of the moun- 
tain on which Abraham built his altar (Gen. 

12. 8.). 7. El-Bethel-i e. the God of Bethel. 
8. Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died— this event 
seems to have taken place before the solem- 
nities were commenced. Deborah— a bee- 
supposing her to have been fifty years, on 
coming to Canaan, she had attained the great 
age of 180. When she was removed from 
Isaac's household to Jacob's, is unknown. 
But it probably was on his return from 
Mesopotamia; and she would have been of 
invaluable service to his young family. Old 
nurses, like her, were not only honoured, 
but loved as mothers; and, accordingly, her 
death was the occasion of a great lamenta- 
tion. She was buried under the oak— hence 
called the "terebinth of tears" (cf. 1 Kings, 

13. 14.). God was pleased to make a new 
appearance to him after the solemn rites of 
devotion were over. By this manifestation 
of his presence, God testified his acceptance 
of Jacobs sacrifice, renewed the promise of 
the blessings guaranteed to Abraham and 
Isaac; and the patriarch observed the cere- 
mony with which he had formerly conse- 
crated the place; comprising a sacramental 
offering and the oil that he poured on the 
pillar; and reimposing the memorable name. 
The whole scene was in accordance with the 
character of the patriarchal dispensation, in 
which the great truths of religion were ex- 
hibited to the senses, and " the world's grey 
fathers" taught in a manner suited to the 
weakness of an infantine condition. 13. God 
went up from him— the presence of God was 
indicated in some visible form, and his ac- 
ceptance of the sacrifice shewn by the mira- 
culous descent of fire from heaven, consum- 
ing it on the altar. 

16-27. Birth of Benjamin —Death 
of Rachel, &c. 16. They journeyed from 
Beth-el— There can be no doubt that much 
enjoyment was experienced at Bethel, and 
that in the religious observances solemnized, 
as well as in the vivid recollections of 
the glorious vision seen there, the affections 
of the patriarch were powerfully animated, 



The oak [ and that he left the place a better and more 
devoted servant of God. When the solemni- 
ties were over, Jacob, with his family, pur- 
sued a route directly southward, and they had 
reached Ephrath, when they were plunged 
into mourning by the death of Rachel, who 
sank in child-birth, leaving a posthumous 
son. A very affecting death, considering 
how ardently the mind of Bachel had been 
set on offspring (cf. 30. 1.). 18. Ben-oni— the 
dying mother gave this name to her child, 
significant of her circumstances; but Jacob 
changed it into Benjamin. This is thought 
by some to have been originally Benjamim, 
"a son of days"— i.e., of old age. But with 
its present ending it means " son of the right 
hand"— i.e., particularly dear and precious. 
19. Ephrath, which is Beth-lehem— the one 
the old, the other the later name, signifying 
' ' house of bread." 20. set a pillar on her grave 
. . . unto this day— The spot still marked out 
as the grave of Rachel exactly agrees with 
the Scripture record, being about a mile from 
Bethlehem. Anciently it was surmounted 
by a pyramid of stones, but the present tomb 
is a Mahommedan erection. 22-26. Sons of 
Jacob born in Padan-aram— It is a common 
practice of the sacred historian to say of a 
company or body of men that which, though 
true of the majority, may not be applicable 
to every individual. See M. 19. 28; J. 20. 24; 
Heb. 11. 13. Here is an example, for Benja- 
min was born in Canaan. 

28, 29. Death of Isaac. Isaac gave 
up the ghost— The death of this venerable 
patriarch is here recorded by anticipation, 
for it did not take place till fifteen years 
after Joseph's disappearance. Feeble and 
blind though he was, he lived to a very ad- 
vanced age; and it is a pleasing evidence of 
the permanent reconciliation between Esau 
and Jacob that they met at Mamre to per- 
form the funeral rites of their common father* 
CHAPTEE XXXVI. 
Ver. 1-43. Posterity of Esau. 1. These 
are the generations— history of the leading 
men and events (cf. 2. 4.). Esau, who is Edom 
—a name applied to him in reference to the 
peculiar colour of his skin at birth, rendered 
more significant by his inordinate craving 
for the red pottage, and also by the fierce 
sanguinary character of his descendants (cf. 
Ez. 25. 12 ; Ob. 10.). 2, 3. Esau took his wives- 
There were three, mentioned under different 
names; for it is evident that Bashemath is the 
same as Mahalath (28. 9\ since they both stand 
in the relation of daughter to Ishmael and 
sister to Nebajoth; and hence it may be infer- 
red that Adah is the same as Judith, Ahokba- 
mah, as Bathsemath (26. 34.). It was not 
unusual for women, in that early age, to have 
two names, as Sarai was also Iscah; and this 
is the more probable in the case of Esau's 
wives, who of course would have to take 
new names when they went from Canaan to 
settle in mount Seir. 6, 7. Esau went into the 
country from the face— lit., a country, without 
any certain prospect of a settlement. The 
design of this historical sketch of Esau and 
his family is to shew how the promise (27. 
39, 40.) was fulfilled. In temporal prosperity 
he far exceeds his brother; and it is remark- 
able that, in the overruling providence of God, 
the vast increase of his worldly substance was 
the occasion of his leaving Canaan, and thus 
making way for the return of Jacob. 8. Thus 
dwelt Esau in mount Seir— This was divinely 



The generations of hsau. 



GENESIS, XXXVII. 



The history of Joseph. 



13 And these are the sons of Reuel ; Na- 
hath, and Zerah. Shammah, and Alizzah: 
these were the sons of Basheinath, Esau's 
wife. 

14 And these were the sons of Aholibamah 
the daughter of Anah the daughter of 
Zibeon, Esau's wife: and she bare to Esau 
J tush, and Jaalam, and Korah. 

15 *ft These were dukes of the sons of 
Esau : the sons of Eliphaz the first-born 
son of Esau ; duke Teruan, duke Omar, duke 
Zepho, duke Kenaz, 

16 Duke Korah, duke Gatam, and duke 
Amalek: these are the dukes that came of 
Eliphaz in the land of Edoin; these were 
the sons of Adah. 

17 And these are the sons of Reuel, Esau's 
son; duke Nahath, duke Zerah, duke Sham- 
mah, duke Mizzah: these are the dukes that 
came of Reuel in the land of Edom; these 
are the sons of Bashemath, Esau's wife. 

18 And these are the sons of Aholibamah, 
Esau's wife ; duke Jeush, duke Jaalam, 
duke Korah: these were the dukes that 
came of Aholibamah the daughter of Anah, 
Esau's wife. 

19 These are the sons of Esau, who is 
Edom, and these are their dukes. 

20 II m These are the sons of Seir n the 
Horite, who inhabited the land- Lotan, 
and Shubal, and Zibeon and Anah, 

21 And Dishon, and Ezer, and Dishan: 
these are the dukes of the Horites, the chil- 
dren of Seir in the land of Edom. 

22 And the children of Lotan were Hori 
and * Heman ; and Lotan's sister was 
Timna. 

23 And the children of Shobal were these ; 
6Alvan,and Alanahath, and Ebal, 6 Shepho, 
and Onam. 

24 And these are the children of Zibeon; 
both Ajah and Anah: this was that Anah 
that found the ° mules in the wilderness, 
as he fed the asses of Zibeon his father. 

25 And the children of Anah were these* 
Dishon, and Aholibamah the daughter or 
Anah. 

36 And- these are the children of Dishon: 
7 Hemdan, and Eshban, and Ithran, and 
Cheran. 

27 The children of Ezer are these ; Bilhan, 
and Zaavan, and 8 Akan. 

28 The children of Dishan are these; Uz, 
and Aran. 

29 These are the dukes that came of the 
Horites; duke Lotan, duke Shobal, duke 
Zibeon, duke Anah, 

30 Duke Dishon, duke Ezer, duke Dishan: 
these are the dukes that came of Hori, 
among their dukes in the land of Seir. 

31 11 And p these are the kings that reigned 
hi the land of Edom. before there reigned 
any q king over the children of Israel. 

32 And Bela the son of Beor reigned in 
Edom: and the name of his city was Din- 
habah. 

33 And Bela died, and Jobab the son of 
Zerah of Bozrah reigned in his stead. 

34 And Jobab died, and Husham of the 
land of Temani reigned in his stead. 

35 And Husham died, and Hadad the son 
of Bedadj who smote Midian in the field of 
Moab, reigned in his stead: and the name 
of his city was Avith. 

36 And Hadad died, and Samlah of Mas- 
rekah reigned in his stead. 

37 And Samlah died, and Saul of Reho- 
both by the river reigned in his stead. 

31 



i. C. 1740. 



CHAP. 36. 
m l Chr. 1. 
38. 

n ch. 14. 6. 

Deut. 2. 

12,22. 
4 Or, Ho- 

mtm, 

1 Chr. 1. 

39. 
6 Or, Alian, 

1 Chr. 1. 

40. 

6 Or, Shephi, 
1 Chr.l. 
40. 

o Lev. 19, 19. 

7 Or, Am- 
ram, 

1 Chr. 1. 
41. 

8 Or, Jakan, 
1 Chr. 1. 
42. 

V 1 Chr. 1. 
43. 

? 1 Sam. 10. 
24. 

r 1 Chr. 1. 
50, 

Hadad Pai. 
After his 
death was 
an Aris- 
tocracy. 
Ex. 15. 15. 

• 1 Chr. 1. 
51. 

9 Or, Aliah. 

10 Edom. 



CHAP. 37. 

1 of hi3 fa- 
ther's so- 
journi ng3. 
ch. 17. 8. 
ch. 23. 4. 
ch. 28. 4. 
ch. 36. 7. 
Heb. 11. 9. 

a 1 Sam. 2. 

22-24, 
b ch. 44. 20. 

2 Or, pieces. 
Jodg.5.30. 
2 Sam. 13, 
18. 

Ps. 45. 14. 

Ezek. 16. 

16. 
c ch. 27. 41. 

ch. 49. 23. 

1 Sam. 17. 

28. 

John, 7. 

3,5. 

1 John, 2. 

11. 

1 John, 3. 

10, 12. 
dck.42.6,9. 

ch. 43. 26. 

ch. 44. 14. 
« ch. 46. 29. 
/ch. 27. 29. 
9 Acts 7. 9. 
h Dan. 7. 28. 

Luke 2. 

19, 51. 

3 see the 
peace of thy 
brethren, 
etc. 

ch. 29. 6. 
1 Sa. 17. 
17. 



A 1 * 



38 And Saul died, and Baal-hanan the son 
of Achbor reigned in his stead. 

39 And Baal-hanan the son of Achbor 
died, and r liadar reigned in his stead: and 
the name of his city ivas Pan; and his wife's 
name was Mehetabel, the daughter of 
Matred, the daughter of .Mezahab. 

40 11 And these are the names of 8 the 
dukes that came of Esau, according to their 
families, after their places, by then names; 
duke Timnah, duke $ Alvah, duke Jetheth, 

41 Duke Ahohbamah, duke Elah, duke 
Binon, 

42 Duke Kenaz, duke Teman, duke Mib- 
zar, 

43 Duke Magdiel, duke Iram: these be the 
dukes of Edom, according to then* habita- 
tions in the land of their possession: he is 
Esau the father of i° the Edomites. 

CHAPTER XXXVII. 

2 Joseph hated of his brethren.: 5 his ttvo dreams: 

18 his brethren conspire his death. 23 He u 

cast into a pit. 2t> They sell him to the hhmeel- 

ites, 36 who sell him to Fotiphar in Egypt. 

\T> Jacob dwelt in the land i wherein 

his father was a stranger, in the land 

of Canaan. 

2 These are the generations of Jacob. 
Joseph, being seventeen years old, was 
feeding the flock with his brethren; and 
the lad was with the sons of Bilhah, and 
with the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives: 
and Joseph brought unto his father a their 
evil report. 

3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than all 
his children, because he was b the son of 
his old age : and he made him a coat of 
many 2 colours. 

4 And when his brethren saw that their 
father loved him more than all his brethren, 
they c hated him, and could not speak 
peaceably unto him. 

5 1T And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he 
told it his brethren: and they hated him 
yet the more. 

6 And he said unto them, Hear, I pray 
you, this dream which I have dreamed: 

7 For, d behold, we were bindhig sheaves 
in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, and 
also stood upright ; and, behold, your 
sheaves stood round about, and made obei- 
sance to my sheaf. 

8 And his brethren said to him, Shalt thou 
indeed reign over us* or shalt thou indeed 
have dominion over us? And they hated 
him yet the more for his dreams, and for 
his words. 

9 And he dreamed yet another dream, and 
told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I 
have dreamed a dream more ; and, behold, 
6 the sun, and the moon, and the eleven 
stars, made obeisance to me. 

10 And he told it to his father, and to his 
brethren: and his father rebuked him, and 
said unto him, What is this dream that 
thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mo- 
ther and / thy brethren indeed come to 
bow down ourselves to thee to the earth? 

11 And g his brethren envied him; but his 
father h observed the saying. 

12 S\ And his brethren went to feed their 
father's flock in Shechem. 

13 And Israel said unto Joseph. Do not 
thy brethren feed the flock in Shechem? 
come, and 1 will send thee unto them. 
And he said to him, Here am I. 

14 And he said to him, Go, I pray thee, 
s see whether it be well with thy brethren, 



Parental Partiality, 



GENESIS, XXXVtT, 



The Dreams of Joseph. 



assigned as his possession fJosh. 24. 4; Deu. 
2. 5.). 15 19. dukes— The Edomites, like the 
Israelites, were divided into tribes, which 
took their names from his sons. The head 
of each tribe was called by a term which in 
our version is rendered duke— not of the high 
rank and wealth of a British peer, but like the 



tial to those who excel in talents or amiable- 
ness. But in a family constituted as Jacob's— 
many children by different mothers — he 
showed great and criminal indiscretion. 

6-36. The Dreams of Joseph. Dreamed 
a dream— Dreams in ancient times were much 
attended to, and hence the dream of Joseph, 



sheicks or emirs of the modern East, or the j though but a mere boy, engaged the serioud 



chieftains of our highland clans. Fourteen 
are mentioned who flourished contempo- 
raneously. 20-30. Sons of Seir, the Horite— 
native dukes, who were incorporated with 



consideration of his family. P>ut this dream 
was evidently symbolical. The meaning was 
easily discerned, and, from its being repeates 
under different emblems, the fulfilment was 



those of the Edomite race. 31-39. kings of considered certain (cf. 41. 32.)— whence it was 
Edom— The royal power was not built on the : that " his brethren envied him, but his 

~ father observed the saying." 12. his brethren 
went to ... in Shechem— the vale of Shechem 
was,from the earliest mention ofCanaan, blest 
with extraordinary abundance of water. 
Therefore did the sons of Jacob go from 
Hebron to this place, though it must have 
cost them near twenty hours' travelling— i.e., 
at the shepherd rate, a little more than fifty 
miles. But the herbage there is so rich and 
nutritious, that they thought it well worth 
the pains of so long a journey to the neglect 



ruins of the dukedoms, but existed at the 
same time. 40-43. Eecapitulation of the 
dukes according to their residences. 44. 
This is that Anah that found the mules— The 
word " mules" is, in several ancient versions, 
rendered "water springs ;" and this discovery 
of some remarkable fountain was sufficient, 
among a wandering or pastoral people, to 
entitle him to such a distinguishing notice. 
CHAPTER XXXVH. 
Ver. 1-4. Parental Partiality. Jacob 
dwelt . . . father . . . stranger— i.e. sojourner; 
father used collectively. The patriarch was 
at this time at Mamre, in the valley of He- 
bron (cf. 35. 27); and his dwelling there was 
continued in the same manner, and prompt- 
ed by the same motives as that of Abraham 
and Isaac (Heb. 12. 13.). 2. generations — 
leading occurrences, in the domestic history 
of Jacob,as shewn in the narrative about to be 
commenced. Joseph was feeding 1 — lit. Joseph 
being seventeen years old was a shepherd over 
the flock— he a lad, with the sons ofBiihah 



of the grazing district of Hebron." [Vande 
Velde.1 13-17. Israel said, Do not thy breth- 
ren, &c— anxious to learn how his sons were 
doing in their distant encampment, Jacob 
despatched Joseph; and the youth accepting 
the mission with alacrity, left the vale of 
Hebron, sought them at Shechem — heard of 
them from a man in " the field,"— the wide 
and richly-cultivated plain of Esdraelon, and 
found that they had left that neighbourhood 
for Dothan, probably being compelled by 
the detestation in which, from the horrid 



and Zilpah. Oversight or superintendance is massacre, their name was held, found them 
evidently implied. This post of chief shep-;in Dothan— Heb. Dothaim, or "two wells," 



herd in the party nrghtbe assigned him either 
from his being tne son of a principal wife, or 
from his own superior qualities of character; 
and if invested with this office, he acted not 
as a gossiping tell-tale, but as " a faithful 
steward" in reporting the scandalous con- 
duct of his brethren. 3. son of his old age- 
Benjamin being younger, was more the son 
of his old age, and consequently on that 
ground might have been expected to be the 
favourite. Literally rendered, it is " son of old 
age to him"— Heb. phrase, for " a wise son"— 
one who possessed observation and wisdom 
above his years— an old head on young 
shoulders, made him a coat of colours— form- 



recently discovered in the modern " Dotan," 
situated a few hours' distance from Shechem. 
18-22. when they saw him afar off— on the 
level grass-field, where they were watching 
their cattle, they could perceive him ap- 
proaching in the distance from the side of 
Shechem, or rather Samaria, behold this 
dreamer cometh — lit., " master of elreams" — a 
bitterly ironical sneer. Dreams being con- 
sidered suggestions from above, to make 
false pretensions to having received one was 
detested as a species of blasphemy, and in 
this light Joseph was regarded by his breth- 
ren—an artful pretender. They already be- 
gan to form a plot for his assassination, from 



ed in those early days by sewing together j which he was rescued only by the address of 
patches of coloured cloth, and considered a I Reuben, who suggested that he should rather 
dress of distinction (Jud. 5. 30; 2 Sam. 13.18.). ! be cast into one of the wells, which are, and 
The passion for various colours still reigns \ probably were, completely dried up in sum- 
amongst the Arabs and other people of the mer. they stript . . . coat of colours— Imagine 
East, who are fond of dressing their children him advancing in all the unsuspecting open- 
But since the art of ; ness of brotherly affection. How astonished 
and terrified must he have been at the cold 
reception, the ferocious aspect, the rough 
usage of his unnatural assailants. A vivid 
picture of his state of agony and despair was 
afterwards drawn by themselves (cf. 42. 21.). 
25. they sat down to eat bread— what a view 
does this exhibit of those hardened profli- 
gates ! Their common share in this conspi- 
racy is not the only dismal feature in the 



in this gaudy attire. 

interweaving various patterns was intro 
duced, " the coats of colours " are different 
now from what they seem to have been in 
patriarchal times, and bear a close resem- 
blance to the varieties of tartan. 4. could 
net speak peaceably to him— did not say "peace 
be to thee," the usual expression of good 
wishes amongst friends and acquaintances. 
It is deemed a sacred duty to give all this 

form of salutation; and the witnholding of j story. The rapidity, the almost instantane- 
it is an unmistakeable sign of dislike or se- ous manner in which the proposal was fol- 
cret hostility. The habitual refusal of i lowed by their joint resolution, and the cool 
Joseph's brethren, therefore, to meet him ! indifference, or rather the fiendish satisfac- 
with " the salaam, showed how ill-disposed tion, with which they sat down to regale 
they were towards him. It is very natural themselves (Amos, 6. 6.)— it is impossible 
in parents to love the youngest, and feei par- that mere envy at his dreams, his gaudy 
31 



Joseph is soH by his brethren. GENESIS, XXXVIIt. 



Tamar deceiveth Judah. 



and well with the tiocks; and bring me 
word again. So he sent him out of the vale 
of* Hebron, and he came to Shechcm. 

15 And a certain man found him, and, be- 
hold, ice was waudering in the held: and 
the man asked him, saying, >V hat seekest 
thou? 

16 And he said, I seek my brethren: 3 tell 
me, I pray thee, where they feed tlieir 
Jiocks. 

17 And the man said, They are departed 
hence; for I heard them say, Let us go 
to Dothan. And Joseph went after his 
brethren, and found them in * Dothan. 

18 1F And when they saw him afar orfi even 
before he came near unto them, they * con- 
spired against him to slay him. 

19 And they said one to another, Behold, 
this 4 dreamer cometh. 

20 m Come now therefore, and let us slay 
him, and cast him into some pit; and we 
will say, Some evil beast hath devoured 
him: and we shall see what will become of 
his dreams. 

21 And n Reuben heard it, and he de- 
livered him out of their hands ; and said, 
Let us not kill him. 

22 And Reuben said unto them, Shed no 
blood, but cast him into this pit that is in 
the wilderness, and lay no hand upon him ; 
that he might rid him out of their hands, 
to deliver him to his father again. 

23 IF And it came to pass, when Joseph 
was come unto his brethren, that they 
stripped Joseph out of his coat, his coat of 
many 5 colours that was on him ; 

21 And they took him, and cast him into 
a pit : and the pit was empty, there was no 
water in it. 

25 ° And they sat down to eat bread: and 
they lilted up their eyes and looked, and, 
behold, a company of p Ishmeelites came 
from Gilead, with their camels bearing 
spicery and q balm and myrrh, going to 
carry it down to Egypt. 

26 And Judah said unto his brethren. 
What profit is it if we slay our brother, and 
r conceal his blood? 

27 Come, and let us sell him to the Ish- 
meelites, and * let not our hand be upon 
him ; for he is t our brother and u our flesh. 
And his brethren 6 were content. 

23 Then there passed by v Midianites, mer- 
chant-men; and they drew and lifted up 
Joseph out of the pit, *" and sold Joseph to 
the ishmeelites for * twenty pieces of silver: 
and they brought Joseph into Egypt. 

29 IF And Reuben returned unto the pit; 
and. behold, Joseph was not in the pit; ana 
he "rent his clothes. 

30 And he returned unto his brethren, and 
said, The child z is not; and I, whither shall 
I go? 

31 IF And they took a Joseph's coat, and 
killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the 
coat in the blood: 

32 And they sent the coat of many col- 
ours, and they brought it to then' father; 
and said, This have we found: know now 
whether it be thy son's coat or no. 

33 And he knew it, and said, It is mv son's 
ivoat; an b evil beast hath devoured him: 
Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces. 

34 And Jacob c rent his clothes, and put 
■sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for 
lis son manv days. 

35 And all his sons and all his daughters 
4 rose up to comfort him; but he refused to 

32 



B. C. 1729. 



CHAP- 37. 

i c!i. 35. '2.1. 
j Song 1. 7. 

* 2 kin. 6.13. 

I i -sam. Kt.l. 

in. 31. 13. 

4 master of 
dreams. 

m Fro. 1. 11. 

Pro. 0. 17. 

n C h. 42. 22. 

5 Or, pieces. 
o Prov.30.20. 

Amos 6. 6. 
P ver. 2d. 30. 
Q Jer. a. 22. 
r ch. 4. 10. 

Job 10. 18. 
« 1 Sa. IS. 17. 
t ch. 42. 21. 
«* ch. 2<J. 14. 

6 hearkened. 

V Judg. 6.3. 
wPs.105.17. 

* Mat. 27 9. 

V Job, 1. 20. 

* ch.42.13,36. 
Jer. 31. 15. 

a ver. 23. 
b ver. 20. 

ch. 44. 28. 
C ver. 29. 
d2Sa.12.17. 
e ch. 42. 38. 
/ch. 39. 1. 

7 eunuch: 
But the 
word doth 
signify not 
only eu- 
nuchs, but 
also cham- 
berlains, 
courtiers, 
and offi- 
cers. 

8 chief of the 
slaughter- 
men, or, 
execution- 
ers. 

Or, chief 
marshal. 



CHAP. 38. 
a 2 Kin. 4. 8. 
6 ch. 34. 2. 
« 1 Chr. 2. 3. 
d Su. 26. 19. 
e ch. 46. 12. 
/ Nu. 26. 20. 
g ch. 24. 4. 
h ch. 46. 12. 
tlChr. 2. 3. 
/Mat. 22.24 
k Deut. 25. 6. 
1 was evil in 
the eyes of 
the Lord. 

1 Nu. 26.19. 
m Ruth 1.13. 
n Lev. 22. 13. 

2 the days 
were mul- 
tiplied. 

o2Sa.13.89. 
p Jos. 15. 10, 

67. 

Judg. 14.1. 
q Prov. 7. 12. 

3 the door of 
eyes, or, of 
JEnajim. 

r ver. 11. 26! 
« Eze. 16. 33. 

4 a kid of the 
goats. 

t ver. 20. 
«* ver. 25. 



be comforted: and he said, Eor e I will go 
down into the grave unto my son mourn- 
ing. Thus his lather wept for him. 
36 And / the Midianites sold him into 
Egypt unto Potiphar, an 7 officer of Pha- 
raoli's, and 8 captain of the guard. 
CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
1 Judah begetteth Er, Onan, and Shelah. 6 Er 

marrieth lamar. 8 The trespass of Onan. 

13 Tamar deceiveth Judah. 2? She beareth 

twins, Eharez and Zarah. 

A ND it came to pass at that time, that 
- rx - Judah went down from his brethren, 
and "turned in to a certain Adullaniite, 
whose name was Hirah. 

2 And Judah & saw there a daughter of 
a certain Canaanite, whose name was 
c Shuah ; and he took her, and went in un 
to her. 

3 And she conceived, and bare a son ; and 
he called his name d Er. 

4 And she conceived again, and bare a 
son; and she called his name e Onan. 

5 And she yet again conceived, and bare a 
son; and called his name/ Shelah: and he 
was at Chezib when she bare oil*. 

6 And J udah g took a wife for Er his 
first-born, whose name was Tamar. 

7 And h Er, Judah's first-born, was wicked 
in the sight of the Lord; * and the Lcuo 
slew him. 

8 And Judah said unto Onan, Go in unto 
J thy brother's wife, and marry her, and 
raise up seed to thy brother. 

9 And Onan knew that the seed should 
not be *his: and it came to pass, when he 
went in unto his brother's wife, that he 
spilled it on the ground, lest that he should 
give seed to his brother. 

10 And the thing which he did l displeased 
the Lord: wherefore he slew 'him also. 

11 Then said Judah to Tamar his daugh- 
ter-in-law, m Remain a widow at thy fa- 
ther's house, till Shelah my son be grown: 
for he said, Lest peradventure he die also, 
as his brethren did. And Tamar went and 
dwelt n in her father's house. 

12 IF And 2 in process of time the daughter 
of Shuah, Judah's wife, died; and Judah 
was comforted, and went up unto his 
sheep-shearers to Timnath, he and his 
friend Hirah the Adullaniite. 

13 And it was told Tamar, saving. Behold, 
thy father-in-law goeth up * to Tunnath to 
shear his sheep. 

14 And she put her widow's garments off 
from her, and covered her with a veil, and 
wrapped herself, and q sat in 3 an open 
place, which is by the way to Timnath: for 
she saw r that Shelah was grown, and she 
was not given unto him to wife. 

15 When Judah saw her, he thought her to 
be an harlot; because she had covered her 
face. 

16 And he turned unto her by the way, 
and said, Go to, I pray thee, let me come in 
unto thee ; (for he knew not that she was 
his daughter-in-law.) And she said. What 
wilt thou give me, that thou mayest come 
in unto me? 

17 And he said, 8 1 will send thee * a kid 
from the flock. And she said * Wilt thou 
give me, a pledge till thou send it? 

18 And he said, Whatpledge shall I give 
thee? And she said, " Thy signet ; and thy 
bracelets, and thy statfthat is in thme hand. 
And he gave it her, and came in unto her; 
and she conceived by him. 



Joseph sold into Egypt 



GENESIS, XXXVIII. 



Judah and Family. 



dress, or the doating partiality of their com- 
mon father, could have goaded them on to 
.such a pitch of frenzied resentment, or con- 
firmed themin such consummatewiekedness. 
Their hatred to Joseph must have had a far 
deeper seat— must have been produced by 
dislike to his piety and other excellencies, 
"Which made his character and conduct a con- 
stant censure upon theirs, and on account of 
■which they found that they could nevei be at 
ease till they had rid themselves of his hated 
presence. This was the true solution of the 
'mystery, just as it was in the case of Cain (1 
John, 3. 12.). they lifted up their eyes, and be- 
hold . . . Ishmaelites— they are called Midian- 
ites (v. 28.), and Medanites, Heb. (v. 36.} } be- 
ing a travelling caravan composed of a mixed 
association of Arabians. Those tribes of 
Northern Arabia had already addicted them- 
selves to commerce, and long did they enjoy 
a monopoly, the carrying trade being en- 
tirely in their hands. Their approach could 
easily be seen: for as their read, after cross- 
ing the ford from the trans jordanic district, 
led along the south side of the mountains of 
Gilboa, a party seated on the plain of Dothan 
could trace them and their string of camels 
in the distance as they proceeded through 
the. broad and gently-sloping valley that in- 
tervenes. Trading in the produce of Arabia 
and India, they were in the regular course oi 
traffic on their way to Egypt ; and the chief 
articles of commerce in which this clan dealt, 
were " spicery," from India, i. e., a species of 
resinous gum, "called storax, " balm of 
Gilead," the juice of the balsam tree, a 
native of Arabia-Felix, and "' myrrh," an 
Arabic gum of a strong fragrant smell. For 
these articles there must have been an enor- 
mous demand in Egypt, as they were con- 
stantly used in the process of embalment. 
26-28. Judah said, What profit?— the sight of 
these travelling merchants gave a sudden 
turn to the views of the conspirators ; for 
having no wish to commit a greater degree 
of crime than was necessary for the accom- 
plishment of their end, they readily approved 
of Judah' s suggestion to dispose of their ob- 
noxious brother as a slave. The proposal, 
of course, was founded on their knowledge 
that the Arabian merchants trafficked in 
slaves; and there is the clearest evidence 
furnished by the monuments of Egypt, that 
the traders who were in the habit of bringing 
slaves from the countries through which 
they passed, found a ready market in the 
cities of the Nile, they lifted up Joseph and 
sold him— acting impulsively on Judab's ad- 
vice, they had their poor victim ready by the 
time the merchants reached; and money be- 
ing no part of their object, they sold him for 
44 twenty pieces of silver." The money was pro- 
bably in ring? or pieces (shekels i, and silver 
is always mentioned in the records of that 
early age before gold, on account of its rarity. 
The whole sum, if in shekel weight, did not 
exceed LZ. they brought Joseph into Egypt- 
there were two routes to Egypt— the one was 
overland by Hebron, where Jacob dwelt, 
and by taking which the fate of his hapless 
son would likely have reached the paternal 
ears; the other was directly westward across 
the country from Dothan to the maritime 
const, and in this— the safest and most expe- 
ditious way, the merchants carried Joseph 
to Egypt. Thus did an overruling Provi- 
dence lead this murderous conclave of 



brothers, as well as the slave-merchants,— 
"both following their own free courses, to be 
parties in an act by which He was to work 
out, in a marvellous manner, the great pur- 
poses of His wisdom and goodness towards 
his ancient Church and people. 29, £0. 
Reuben returned unto the pit— he seems to 
have designedly taken a circuitous route, 
with a view of secretly rescuing the poor 
lad from a lingering death by starvation. 
His intentions were excellent, and his feel- 
ings no doubt painfully lacerated, when he 
discovered what had been done in his ab- 
sence. But the thing was of God, who had 
designed that Joseph's deliverance should 
be accomplished by other means than his. 
31-35. they took Joseph's coat— the commission 
of one sin necessarily leads to another to 
conceal it ; and the scheme of deception 
which the sons of Jacob planned and prac- 
tised on their aged lather was a necessary 
consequence of the atrocious crime they had 
perpetrated. What a wonder that their cruel 
sneer, ''thy son's coat," and their forced 
eiiorts to comfort him, did not awaken 
suspicion. But extreme grief, like every 
other passion, is blind, and Jacob, great 
as his affliction was, did allow himself to in- 
dulge his sorrow more than became one who 
believed in the government of a supreme and 
all-wise Disposer. 34. Jacob rent his clothes 
. . . sackcloth— the common signs of Oriental 
mourning. A rent is made in the skirt more 
or less long according to the afflicted feelings 
of the mourner, and a coarse rough piece of 
black sackcloth or camel's hair cloth is 
wound round the waist, grave— not the 
earth, for Joseph was supposed to be torn 
in pieces, but the unknown place — the place 
of departed souls, where Jacob expected at 
death to meet his beloved son. 

CHAPTEE. XXX VIII. 
Ver. 1-11. Judah and Family. 1. At that 
time— a formula frequently used by the sacred 
writers, not to describe any precise period, 
but an interval near about it, 2. saw the 
daughter of a certain Canaanite— Like Esau, 
this son of Jacob, casting off the restraints 
of religion, married into a Canaanite family; 
and it is not surprising that the family which 
sprang from such an unsuitable connexion 
should be imamous for bold and unblushing 
wickedness. 8. marry her, and raise up seed 
to thy tjother— The first instance of a custom 
which was afterwards incorporated amongst 
the laws of JUoses, that when a husband died 
leaving a widow, his brother next of age was 
to marry her, and the issue, if any, was to be 
served heir to the deceased (cf. Deu. 25. 5.). 
12. Judah went up to his sheep-shearers— This 
season, which occurs in Palestine towards 
the end of March, was spent in more than 
usual hilarity, and the wealthier masters in- 
vited their friends, as well as treated their 
servants, to sumi tuous entertainments. Ac- 
cordingly, it is said, Judah was accompanied 
by his friend Hirah. Timnath— in the moun- 
tains of Judah. 18. signet, &c— bracelets, in- 
cluding armlets, were worn by men as well 
as women among the Hebrews. But the 
Heb. word here rendered bracelets is every- 
where else translated "lace" or "ribbon;" so 
that as the signet alone was probably more 
than an equivalent for the kid, it is not i asv 
to conjecture why the other things ^erj 
given in addition, except by supposing u,e 
perforated seal was attached by a ribbon to 






GENESIS, XXXIX. XL. 



: rust htfopri..*oru 



19 And she arose, and went a- 
• laid 1 I on the 

garments of her widow:. 

1 Judah sent the kid by the hand of 

—onian's hand; but he 

- - .en he asked the men of thatplace, 
- harlot that was 
ly by the w..- 
was no harlot in this % 

I he return 
cannot find her; and also the men of the 
place said, thai there was no harlc: Lathis 
I ,:■:-:. 

• 1 Let her take it to her. 
5 be shamed: behold, I sent this kid, 
and thou hast not foun d 
W- r A:..: ": - "-r.-.v :: - .. — . r.'':~: :hre~ 

months after, tftai i a bald Judah, say- 

mar thy dangbter-in4aw hath 
:arlot; and also, behc-1." 
child b ih said, Bring 

her forth, x and let her be burnt. 

: die kmj brought forth, she sent 
- :ather-in4aw. saying. By (fa 
^. :^r :h-f- • •- :• 1 —--'z ; rJ_ 1 : ::: sbr 
said, > E . ry thee, whose a n 

the signet, and bracelets, and 
3> As ..kaowledged them, and 

said, a She hath been more righteous than 
1; because that b I gave her not to Shelah 
my son. And he knew her again c no 



27 T And it came to pass, in the time of 
her travail, that, behold, twins were in her 
womb. 

vailed, that the one put out his hand: and 
the midwife took and bound upon his hand 
a scarlet thread, saying, This came out 
first. 

29 And it came to pass, as he drew back 
his hand. that, behold. Li~ bratha came 
out: and. sin _ " I low hast thou broken 
forth? thU breach be upon thee: :'_ a d . . e 
his name was called 8 Pharez. 

30 And afterward came out his brother, 
that had the scarlet thread upon his hand: 
and his name was called Zarah. 

CHAPTER XXXIX. 

1 Joseph, advanced in Fotiphar's S<ms*, 7 reristeth 

his mistress s temptation: 13 He is falselm aeensed, 

2D and imprisoned.- 21 God is with kirn there. 

A KD Joseph was brought down to Egypt; 
J - x and ■ Poriphar, an officer of Pharaoh, 
captain of the guard, an Egyptian, b bonght 
him of the hands of the s. which 

had brought him down thi*: 

Lord was with Joseph, and he 
was a prosperous man; and he was in the 
:" his master th~ 

3 And his master be Lord was 
with him. and that the Lord d made all 
that he did to prosper in his hand. 

4 And Joseph e found grace in his sight, 
and he served him : and he made him 
/"overseer over his house, and all that he 
had he put into his hand. 

me to pass, from the time that 
he had made him area house, 

and over all that he had, that 9 the Lord 

- 
sake; and the blessing of the Lord was 
upon all that he had in the house, and in 
the field. 

he left all that he had in Joseph's 
aild he ha 



: Z-3.: is. 



CHAP. 40. 
« Nefc. L IL 



the bread which he did eat. And Joseph 
;n, and wefl-fav 

that his mai" ■ upon 

. and she sai 3 iftfa me. 

losed, and said unto his mas- 

e. Behold, myr_ :h not 

. :He house, and he hath 

committed all that he hath to my hand; 

9 There ; :. - a - tta in this house than 

ifpt back any thi:- 
me but thee, because thou . 
/how then can 1 do this great wickedness, 
i:;.. '■ ; "„ :._'iir_5: '-. i ; 

I it came to pass, as she spake to 
Joseph _ that he hearkened not 

unto her, to lie by her, or to be with 

LtT. 

1 it came to pass about this time, 
thai :seph went into the nous* to do his 
business; and there teas none of the men of 

the house there within. 
12 A_ I his garment, 

Lie with me: and he left his garment 
in hex band, and lied, and got him out. 

me to pass, when she saw that 
he had left his garment in her hand, and 

. .: she called unto the men of her 
house, and spake unto them. savin. S 
he hath brought in an Hebrew un- 
mock us- he came in unto me to he 
me, an 1 ith a 1 loud v 

I 

that I lifted up my voice and cried, that he 

garment with me, and fied, and got 

1 she laid up his garment by her un- 
til his lord came home. 

1 she " spake unto him according to 
i He rew 
which thou hast brought unto us, came in 
unto me to mock me: 

I - And it came to pass, as I lifted up my 
voice and cried, that he left his garment 

19 And it came to pass, when his master 
heard the words of his wife, wnich she 
spake unto him, n r.anner 

did thv servant to me, that his " wrath was 
kindled, 

rph's master took him, and 
° put him into the * prison, a place where 
the king's prisoners were bound: and he 
was there in the prison. 

21 But the Lord was with Joseph, and 
2 showed him mercy, and * save him favour 
in the sight of the keeper of the prison. 

1 the keeper of the prison '"commit- 
ted to Joseph's hand- all the r' 
w*re in the prison: and whatsoever they 
did there, he was the doer of iL 

23 The keeper of the prison looked not to 
any thing that tea* under his hand; because 
' the Lord was with him. and that which he 
did, the Lord made it to prosper. 

ITER XL. 
1 The bnder and baker of tnaraok are imprisoned; 
4 Joseph hath chtnrge of them; 5 he imterpret'lh 
their dreams. 23 the im^ratitnde oj Ue bntter. 

A XD it came to pass after these things, 
J ^ that the * butler of the king o: - 
and hU baker had oriended their lord the 
kins 

I naiaoh was b wroth against two of 

his officers, against the chief of the birders. 

and against the chief of the bak 

3 e And he put them in ward in the 

C 



GENESIS, XXXIX. 



Joseph in Poiiphar's House. 

the staff. 24. Bring her forth, and let her be ! 
burnt— In patriarchal times fathers seem to 
have possessed the power of life and death ! 
over the members of their families. The 
crime of adultery was anciently punished in 
many places by burning Lev. 21. 9; Jud. 15. 
(>; .ler. 29. 22.). This chapter contains details 
which probably would never have obtained 
a place in the inspired record had it not been ; 
to exhibit the full links of the chain that con- 
neets the genealogy of the Saviour with Abra- j 
ham; and in the disreputable character of; 
the ancestry who figure in this passage we j 
have a remarkable proof that "He made; 
himself of no reputation." 

CHAPTER XXXIX. 
Ver. 1-23. Joseph in Potiphar's House, i 
1. Potiphar, a captain of the guard — This name, j 
Potiphar, signifies one "devoted to the sun," 
the local deity of On or Heliopolis,— a cir- 
cumstance winch fixes the place of his resi- 1 
dence in the Delta, the district of Egypt 
bordering on Canaan, officer— lit., prince of 
Pharaoh — i e. , in the service of government, 
captain of the guard— the import of the origi- 
nal term has been variously interpreted, 
some considering it means "chief cook, 
others "chief inspector of plantations;" but 
that which seems best lounded is "chief of 
the executioners," "head of the police," the 
same as the captain of the watch, the zabut 
of modern Euypt. [Wilk.] bought him of 
the Ishmielites— The age, appearance, and in- 
telligence of the Hebrew slave would soon 
make him picked up in the market. But 
the unseen, unfelt influence of the great 
Disposer drew the attention of Potiphar to- 
wards him, in order that in the house of 
one so closely connected with the court he 
might receive that previous training which 
was necessary for the high office he was des- 
tined to fill, and in the school of adversity 
learn the lessons of practical wisdom that 
were to be of greatest utility and importance 
in his future career. Thus it is, that when 
God has any important work to be done, He 
always prepares fitting agents to accomplish 
it. 2. he was in the house of his master— Those 
slaves who had been war captives were gene- 
rally sent to labour in the field, and sub- 
jected to hard treatment under the "stick" 
of taskmasters. But those who were bought 
with money were employed in domestic pur- 
poses, were kindly treated, and enjoyed as 
much liberty as the same class does in 
modern E^ypt. 3. His master saw that the 
Lord was with him— Though changed in con- 
dition, Joseph was not changed in spirit; 
though stripped of the gaudy coat that had 
adorned his person, he had not lost the 
moral graces that distinguished his charac- 
ter; though separated from his father on 
earth, he still lived in communion with his 
Father in heaven; though in the house of an 
idolater, he continued a worshipper of the 
true God. 5. The Lord blessed the Egyptian's 
house, <fec— It might be— it probably was that 
a special, a miraculous blessing was poured 
out on a youth, who so faithfully and zea- 
lously served God amid all the disadvantages 
of his place. But it may be useful to remark 
that such a blessing usually follows in the 
ordinary course of things; and the most 
worldly unprincipled masters always admire 
and respect religion in a servant when they 
see that profession supported by conscien- 
tious principle and a consistent life, made 
33 



He is cast into Prison. 



him overseer in his house— We do not know 
in what capacity Joseph entered into the 
service of Potiphar; but the observant eye 
of his master soon discovered his superior 
qualities, and made him his chief, his con- 
fidential servant (cf. Eph. 6. 7; Col. 3. 23.). 
The advancement of domestic slaves is not 
uncommon, and it is considered a great dis- 
grace not to raise one who has been a year or 
two in the family. But this extraordinary 
advancement of Joseph was the doing of 
the Lord, though on the part of Potiphar 
it was the consequence of observing the 
astonishing prosperity that attended him in 
all that he did. 7. his master's wife cast her 
eyes upon Joseph— Egyptian women were not 
kept in the same secluded manner as females 
are in most Oriental countries now. They 
were treated in a manner more worthy of a 
civilized people— in fact, enjoyed as much 
freedom both at home and abroad as ladies 
do in Britain. Hence Potiphar's wife had con- 
stant opportunity of meeting Joseph. But 
the ancient women of Egypt were very loose 
in their morals. Intrigues and intemi erance 
were vices very prevalent amongst the sex, 
as the monuments too plainly attest. [Wilk.J 
Potiphar's wife was probably not worse than 
many of the same rank, and her infamous 
advances made to Joseph arose from her 
superiority of station. 9. How can I do this 
great wickedness?— This remonstrance, when 
all inferior arguments had failed, embodied 
the true principles of moral purity— a princi- 
ple always sufficient where it exists, and 
alone sufficient. 14. Then she called to the 
men— Disappointed and affronted, she vowed 
revenge, and accused Joseph, first to the ser- 
vants of the house, and on his return to her 
lord, an Hebrew to mock me— an affected and 
blind aspersion of her husband for keeping 
in his house an Hebrew the very abomina- 
tion of Egyptians. 20. Joseph's master took 
and put him into the prison— the round-house, 
from the form of its construction, usually 
attached to the dwelling of such an officer 
as Potiphar. It was partly a subterranean 
dungeon 41. 14\ though the brick-built walls 
rose considerably above the surface of the 
ground, and were surmounted by a vaulted 
root somewhat in the form of an inverted 
bowl. Into such a dungeon Potiphar, in the 
first ebullition of rage, threw Joseph, and 
ordered him to be subjected further to as 
great harshness of treatment Ps. 105. 18^ as 
he durst; for the power of masters over their 
slaves was very properly restrained by law, 
and the murder of a slave was a capital 
crime, the prison, a place where the king's 
prisoners were bound— Though prisons seem 
to have been an inseparable appendage of 
the palaces, this was not a common jail— it 
was the receptacle of state criminals; and, 
therefore, it may be presumed that more 
than ordinary strictness and vigilance were 
exercised over the prisoners. In general, 
however, the Egyptian, like other Oriental 
prisons, were used solely for the purposes 
of detention. Accused persons were cast 
into them until the charges against them 
could be investigated; and though the jailor 
was responsible for the appearance of those 
placed under his custody, yet provided 
they were produced when called, he was 
never interrogated as to the way in which 
he had kept them. 21-23. The Lord . . . 
gave him favour, &c— It is highly probable, 



Pharaoh's butler and baker. 



GENESTS, XLI. 



Fliaraoh's two dreams: 



of the captain of the guard into the prison, 
the place where Joseph was hound. 

4 And the captain of the guard charged 
Joseph with them, and he served them: and 
they continued a season in ward. 

5 il And they dreamed a dream both of 
them, each man his dream in one night, 
each man according to the. interpretation 
of his dream, the butler and the baker of 
the king of Egypt, which were bound in the 
prison. 

G And Joseph came in unto them in the 
morning, and looked upon them, and, be- 
hold, they were sad. 

7 And he asked Pharaoh's officers, that 
were with him in the ward of his lord's 
house, saying, Wherefore l look ye so sadly 
to-day? 

8 And they said unto him, d "We have 
dreamed a dream, and there is no inter- 
preter of it. And Joseph said unto them, 
" Do not interpretations belong to God? tell 
me them, I pray you. 

9 And the chief butler told his dream to 
Joseph, and said to him, In my dream, be- 
hold, a vine was before me; 

10 And hi the vine were three branches: 
and it was as though it budded, and her 
blossoms shot forth; and the clusters there- 
of brought forth ripe grapes: 

11 And Pharaoh's cup was in my hand: 
and 1 took the grapes, and pressed them 
into Pharaoh's cup, and I gave the cup 
into 1 haraoh's hand. 

12 And Joseph said unto him, /This is the 
inter]': etation of it: The three branches are 
three days: 

13 Vet within three days shall Pharaoh 
2 lift '' up thine head, and restore thee unto 
thy place: and thou shalt deliver Pharaoh's 
cup into his hand, after the former manner 
when thou wast his butler. 

14 But a think h on me when it shall be 
well with thee, and * show kindness, I pray 
thee, unto me, and make mention of me 
unto Pharaoh, and bring me out of this 
house: 

15 For indeed I was stolen away out of the 
land of the Hebrews;.? and here also have 
I done nothing that they should put me 
into the dungeon. 

lb When the chief baker saw that the in- 
terpretation was good, he said unto Joseph, 
1 also was in my dream, and, behold, I had 
three * wliite baskets on my head: 

17 And in the uppermost basket there was 
of all manner of 5 bake-meats for Pharaoh; 
and the birds did eat them out of the 
basket upon my head. 

18 And J oseph answered and said, This is 
the interpretation thereof: The three bas- 
kets are three days: 

ly Vet Anthin three days shall Pharaoh 

6 lift up thy head from off thee, and shall 
hang thee on a tree : and the buds shall eat 
thy flesh from off thee. 

20 \\ And it came to pass the third day, 
which ivas Pharaoh's * birthday, that he 
1 made a feast unto all his servants: and he 

7 lifted m up the head of the chief butier 
and of the chiei baKer among nis servants. | 

21 And he n restored the chief butler un 



B. C. 1718. 



CHAP. 40. 

1 are your 
faces evil? 
Neh. 2. 2. 

rfch. 41. 15. 
e eh. 41. 16. 

Dan. 2. 11, 

23, 47. 
/Jndg.7.M. 

Dan. 2. 36. 

Dan. 4. 19. 

2 Or, reckon. 
g Ps. 3. 3. 

Jer.52.31. 

3 remember 
me with 
thee. 

h Lu. 23. 42. 
t Josh. 2.12. 

1 Sam. 20. 

14. 15. 

1 Kin. 2. 7. 
j ch. 39. 20. 

4 Or, full of 
holes. 

5 meat of 
Pharaoh, 
the work of 
a baker, or, 
cook. 

6 Or, reckon 
thee, and 
take thy 
orfice from 
thee. 

* Mat. 14. 6. 
I Mark 6. 21. 

7 Or, 
reckoned. 

™ Mat.25.19. 
n ver. 13. 
° Neh. 2. 1. 
V Esth. 7. 10. 
1 Job 19. 14. 

Ps. 31. 12. 

Prov. 3. 27. 

Ec. 9. 15. 

Amos 6. 6. 



to his butlership again, and " he gave the 
cup into Pharaoh's hand: 

'22 But he * hanged the chief baker ; as 
J oseph had interpreted to them. 

26 Yet did not the chief butler remember 
Joseph, but q i'oigat him. 



CHAP. 41. 

1 fat. 

a Dan. 4. 5. 

b Ex. 1. 11. 

Is. 29. 14. 

Dan. 1.20. 

Dan. 2. 2. 
c Mat. 2. 1. 
d ch. 40, 2. 3. 
e ch. 39. 20. 
/ ch. 40. 5. 
g 2 Kin. 5. 4. 
h ch. 37. 36. 
i ch. 40. 12. 
j eh. 40. 22. 
k Ps. 105. 20. 

1 Dan. 2. 25. 

2 made him 
run. 

"& 1 Sa. 2. 8. 

Ps. 113.7.8. 

n P 8 . 25. 14. 

Dan. 5.16. 

3 Or, when 
thou near- 
est a dream 
thou canst 
interpret it. 

O Dan. 2. 30. 

Acts 3. 12. 

i. Cor. 3. 5. 
p ch. 40. 8. 

Dan. 2. 22, 

Dan 4. 2. 

4 come to the 
inward 
parts of 



CHAPTER XLI. 
1 ¥ haraoh's two dreams • 25 Joseph interpreteth 
them : 33 he qiveth Fharaoh conn-el. 38 Joseph 
is advanced • SO he begetteth Manatseh and 
Eyhraim. 03 The famine begumeth. 

ANO it came to pass at the end of two 
^ full years, that Pharaoh dreamed: and, 
behold, he stood by the river. 

2 And, behold, there came up out of the 
river seven well-favoured kine and fat- 
fleshed; and they fed in a meadow. 

o And. behold, seven other kine came up 
after them out of the river, ill-favoured and 
lean-fleshed; and stood by the other kine 
upon the brink of the river. 

4 And the ill-favoured and lean-fleshed 
kine did eat up the seven well-favoured and 
fat kine. So Pharaoh-awoke. 

5 And he slept and dreamed the second 
time: and, behold, seven ears of corn came 
up upon one stalk, i rank and good. 

6 And, behold, seven thin ears and blasted 
with the east wind sprung up after them. 

7 And the seven thin ears devoured the 
seven rank and full ears. And Pharaoh 
awoke, and, behold, it was a dream. 

8 And it came to pass in the morning, 
a that his spirit was troubled; and he sent 
and called for all & the magicians of Eevpt, 
and all the c wise men thereof: andTha- 
raoh told them his dreams; but there icas 
none that could interpret them unto Pha- 
raoh. 

9 11 Then spake the chief butler unto Pha- 
raoh, saying, I do remember my faults this 
day: 

10 Pharaoh was d wroth with his sen-ants. 
e and put me in ward in the captain of 
the guard's house, both me and the chief 
baker: 

11 And /we dreamed a dream in one night, 
I and he; we dreamed each man according 
to the interpretation of his dream. 

12 And ° there was there with us a young 
man, an Hebrew, h servant to the captain 
of the guard; and we told him, and he * in- 
terpreted to us our dreams; to each man 
according to his dream he did interpret. 

13 And it came to pass, i as he interpreted 
to us, so it was; me ne restored unto mine 
office, and him he hanged. 

11 11 * Then Pharaoh sent and called 
Joseph, and l they 2 brought him hastily 
m out of the dungeon: and he shaved him- 
self, and changed his raiment, and came 
in unto Pharaoh. 

15 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I have 
dreamed a dream, and there is none that 
can interpret it: n and I have heard say of 
thee, that ' 6 thou canst understand a dream 
to interpret it. 

16 And Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, 
It is not in me: ^ God shall give Pharaoh 
an answer of peace. 

17 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, In my 
dream, behold, 1 stood upon the bank of 
the river: 

18 And, behold, there came up out of the 
river seven kine, fat-fleshed and well- 
favoured; and they fed in a meadow: 

19 And, behold, seven other kine came up 
after them, poor and very ill-tavoured and 
lean-fleshed, such as 1 never saw ir all the 
land of Egypt for badness: 

20 And the lean and the ill-favoured kine 
did eat up the fust seven fat kine: 

21 And when they had * eaten them up, 
it could not be known that they had eatea 



Two State Prisoners. 



GENESIS, XL, XLI. 



Pharaoh's Dream. 



from the situation of this prison 40. 3), that 
the keeper might have been previously ac- 
quainted with Joseph, and have had access 
to know his innocence of the crime laid to 
his charge as with all the high integrity of his 
character. That may partly account for his 
shewing so much kindness and confidence 
to his prisoner. But there was a higher in- 
fluence at work; for "the Lord was with 
Joseph, and that which he did, the Lord made 
it to prosper." 

CHAPTER XL. 

Ver. 1 -8. Two State Prisoners. The but- 
ler — not only the cup-bearer: but overseer of 
the royal vineyards, as well as the cellars ; 
having, probably, some hundreds of people 
under him. the baker — or cook, had the 
superintendence of everything relating to the 
providing and preparing of meats for the 
royal table. Both officers, especially the 
former, were, in ancient Egypt, always per- 
sons of great rank and importance ; and from 
the confidential nature of their employment, 
as well as their access to the royal presence, 
—they were, generally, the highest nobles or 
princes of the blood. 2. Pharaoh put them 
in ward, &c.— Whatever was their crime, 
they were committed— until their case could 
be investigated— to the custody of the captain 
of the guard, i. e. Potiphar, in an outer part of 
whose house the royal prison was situated. 
The captain of the guard charged Joseph with 
them— not the keeper, though he was most 
favourably disposed; but Potiphar himself, 
who, it would seem, was by this time satis- 
fied of the perfect innocence of the young 
Hebrew, though, probably, to prevent the 
exposure of his family, he deemed it prudent 
to detain him in confinement i.see Ps. 37. 5.). 
They continued a season in ward— lit. days — 
how long, is uncertain; but as they were 
called to account on the king's birth-day, it 
has been supposed that their offence had 
been committed on the preceding anniver- 
sary. [Cal ] 5-8. they dreamed a dream — 
Joseph, influenced by the spirit of true reli- 
gion, could feel for others Eccl. 4. 1; Bo. 
12. 15; Phil. 2. 4.). Observing them one 
day extremely depressed, he enquired the 
cause of their melancholy; and being in- ! 
formed it was owing to a dream they had 
respectively dreamed during the previous 
night, after piously directing them to God 
(Dan. 11. 30; Is. 26. 10,) he volunteered to aid 
them, through the divine help, in discovering 
the import of their vision. The influence of 
Providence must be seen in the remarkable 
fact of both officers dreaming such dreams 
in one night. He moveth the spirits of men. 

9-15. The Buteer's Dream. 9. Behold 
a vine was before me — The visionary scene 
described, seems to represent the king as 
abroad, taking exercise, and attended by 
his butler who gave him a cooling draught. 
On all occasions, the kings of ancient 
Egypt were required to practice temperance 
in the use of wine [Wile:.]; but in this 
scene, it is a prepared beverage he is 
drinking, probably the sherbet of the pre- 
sent day. Everything was done in the king's 
presence — the cup was washed, the juice of 
the grapes pressed into it; and it was then 
handed to him — not grasped; but lightly 
resting on the tips of the fingers. 11-15. 
Joseph said. This is the interpretation— speak- 
ing as an inspired interpreter, he told the 
butler that witliin three days he would be 
34 



restored to all the honours and privileges of 
his office; and while making that joyful 
announcement, earnestly bespoke the offi- 
cer's influence for his own liberation. No- 
thing has hitherto met us in the record 
indicative of Joseph's feelings; but this ear- 
nest appeal reveals a sadness and impatient 
longing for release, which not all his piety 
and faith in God could dispel. 

16-23. The Baker's Dream. I had three 
white baskets— The circumstances mentioned 
exactly describe his duties, which, notwith- 
standing numerous assistants, he performed 
with his own hands, white— lit. full of holes 
—i. e., wicker baskets. The meats were 
carried to table upon the head" in three 
baskets, one piled upon the other; and in the 
uppermost, the bakemeats. And in crossing 
the open courts, from the kitchen to the 
dining-rooms, the abstraction of the viands 
by a vulture, eagle, ibis, or other rapacious 
bird was a frequent occurrence in the palaces 
of Egypt, as it is an every- day incident 
in the hot countries of the East still. 
The risk from these carnivorous birds 
was the greater in the cities of Egypt— 
that being held sacred, it was unlaw- 
ful to destroy them; and they swarmed 
in such numbers, as to be a great annoyance 
to the people. 18, 19. Joseph answered, This 
is the interpretation— The purport was that, 
in three days, his execution should be or- 
dered. The language of Joseph describes 
minutely one form of capital punishment 
that prevailed in Egypt— viz., that the crimi- 
nal was decapitated, and then his headless 
body gibbeted on a tree by the high-way, till 
it was gradually devoured by the ravenous 
birds. 20-22. the third day . . Pharaoh's birth- 
day — This was a holiday season, celebrated at 
court with great magnificence and honoured 
by a free pardon to prisoners. Accordingly, 
the issue happened to the butler and baker, 
as Joseph had foretold. Doubtless, he felt 
it painful to communicate such dismal tidings 
to the baker; but he could not help announc- 
ing what God had revealed to him; and it 
was for the honour of the true God that he 
should speak plainly. 23. yet did not the 
chief butler, <fec— This was human nature. How 
prone are men to forget and neglect in pros- 
perity, those who have been their companions 
in adversity (Amos 6. 6.). But although re- 
flecting no credit on the butler, it was wisely 
ordered in the providence of God that he 
should forget him. The divine purposes 
required that Joseph should obtain his 
deliverance in another way, and by other 
means. 

CHAPTEE XLI. 

Ver. 1-24. Pharaoh's Dream, at the end of 
two full years— It is not certain whether these 
years are reckoned from the beginning of 
Joseph's imprisonment, or from the events 
described in preceding chapter— most likely 
the latter. What a long time for Joseph to 
experience the sickness of hope deferred. 
But the time of his enlargement was come 
when he had sufficiently learned the lessons 
God designed for him; and the plans of Pro- 
vidence were matured. Pharaoh dreamed— 
Pharaoh.from an Egyptian word Phre, signify- 
ing the "sun," was the official title of the kings 
of that country. The prince, who occupied 
the throne of Egypt, was Aphophis, one 
of the Memphite kings, whose capital was 
On or Heliopolis ; and who is universally 



Josepn interprets them, 



GEJN&S1S, ALU. 



and is advanced by Pharaoh. 



them; but they were still ill-favoured, as 
at the beginning. So I awoke. 

22 And I saw in my dream, and, behold, 
seven ears came up in one stalk, full and 
good: 

23 And, behold, seven ears, 5 withered, 
thin, and blasted with the east wind, 
sprung up after them: 

24 And the thin ears devoured the seven 
good ears. And q I told this unto the ma- 
gicians ; but tliere was none that could de- 
clare it to me. 

25 H And Joseph said unto Pharaoh, The 
dream of Pharaoh is one: r God hath showed 
Pharaoh what he is about to do. 

26 The seven good kine are seven years ; 
and the seven good ears are seven years: 
the dream is one. 

27 And the seven thin and ill-favoured 
kine that came up after them are seven 
years; and the seven empty ears, blasted 
with the east wind, shall be 8 seven years 
of famine. 

28 This is the thing which I have spoken 
unto Pharaoh: What G-od is about to do he 
showeth imto Pharaoh. 

29 Behold, there come seven years of great 
plenty throughout all the land of Egypt: 

30 And there shall arise after them seven 
years of famine ; and all the plenty shall be 
forgotten in the land of Egypt; and the 
famine t shall consume the land; 

31 And the plenty shall not be known in 
the land by reason of that famine following ; 
for it shall be very 6 grievous. 

32 Anri for that the dream was doubled 
unto Fharaoh twice ; it is because the thing 
is "established by God, and God will shortly 
bring it to pass. 

33 iS'ow therefore let Pharaoh look out a 
man discreet and wise, and set him over 
the land of Egypt. 

34 Let Pharaoh do this, and let him ap- 
point 8 officers over the land, and take up 
the fifth part of the land of Egypt in the 
seven plenteous years. 

35 And let them gather all the food of 
those good years that come, and lay up 
corn under the hand of Pharaoh, and let 
them keep food in the cities. 

36 And that food shall be for store to the 
land against the seven years of famine, 
which shall be in the land of Egypt; that 
the land 9 perish not through the "famine. 

37 1T And the thing was good in the eyes 
of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of all his ser- 
vants. 

38 And Pharaoh said unto his servants, 
Can we find such a one as this is, a man 
** in whom the Spirit of God is? 

39 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Foras- 
much as God hath showed thee all this, 
there is none so discreet and wise as thou 
art: 

40 Thou shalt be over my house, and ac- 
cording unto thy word shall all my people 
1° be ruled: only in the throne will I be 
greater than thou. 

41 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, See, I 
v have set thee over all the land of Egvpt. 

42 And Pharaoh w took off" his ring from 
his hand, and put it upon J oseph's hand, 
and arrayed him in vestures of ^ fine linen, 
* and put a gold chain about his neck: 

4o And he made him to ride in the second 
chariot which he had; and they cried before 
him, 12 Bow the knee: and he made him 
ruler over all the land of Egypt. 



B. C. 1715. 



CHAP. 41. 
6 Or, small. 
q Dun. 4. 7. 
r Dan. 2. 28. 
29,45. 
Rev. 4. 1. 

5 2 Kin. 8. 1. 
t ch. 47. 13. 

Ps. 105. 16. 

1 Kin. 17. 
1. 

6 heavy. 

7 Or, prepar- 
ed of God. 

8 Or, over- 
Beers. 

9 be not cut 
off. 

u Num. 27. 
18. 

Job 32. 8. 
Dan. 4. 8. 

10 be armed, 
or, kiss. 

f Dan. 6. 3. 

Ee. 4. 13, 

14. 

Prov. 14. 

35. 
w Est. 8. 2. 

11 Or, silk. 

* Dan. 5. 29. 

12 Abrech, 
or, tender 
father. 

13 Which in 
the Coptic 
signifies, 
A revealer 
of secrets, 
or, The 
man to 
whom se- 
crets are 
revealed. 

14 Or, prince, 
Ex. 2. 16. 

2 Sam. 8. 
18. 

2 Sam. 20. 
26. 
V 1 Sam. 16. 
21. 

1 Kin. 12. 
6,8. 
Dan. 1. 19. 

* ch. 22. 17. 
Judg. 7. 12. 
1 Sa. 13. 5. 
Ps. 78. 27. 

a ch. 46. 20. 
ch. 48. 5. 

15 Or, prince. 

16 That is, 
forget- 
ting. 

17 That is, 
fruitful. 

6 Ps.l< '5. 18. 
Acts 7. 11. 

18 all where- 
in was. 

C ch. 42. 6. 

ch. 47. 14, 

24. 

Pro. 11.26. 
d Dea. 9. 28. 



CHAP. 42. 
a Acts 7. 12. 
b ch. 43. 8. 
Ps. 118. 17. 
Is. 38. 1. 
« ver. 38. 
dch. 12.10. 
ch. 26. 1. 
Acts 7. 11. 
« ch. 41. 41. 



was round about 



44 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I am 
Pharaoh, and without thee shall no man 
lift up his hand or foot in all the land of 
Egypt, 

45 And Pharaoh called Joseph's name 

13 Zaphnath-paaneah; and he gave him to 
wife Asenath the daughter of Poti-pherah 

14 priest of On. And Joseph went out over 
all the land of Egypt. 

46 And Joseph was thirty years old when 
he y stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. 
And Joseph went out from the presence of 
Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land 
of Egypt. 

47 And in the seven plenteous years the 
earth brought forth by nandfuls. 

48 And he gathered up all the food of the 
seven years, which were in the land of 
Egypt, and laid up the food in the cities: 
the food of the field, which i 
every city, laid he up in the same. 

49 And Joseph gathered corn z as the sand 
of the sea, very much, until he left num- 
bering; for it was without number. 

50 a And unto Joseph were born two sons 
before the years or famine came, which 
Asenath the daughter of Poti-pherah 

15 priest of On bare unto him. 

51 And Joseph called the name of the 
first-born 16 Manasseh: For God, said he. 
hath made me forget all my toil, and all 
my father's house. 

52 And the name of the second called he 
i"Ephraim: For God hath caused me to be 
fruitful in the land of my affliction. 

53 IT And the seven years of plenteousness 
that was in the land of Egypt were 
ended. 

54 ft And the seven years of dearth began 
to come, according as Joseph had said: and 
the dearth was in all lands ; but in all the 
land of Egypt there was bread. 

55 And when all the land of Egypt was 
famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for 
bread: and Pharaoh said unto all the Egyp- 
tians, Go unto Joseph; what he saith to 
you, do. 

56 And the famine was over all the face of 
the earth. And Joseph opened 18 all the 
storehouses, and c sold unto the Egyptians: 
and the famine waxed sore in the land of 
Egypt. 

57 And d all countries came into Egypt to 
Joseph for to buy corn; because that the 
famine was so sore in all lands. 

CHAPTER XLII. 
1 Jacob sendeth his ten sons to buy corn in Egypt: 

17 they are imprisoned by Joseph for spies .- 21 

their remorse for Joseph : 25 their return .- 29 

their relation to Jacob, etc. 
"XTOW when ° Jacob saw that there was 

^ corn in Egypt, Jacob said unto his 



i h 



sons, Why do ye look one upon another? 

2 And he said. Behold, I have heard that 
there is corn inEgypt: get you down thither, 
and buy for us from thence; that we may 
ft live, and not die. 

3 11 And Joseph's ten brethren went down 
to buy com in Egypt. 

4 But Benjamin, Joseph's brother, Jacob 
sent not with his brethren: for he said, 
c Lest peradventure mischief befall him. 

5 And the sons of Israel came to buy corn 
among those that came: for the famine was 
d in the land of Canaan. 

6 And Joseph was the governor e over the 
land, and he it was that sold to all the 
people of the land: and Joseph's brethren 



Pharaoh's Dream. 



GENESIS, XLI. 



Joseph Interprets it. 



acknowledged to have been a patriot king. 
Between the arrival of Abraham and the 
appearance of Joseph in that country, some- 
what more than two centuries had elapsed. 
Kings sleep and dream, as well as their sub- 
jects. And this Pharaoh had two dreams hi 
one night so singular, and so similar, so dis- 
tinct and so apparently significant, so coher- 
ent and vividly impressed on his memory, 
that his spirit was troubled. 8. he caiied for 
all the magicians— It is not possible to define 
the exact distinction between "magicians" 
and " wise men:" but they formed different 
branches of a numerous body, who laid 
claim to supernatural skill in occult arts 
and sciences; in revealing mysteries, ex- 
plaining portents; and, above all, interpret- 
ing dreams. Long practice had rendered 
them expert in devising a plausible way of , ~ 

getting out of every difficulty, and framing the emblem of fruitfulness 
an answer suitable to the occasion. But the ' 
dreams of Pharaoh baffled their united 
skill. Unlike their Assyrian brethren iDan. 
2. 4,) they did not pretend to know the mean- 
ing of the symbols contained in them, and 
the providence of God had determined that 
they should all be non-plussed in the exer- 
cise of their boasted powers, in order that 
the inspired wisdom of Joseph might the 
more remarkably appear. 9-13. chief butler 
... I remember my faults — This public ac- 
knowledgment of the merits of the young 
Hebrew would, tardy though it was, have 
reflected credit on the butler— had it not 
been obviously made to ingratiate himself 
with his royal master. It is right to confess 
our faults against God, and against our 
fellow-men, when that confession is made in 
the spirit of godly sorrow and penitence. 
But this man was not much impressed with 
a sense of the fault he had committed against 
Joseph; he never thought of God, to whose 
goodness he was indebted for the pro- 
phetic announcement of his release and in 
acknowledging his former fault against the 
king, he was practising the courtly art of markable dispensation of seven years of un- 



17. Pharaoh said, In my dream I stood— The 
dreams were purely Egyptian— founded on 
the productions of that country, and the 
experience of a native. The fertility of 
Egypt being wholly dependent on the Nile 
— the scene is laid on the banks of that 
river; and oxen being in the ancient hiero- 
glyphics symbolical of the earth and of food, 
animals of that species were introduced in 
the first dream, there came up out of the river 
—cows now, of the buffalo Kind, are seen 
daily plunging into the Nile; when their 
huge form is gradually emerging, they seem 
as if rising ' ' out of the river. " fed in a meadow 
—Nile grass, the aquatic plants that grow 
on the marshy banks of that river, particu- 
larly the lotus kind; on which cattle were 
usually fattened. 19. behold, seven other 
kine, poor and ill-favoured— The cow being 
the emblem of fruitfulness— the different 
years of plenty and of famine were aptly re- 
presented by the different condition of those 
kine;— the plenty, by the cattle feeding on 
the richest fodder; and the dearth, by the 
lean and famishing kine, which the pangs of 
hunger drove to act contrary to their na- 
ture. 22. Behold I saw in my dream seven 
ears— that is, of Egyptian wheat, which, when 
"fall and good," is remarkable in size— a 
single seed sprouting into seven, ten, or 
fourteen stalks— and each stalk bearing an 
ear. blasted by the east wind— destructive 
everywhere to grain, but particularly so in 
Egypt; where, sweeping over the sandy de- 
serts of Arabia, it comes in the character of 
a hot, blighting wind, that quickly withers 
all vegetation (cf. Ez. 19. 12; Hos. 13. 15.). 
24. devoured , the seven rank and full ears— 
devoured is a different word from that used 
{v. 4,) and conveys the idea of destroying, by 
absorbing to themselves all the nutritious 
virtue of the soil around them. 

25-36. Joseph interprets Pharaoh's 
Dreams. 25. Joseph said, The dream is one— 
They both pointed to the same event— a re- 



pleasing his master. 14. Then Pharaoh sent 
and caiied Joseph— Now that God's set time 



exampled abundance, to be followed by a 
similar period of unparallelled dearth. The 



had come Ps. 105. 19,) no human power nor repetition of the dream in two different 
policy could detain Joseph in prison. Dur- forms was designed to shew the absolute 
ing his protracted confinement, he might certainty and speedy arrival of this public 



have often been distressed with perplex 
ing doubts; but the mystery of Providence 



crisis; the interpretation was accompanied 
, by several suggestions of practical wisdom 
was about to be cleared up, and all his : for meeting so great an emergency as was 
sorrows forgotten in the course of honour i impending. 33. Now, therefore, let Pharaoh 
and public usefulness in which his ser- ! look out a man— The explanation given, when 
vices were to be employed, shaved himself : the key to the dreams was supplied, appears 
The Egyptians were the only Oriental | to have been satisfactory to the king and 



nation that liked a 
slaves and foreigners 



smooth chin. All I his c&urtiers ; and we may suppose that 
who were reduced much and anxious conversation would 



to that condition, were obliged, on their arise, in the course of which Joseph might 



arrival in that country, to conform to the 
cleanly habits of the natives, by shaving 
their beards and heads, the latter of which 
were covered with a close cap. Thus pre- 
pared, Joseph was conducted to the palace, 
w r here the king seemed to have been anxi- 
ously waiting his arrival. 15, 16. Pharaoh 
said, I have dreamed a dream— The king's brief 
statement of the service required, brought 
out the genuine piety of Joseph; disclaiming 
all merit— he ascribed, whatever gifts or 
sagacity he possessed to the divine source of 
all wisdom— declared his own inability, to 

{>enetrate futurity ; but, at the same time, 
lis confident persuasion— that God would 
reveal what was necessary to be known. 



have been asked whether he had anything 
further to say. No doubt the providence of 
God provided the opportunity of his suggest- 
ing what was necessary. 34. appoint officers 
over all the land— overseers, equivalent to the 
beys of modern Egypt, take up a fifth part of 
the land— i.e., of the land produce to be pur- 
chased and stored by government, instead of 
being sold to foreign corn merchants. 

37-57. Joseph made Euler of Egypt. 
38. Pharaoh said unto his servants— The kings of 
ancient Egypt were assisted in the manage- 
ment of state affairs by the advice of the 
most distinguished members of the priestly 
order; and, accordingly, before admitting 
Joseph to the new and extraordinary office 



Joseph's brethren come to buy corn: GENESIS, XLIII. 



Their relation of the journey. 



came, and /bowed down themselves before 
him with their faces to the earth. 

7 And Joseph saw Ins brethren, and he 
knew them, but made himself strange unto 
them, and spake l roughly unto them; and 
he said unto them, Whence come ye? And 
they said, From the land of Canaan to buy 
food. 

8 And Joseph knew his brethren, but they 
knew not him. 

9 And Joseph g remembered the dreams 
which he dreamed of them, and said unto 
them, Ye are spies ; to see the nakedness 
of the land ye are come. 

10 And they said unto him, Nay, my lord, 
but to buy food are thy servants come. 

11 We are all one man's sous: we are true 
men, thy servants are no spies. 

12 And he said unto them, Nay, but to see 
the nakedness of the land ye are come. 

13 And they said, Thy sen-ants are twelve 
brethren, the sons of one man in the land 
of Canaan; and, behold, the youngest is 
this day with our father, and one h is not. 

14 And Joseph said unto them, That is it 
that I spake unto vou, saying, Ye are spies: 

15 Hereby ye shall be proved: *By the life 
of Pharaoh ye shall not go forth hence, ex- 
cept your youngest brother come hither. 

16 Send one ot you, and let him fetch your 
brother, and ye shall be 2 kept in prison, 
that your words may be proved, whether 
there be any truth in you: or else, by the 
life of Pharaoh surely ye are spies. 

17 And he 3 put them all together into 
ward three days. 

18 And Joseph said unto them the third 
day, This do, and live;.' /or I fear God: 

19 If ye be true men, let one of your breth- 
ren be bound in the house of your prison: 
go ye, carry corn for the famine of your 
nouses: 

20 But * bring your youngest brother unto 
me • so shall your words be verified, and ye 
shall not die. And they did so. 

21 IF And they said one to another, l We are 
verily guilty concerning our brother, in that 
we saw the anguish of his soul, when he be- 
sought us, and we would not hear; m there- 
fore" is this distress come upon us. 

22 And Keuben answered them, saying, 
n Spake I not unto you, saying, Dc not sin 
agamst the child- and ye would net hear? 
therefore, behold, also his blood is D re- 
quired. 

23 And they knew not that Joseph under- 
stood them; for * he spake unto them by an 
interpreter. 

24 And he turned himself about from 
them, and wept; and returned to them 
again, and communed with them, and took 
from them Simeon, and bound him before 
their eyes. 

25 1F Then Joseph commanded to fill their 
sacks with corn, and to restore every man's 
money into his sack, and to give them pro- 
vision for the way: and * thus did he unto 
them. 

26 And they laded their asses with the 
corn, and departed thence. 

27 And as q one of them opened his sack, to 

five his ass provender in the inn, he espied 
is money; for, behold, it was in his sack's 
mouth. 

28 And he said unto his brethren, My 
money is restored- and, lo ? it is even in my 
sack: and then- heart 5 failed tittm, and 
they were afraid, Baying one to another, 

3o 



CHAP. 42. 
/ ch. 27. 29. 

ch. 83. 6. 

ch. 37. 7. 

Euth 2. 10. 

1 Kin. 1.16. 

Isa. GO. 14. 
lhard 

things with 

them. 
9 ch. 37 6, 9. 
h ch. 37. 30. 

ch. 44. 20. 

Lam. 5. 7. 
i 1 Sa. 1. 26. 

1 Sam. 17. 
55. 

2 bound. 

3 gathered. 

j Lev. 25. 43. 

Neh. 6. 15. 

k ver. 34. 

ch. 43. 5. 

ch. 44. 23. 

I Job 36, 8, 9. 

Hos. 5. 15. 

"» Ps. 107. 

17. 

Pro. 5. 22. 
Prov. 11. 
21. 

Pror. 21. 
13. 

Mat. 7. 2- 
n ch. 37. 21. 
° ch. 9. 6. 
IKin. 2. 

2 Chr. 24, 
22. 

Ps. 9. 12. 
Luke 11. 
60, 51. 

4 an inter- 
preter was 
between 
them. 

P Mat. 5. 44. 

Rom. 12. 

17, 20, 21. 

1 Pet. 3. 9. 
Q ch. 43. 21. 

5 went 
forth. 

r ver. 7. 

6 with ua 
hard 
things. 

8 ver. 15. 19, 

20. 
<ch. 34.10. 
u ch. 43. 21. 
v ch. 43, 14. 
w ver. 13. 

ch. 37. 33. 

ch. 44. 28. 
Z ver. 4. 

ch. 44. 29. 
V ch. 37. 35. 

ch. 44. 31. 



CHAP. 43. 
a 1 Ki. 18. 2. 

Jer. 52 6. 
Lam. 5. 10. 

1 protesting 
protested. 

6 ch. 42. 20. 
ch. 44. 23. 

2 asking 
asked us. 

8 mouth. 
4 knowing 

could we 

know. 
c ch. 44. 32. 

Philem ia, 

19. 



What is this tlvat God hath done unto 
us? 

29 1F And they came unto Jacob their fa- 
ther unto the land of Canaan, and told him 
all that befell unto them ; saying, 

30 The man, who is the lord of the land, 
r spake 6 roughly to us, and took us for 
spies of the country. 

31 And we said unto him, We are true 
men; we are no spies: 

32 We be twelve brethren, sons of our fa- 
ther: one is not, and the youngest is this 
day with our father in the land of Canaan. 

do And the man, the lord of the country, 
said unto us, 8 Hereby shall 1 know that ye 
are true men; leave one of your brethren 
here with me, and take food for the famine 
of your households, and be gone ; 

34 And bring your youngest brother unto 
me: then shall I know that ye art, no spies, 
but that ye are true men: so will I deliver 
you your brother, and ye shall * traffic in 
the land. 

35 And it came to pass as they emptied 
their sacks, that, behold, u every man's 
bundle of money ivas in his sack : and 
when both they and their father saw the 
bundles of money, they were afraid. 

36 And Jacob their father said unto them, 
Me have ye "bereaved of my children: Jo- 
seph is not, and Simeon is not, and ye will 
take Benjamin away: all these things are 
against me. 

37 And Reuben spake unto his father, say- 
ing, Slay my two sons, if I bring him not to 
thee: deliver him into my hand, and I will 
bring him to thee again. 

38 And he said, My son shall not go down 
with you ; for his w brother is dead, and he 
is left alone: x if mischief befall him by the 
way in the which ye go, then shall ye y bring 
down my grey hairs with sorrow to the 
grave. 

CHAPTER XLIII. 
1 Jacob is hardly persuaded to send Benjamin. 
15 Joseph entertaineth his brethren; ly their 
fears : 31 he maketh them, a feast. 

A ND the famine was ° sore in the land. 
-"- 2 And it came to pass, when they had 
eaten up the corn which they had brought 
out of Egypt, their father said unto them, 
Go again, "buy us a little food. 

3 And Judah spake unto him, saying, The 
man * did solemnly protest unto us, saying, 
Ye shall not see my face, except your 
& brother be with you. 

4 If thou wilt send our brother with us, we 
will go down and buy thee food: 

5 But if thou wilt not send him, we will 
not go down: for the man said unto us, Ye 
shall not see my face, except your brother 
be with you. 

6 And Israel said, Wherefore dealt ye so 
ill with me, as to tell the man whether ye 
had vet a brother? 

7 And they said, The man 2 asked us 
straitly of our state, and of our kindred, 
saying, Is your father yet alive? have ye 
another brother? and we told him accord- 
ing to the 3 tenor of these words: * could we 
certainly know that he would say, Bring 
your brother down? 

8 And Judah said unto Israel his father, 
Send the lad with me, and we will arise and 
go : that we may five, and not die, both we, 
and thou and also our little ones. 

9 1 will be surety for him ; of my hand shalfc 
thou require him: c if I bring him not unto 



Joseph made Ruler of Egypt. 



GENESIS, XLIL 



Journey into Egypt 



that was to be created, those ministers were 
consulted as to the expediency and propriety 
of the appointment, a man in whom the Spirit 
of God is— An acknowledgment of the being 
and power of the true God, though faint and 
feeble, continued to linger amongst the higher 
classes long after idolatry had come to pre- 
vail. 39-44. Thou shalt be over my house— 
This sudden change in the condition of a 
man who had just been taken out of p ison, 
could take place nowhere, except in Egypt. 
In ancient as well as modern times, slaves 
have often risen to be its rulers. But 
the special providence of God had deter- 
mined to make Joseph governor of Egypt; 
and the way was paved for it by the 
deep and universal conviction produced in 
the minds both of the king and his council- 
lors, that a divine spirit animated his mind, 
and had given him such extraordinary know- 
ledge. 40. according to thy word shall my 
people he ruled— lit. kiss. This refers to the 
edict granting official power to Joseph, to 
be issued in the form of a firman, as in 
all Oriental countries; and all who should 
receive that order would kiss it, according 
to the usual Eastern mode of acknowledging 
obedience and respect for the sovereign. 
[Wilk.] 41. Pharaoh said, See, I have set thee 
— These words were preliminary to investi- 
ture with the insignia of office, which were 
these — the signet ring, used for signing 
public documents, and its impression was 
more valid than the sign-manual of the king; 
the khelaat or dress of honour, a coat of 
finely wrought linen, or rather cotton, worn 
only by the highest personages; the gold 
necklace, a badge of rank— the plain or orna- 
mental form oi it indicating the degree of 
rank and dignity; the privilege of riding in a 
state carriage, the second chariot; and lastly, 
—they cried . . . bow the knee — abrech, an 
Egyptian term; not referring to prostration, 
but signifying, according to some, "father" 
(cf. 45. 8> ; according to others, " native 
prince"— i.e., proclaimed him naturalized, 
in order to remove all popular dislike to 
him as a foreigner. 44. These ceremonies 
of investiture were closed in usual form by 
the king in council solemnly ratifying the 
appointment. I am Pharaoh, and without 
thee, &c— a proverbial mode of expression 
for great power. 45. Zaphnath-paaneah— 
variously interpreted, "revealer of secrets;" 
"saviour of the land;" and from the 
hieroglyphics " a wise man fleeing from 
pollution" — i. e., adultery, gave him to 
wife — his naturalization was completed 
by this alliance with a family of high 
distinction. On being founded by an Arab 
colony, Poti-pherah, like Jethro, priest of 
Midian, might be a worshipper of the true 
God; and thus Joseph, a pious man, will be 
freed from the charge of marrying an idola- 
tress for worldly ends. On— calledAven (Ez.30. 
17), and also Beth-shemesh Jer. 43. 13.). In 
looking at this profusion of honours heaped 
suddenly upon Joseph, it cannot be doubted 
that he would humbly yet thankfully ac- 
knowledge the hand of a special Provi- 
dence in conducting him through all his 
chequered course to almost royal power; and 
we, who know more than Joseph did, can 
not only see that his advancement was sub- 
servient to the most important purposes re- 
lative to the Church of God, but learn the 
great lesson that a Providence directs the 
36 



minutest events of human life. 46. thirty 
years— seventeen when brought into Egypt, 
probably three in prison, and thirteen in tho 
service of Potiphar. went out over all the 
land— made an immediate survey, to deter- 
mine the site and size of the store-houses 
required for the different quarters of the 
country. 47. brought forth by handfuls— a 
singular expression, alluding not only to the 
luxuriance of the crop, but the practice of 
the reapers grasping the ears, which alone 
were cut. 48. gathered up all the food— It 
gives a striking idea of the exuberant fertility 
of this land, that, from the superabundance 
of the seven plenteous years, corn enough 
was laid up for the subsistence, not only of 
its home population, but of the neighbour- 
ing countries, during the seven years of 
dearth. 50-52. unto Joseph were born two sons 
— These domestic events, which increased 
his temporal happiness, develop the piety of 
his character in the names conferred upon 
his children. 53-56. The seven years of plen- 
teousness ended— Over and above the propor- 
tion purchased for the government during 
the years of plenty, the people could still 
have husbanded much for future use. But 
improvident as men commonly are in the 
time of prosperity, they found themselves in 
want, and must have starved in thousands 
had not Joseph anticipated and provided for 
the protracted calamity. 57. The famine was 
sore in all lands— i.e., the lands contiguous 
to Egypt— Canaan, Syria, and Arabia. 
CHAPTER XLII. 
Ver. 1-38. Journey tnto Egypt. 1. ITow 
when Jacob saw— learned from common ru- 
mour. It is evident, from Jacob's language, 
that his own and his sons'families had suffered 
greatly from the scarcity; and through the 
increasing severity of the scourge, those men, 
who had formerly shown both activity and 
spirit, were sinking into despondency, God 
would not interpose miraculously,when natu- 
ral means of preservation were within reach. 
5. the famine was sore in the land of Canaan— 
The tropical rains, which annually falling 
swell the Nile, are those of Palestine also; 
and their failure would produce the same 
disastrous effects in Canaan as in Egypt. 
Numerous caravans of its people, therefore, 
poured over the sandy desert of Suez, with 
their beasts of burden, for the purchase of 
corn ; and amongst others, " the sons of Is- 
rael" were compelled to undertake a journey 
from which painful associations made them 
strongly averse. 6. Joseph was governor— in 
the zenith of his power and influence, he it 
was that sold— i. e., directed the sales; for it 
is impossible that he could give attendance 
in every place. It is probable, however, that 
he may have personally superintended the 
storehouses near the border of Canaan, both 
because that was the most exposed part of 
the country, and because he must have anti- 
cipated the arrival of some messengers from 
his father's house, bowed down themselves 
before him— His prophetic dreams were in the 
course of being fulfilled, and the atrocious 
barbarity of his brethren had been the 
means of bringing about the very issue 
they had planned to prevent (Is. GO. 14; 
Bev. 3. 9, last clause.). 7, 8. Joseph saw 
his brethren . . . they knew not him — this 
is not wonderful. They were full-grown 
men— he was but a lad at parting. They 
were in their usual garb — he was in his 



Benjamin sent down with them. 



GENESIS, XLIV. 



Joseph, entertains his brethren. 



thee, and set him before thee, then let me 
bear the blame for ever: 

10 For except we had lingered, surely now 
we had returned 5 this second time. 

11 And their lather Israel said unto them, 
If it must be so now, do this; take of the 
best fruits hi the land in your vessels, and 
d carry down the man a present, a little 
e balm, and a little honey, spices, and 
myrrh, nuts, and almonds. 

12 And take double money in vour hand: 
and the money /that was brought again in 
the mouth of your sacks, carry it again in 
your hand; peradventure it was an over- 
sight: 

13 Take also your brother, and arise, go 
a train unto the man: 

14 And God Almighty give you mercy be- 
fore the man, that he may send away your 
other brother, and Benjamin. 6 IH g I be be- 
reaved of my children, I am bereaved. 

15 1T And the men took that present, and 
they took double money in their hand, and 
Benjamin; and rose up, and went down to 
Egypt, and stood before Joseph. 

16 And when Joseph saw Benjamin with 
them, he said to the h ruler of his house, 
Bring these men home, and " slay, and make 
ready ; for these men shall 8 dine with me 
at noon. 

17 And the man did as Joseph bade; and 
the man brought the men mto Joseph's 
house. 

18 And the men were afraid, because they 
were brought into Joseph's house ; and they 
said, Because of the money that was re- 
turned in our sacks at the first time are we 
brought in ; that he may 9 seek occasion 
against us, and fall upon us, and take us 
for bondmen, and our asses. 

19 And they came near to the steward of 
Joseph's house, and they communed with 
him at the door of the house, 

20 And said, sir, i° we came indeed down 
at the first time to buy food: 

21 And »it came to pass, when we came to 
the inn, that we opened our sacks, and, be- 
hold, every man's money was in the mouth 
of his sack, our money in full weight: and 
we have brought it again in our hand. 

m 22 And other money have we brought down 
in our hands to buy food: we cannot tell who 
put our money in our sacks. 

23 And he said, Peace be to you, fear not: 
your God, and the God of your father, hath 
given you treasure in your sacks: u I had 
your money. And he brought Simeon out 
unto them. 

24 And the man brought the men into Jo- 
seph's house, and J gave them water, and 
they washed their feet; and he gave their 
asses provender. 

25 And they made ready the present against 
Joseph came at noon: for they heard that 
they should eat bread there. 

26 And when Joseph came home, thev 
brought him the present which was in their 
hand into the house, and * bowed them- 
selves to him to the earth. 

27 And he asked them of their 12 welfare, 
and said, i*Is your lather well, the old man 
* of whom ye spake? is he vet alive? 

28 And they answered, thy servant our 
father is in good health, he is yet alive. 
* /l And they bowed down their heads, and 
made obeisance. 

2L> And he lifted up his eyes, and saw his 
bt^ther Benjamin, "his mother's son, and 
37 



CHAP. 43. 

5 Or, twice 

bv this. 
d ch. 32. 20. 

Prov. 18. 

16. 
e ch. 37. 25. 

Jer. 8. 22. 
/ ch. 42. 25, 
35. 

6 Or. and I, 
as 1 have 
been, etc. 

oEsth. 4. 16. 

h ch. 24. 2. 

ch. 44. 1. 

7 Kill a 
killing. 

1 Sam. 25. 
11. 

8 eat. 

9 roll himself 
upon us. 
Job 30. 14. 

10 coming 
down we 
camo 
down, 
eh. 42. 3, 
10. 

i ch. 42. 27, 
35. 

11 your 
money 
came to 
me. 

j ch. 18. 4. 
ch. 24. 32. 
Luke 7. 44. 
John 13. 5. 

1 Tim. 5. 
10. 

k ch. 27. 29. 
ch. 33. 6. 
ch. 37. 7, 
10. 
Kuth 2. 10. 

12 peace. 
ch.37.14. 

13 Is there 
peace to 
your 
father? 

I ch. 42. 11, 

13. 
m ch. 37. 7, 

10. 

Prov. 14. 

19. 
n ch. 35. 
17, 18. 
o ch. 42. 13. 
PlKi.3. 26. 
q ch. 42. 24. 

2 Sa. 18.33. 
r ver. 25. 

« ch. 46. 34. 

Ex. 8. 26. 

t ch. 45. 22. 

14 drank 
largely. 
Hag. 1. 6. 
John 2.10. 



CHAP. 44. 

1 him that 
was over 
his house. 

2 Or, maketh 
trial. 

a ch. 43. 21. 
6 ch. 31. 32. 
c ch. 37. 29, 

34. 

Num. 14. 6. 

2 Sam. 1. 

11. 
d ch. 37. 7. 



said.Ts this your younger brother, ° of whom 
ye spake unto me ? And he said, God be 
gracious unto thee, my son. 

30 And J oseph made haste ; for P his bowels 
did yearn upon his brother: and he sought 
where to weep; and he entered into his 
chamber, and q wept there. 

31 And he washed his face, and went out, 
and refrained himself, and said, Set on 
r bread. 

32 And they set on for him by himself, and 
for them bv themselves, and for the Egyp- 
tians which did eat with him by them- 
selves: because the Egyptians might not 
eat bread with the Hebrews ; for that is * au 
abomination unto the Egyptians. 

33 And they sat before him, the first- 
born according to his birthright, and the 
youngest according to his youth: and the 
men marvelled one at another. 

34 And he took and sent messes unto them 
from before him: but Benjamin's mess 
was 'live times so much as any of theirs. 
And they drank, and 14 were merry with 
him. 

CHAPTER XLIV. 

I Joseph's policy to stay Btnjimin. 14 Judah's 

humble supplication to Joseph. 

A NT) he commanded * the steward of his 

II house, saving, Fill the men's sacks with. 
food, as much as they can carry, and put 
every man's money in his sack's mouth. 

2 And put my cup, the silver cup, in the 
sack's mouth of the youngest, and his corn 
money. And he did according to the word 
that Joseph had spoken. 

3 As soon as the morning was light, the 
men were sent away, they and their asses. 

4 And when thev were gone out of the 
city, and not yet far off, Joseph said unto 
his steward, Lp, follow after the men; and 
when thou dost overtake them, say unto 
them. Wherefore have ye rewarded evil for 
good? 

5 Is not this it in which my lord drinketh, 
and whereby indeed he 2 chvineth? Ye have 
done evil in so doing. 

6 And he overtook them, and he spake 
unto them these same words. 

7 And they said unto him, Wherefore 
saitii my lord these words? God forbid that 
thy servants should do according to this 
thing. 

8 Behold, a the money which we found in 
our sacks' mouths we brought again unto 
thee out of the land of Canaan: now then 
should we steal out of thy lord's house sil- 
ver or gold? 

9 With whomsoever of thy servants it be 
found, i> both let him die, and we also will 
be my lord's bondmen. 

10 And he said. Now also let it be accord- 
ing unto vour words: he with whom it is 
found shall be my servant; and ye shall be 
blameless. 

11 Then they speedily took down every 
man his sack to the ground, and opened 
every man his sack. 

12 And he searched, and began at the 
eldest, and left at the youngest: and the 
cup was found in Benjamin's sack. 

13 Then they c rent their clothes, and la- 
ded every man his ass, and returned to the 
city. 

14 And Judah and his brethren came to 
Joseph's house; for he was yet there: and 
they d fell before him on the ground. 

15 And J oseph said unto them, What deed 



Joseph's Brethren come to buy Com. GENESIS, XLIII. The Second Journey to Egypt 



official robes. They never dreamt of him as 
governor of Egypt, while he had heen ex- 
pecting them. They had but one face— he 
had ten persons to judge by. 7. made himself 
strange . . . spake roughly— it would be an in- 
justice to Joseph's character, to suppose that 
this stem manner was prompted by any vin- 
dictive feelings— he never indulged any re- 
sentment against others who hadmjuredhim. 
But he spoke in the authoritative tone of the 
governor, in order to elicit some much- 
longed for intelligence respecting the state 
of his father's family, as well as to bring his 
brethren, by their own humiliation and dis- 
tress, to a sense of the evils they had done to 
him. 9-12. ye are spies— this is a suspicion 
entertained regarding strangers in all 
Eastern countries down to the present day. 
Joseph, however, who was well aware 
that his brethren were not spies, has 
been charged with cruel dissimulation, with 
a deliberate violation of what he knew to be 
the truth, in imputing to them such a char- 
acter. But it must be remembered that he 
was sustaining the part of a ruler; and, in 
fact, acting on the very principle sanctioned 
by many of the sacred writers, and our Lord 
himself, who spoke parables (fictitious 
stories) to promote a good end. by the life of 
Pharaoh— it is a very common practice in 
Western Asia to swear by the life of the 
king. Joseph spoke in the style of an Egyp- 
tian, and perhaps did not think there was 
any evil in it. But we are taught to regard 
all such expressions in the light of an oath 
(Matt. 5. 34; Ja. 5. 12.). 17-24. put them into 



state of feeling, and it shows how difficult it 
is for even a good man to yield implicit sub- 
mission to the course of Providence. The 
language does not imply that his missing 
sons had got foul play from the hands of the 
rest, but he looks upon Simeon as lost, as 
well as Joseph, and he insinuates it was by 
some imprudent statements of theirs that he 
was exposed to the risk of losing Benjamin 
also. 37. Reuben said, Slay my two sons— this 
was a thoughtless and unwarrantable con- 
dition—one that he never seriously expected 
his father would accept. It was designed only 
to give assurance of the greatest care being 
taken of Benjamin. But unforeseen circum- 
stances might arise to render it impossible 
for all of them to preserve that young lad 
(Ja. 4. 13.), and Jacob was much pained by 
the prospect. Little did he know that God 
was dealing with him severely, but in kind- 
ness (Heb. 12. 7, 8.), and that all those things 
he thought against him were working to- 
gether for his good. 

CHAPTEK XLITL 
Ver. 1-14. Preparations for a Second 
Journey to Egypt. 2. Father said, Go again, 
buy us corn— it was no easy matter to bring 
Jacob to agree to the only conditions on 
which his sons could return to Egypt (42. 15.). 
The necessity ol immediately procuring fresh 
supplies for the maintenance of themselves 
and their families overcame every other 
consideration ; and extorted his consent to 
Benjamin joining in a journey, which his 
sons entered on with mingled feelings of 
hope and anxiety— of hope, because having 



ward three days — Their confinement had now complied with the governor's demand 



been designed to bring them to salutary 
reflection. And this object was attain- 
ed, for they looked upon the retributive 
justice of God as now pursuing them in that 
foreign land. The drift of their conversa- 
tion is one of the most striking instances of 
the power of conscience on record. 24. took 
Simeon and bound him— he had probably been 
the chief instigator— the most violent actor 
in the outrage upon Joseph; and if so, his 
selection to be the imprisoned and fettered 
hostage for their return would, in the pre- 
sent course of their reflections, have a 
painful significance. 25-28. commanded . . . 
fill sacks, and restore money— This private 
generosity was not an infringement of his 
duty— a defrauding of the revenue. He would 
have a discretionary power— he was daily en- 
riching the king's exchequer— -and he might 
have paid the sum from his own purse. 27. 
inn— a mere station for baiting beasts of bur- 
den, espied his money— the discovery threw 
them into greater perpl exity than ever. If they 
had been congratulating themselves on es- 
caping from the ruthless governor, they per- 
ceived that now he would have a handle 
against them; and it is observable, that they 
looked upon this as a judgment of heaven. 
Thus one leading design of Joseph was 



to bring down their youngest brother, they 
flattered themselves that the alleged ground 
of suspecting them would be removed ; and 
of apprehension, that some ill designs were 
meditated against them. 11. take of the 
best fruits a present— it is an Oriental practice 
never to approach a man of power without a 
present, and Jacob might remember how he 
pacified his brother (Pro. 21. 14.;— balm, 
spices, and myrrh (37. 25.), honey, which 
some think was clios, a syrup made from ripe 
dates [Bo.]; but others, the honey of Hebron, 
which is still valued as far superior to that of 
Egypt ; nuts, pistachio nuts, of which Syria 
grows the best in the world; almonds, which 
were most abundant in Palestine. 12. take 
double money— the first sum to be returned, 
and another sum for a new supply. The re- 
stored money in the sack's mouth was a per- 
plexing circumstance. But it might have been 
done inadvertently by one of the servants— 
so Jacob persuaded himself— and happy it 
was for his own peace and the encourage- 
ment of the travellers that he took this view. 
Besides the duty of restoring it, honesty in 
their case was clearly the best— the safest 
policy. 14. God Almighty give you mercy- 
Jacob is here committing them all to the 
care of God, and, resigned to what appears a 



gained in their consciences being, roused to a, j heavy trial, prays that it may be overruled 



sense of guilt. 35. as they emptied their 
sacks— it appears that they had been silent 
about the money discovery at the resting- 
place, as their father might have blamed 
them for not instantly returning. However 
innocent they knew themselves to be, it was 
universally felt to be an unhappy circum- 
stance, which might bring them into new 
and greater perils. 36. Me have ye bereaved— 
this exclamation indicates a painfullyexcited 
37 



for good. 

15, 16. Arrival in Egypt. 15. stood before 
Joseph— We may easily imagine the delight 
with which, amid the crowd of other appli- 
cants, the eye of Joseph would fix on his bre- 
thren and Benjamin. But occupied with his 
public duties, he consigned them to the care 
of a confidential servant till he should have 
finished the business of the day. ruier of hi3 
house— in the houses of wealthy Egyptians one 



Jiidah's supplication* 



GENESIS, XLV. 



Joseph sends for his father. 



is this that ye have done? wot ye not that 
such a man as 1 can certainly 3 divine? 
10 And Judah said, e What shall we say 
unto my lord? what shall we speak? or how 
shall we clear ourselves? God hath found 
out the iniquity of thy servants: hehold, 
/"we are my lord's servants, both we, and 
he also with whom the cup is found. 

17 And he said, g God forbid that I should 
do so: but the man in whose hand the 
cup is found, he shall be my servant; and 
as for you, get you up in peace unto your 
father. 

18 IF Then Judah came near unto him, 
and said, Oh my lord, let thy sen-ant, I pray 
thee, speak a word in my lord's ears, and 
Met not thine anger burn against thy ser- 
vant: for thou i art even as Pharaoh. 

19 My lord asked his servants, saying, 
Have ye a father, or a brother? 

20 And we said unto my lord, We have a 
father, an old man, and 3' a child of his old 
age, a little one ; and his brother is dead, 
and he alone is left of his mother, and his 
father loveth him. 

21 And thou saidst unto thy servants, 
* Bring him down unto me, that I may set 
mine eyes upon him. 

22 And we said unto my lord, The lad can- 
not leave his father: for if he should leave 
his father, his father would die. 

23 And thou saidst unto thy servants, l Ex- 
cept your youngest brother come down with 
you, ye shall see my face no more. 

24 And it came to pass, when we came up 
unto thy servant my father, we told him the 
words of my lord. 

25 And m our lather said, Go again, and 
buy us a little food. 

26 And we said, "We cannot go down: if 
our youngest brother be with us, then will 
we go down: for we may not see the man's 
face,except our youngest brother be with us. 

27 And thy servant my father said unto us, 
Ye know that n my wife bare me two sons: 

28 And the one went out from me, and I 
said, ° Surely he is torn in pieces ; and I saw 
him not since: 

29 And if ye p take this also from me, and 
mischief befall him, ye shall bring down 
m.\ grey hairs with sorrow to the grave. 

W Now therefore, when I come to thy ser- 
v. nt my father, and the lad be not with us ; 
seeing that q his life is bound up in the 
lad's life; 

31 It shall come to pass, when he seeth 
that the lad is not ivitli us, that he wall die: 
and thy servants shall bring down the grey 
hairs of thy servant our father with sorrow 
to the grave. 

32 For thy servant became surety for the 
lad unto my father, saying, r If I bring 
him not unto thee, then I shall bear the 
blame to my father for ever. 

33 Now therefore, I pray thee, 8 let thy 
servant abide instead of the lad a bondman 
to my lord; and let the lad go up with his 
brethren. 

34 For how shall I go up to my father, and 
the lad be not with me? lest perad venture 
I see the evil that shall * come on my father. 

CHAPTER XLV. 

1 Joseph maketh himself known, to his brethren, 
and comforteth them in God's providence. 9 
Be sendeth for his father. 27 The spirit of 
Jacob is revived. 

T^IIEN Joseph could not refrain himself 
before all ihem that stood by him; and 
33 



CHAP. 44. 

3 Or, make 
trial. 
ver. 5. 

e Job 40. 4. 
/ ver. 9. 
g Prov. 17. 

15. 
h ch. 18. 30, 

32. 

Ex. 32. 22. 
t Prov. 19. 
12. 

ch. 41. 40. 
j ch. 37. 3. 
k ch. 42. 15. 

20. 
I ch. 43. 3, 

5. 
m ch. 43. 2. 
n ch. 46. 19. 
o ch. 37. 33. 
P ch. 42. 86, 

38. 
q 1 Sam. 18. 

1. 
r ch. 43. 9. 
« Ex. 32. 32. 

4 find my 
father. 
Ex. 18.8. 
Job 31. 29. 
Ps. 116, 3. 
Ps. 119, 
143. 



CHAP. 45. 

1 gave forth 
his voice in 
weeping. 
Nu. 14. 1. 

a Acts 7. 13. 

2 Or, terri- 
fied. 

Job 4. 5. 

Job 22. 16. 

Zech. 12. 

10. 

Ps. 77. 4. 

Mat. 14. 

26. 

Mark 6. 

50. 
6 ch. 37. 

28. 
c Is. 40. 2. 

2 Cor. 2. 7. 

3 neither let 
there be 
anger in 
your eves. 

d ch. 50. 20. 
Ps. 105.16, 
17. 

2 Sam. 16. 
10, 11. 
Acts 4. 24. 

4 to put for 
you a 
remnant. 

e ch. 41, 43. 

Judg. 17. 

10. 

Job 29. 16. 
/ch.47.1. 
9\ Tim. 5. 4. 
h ch. 42. 23. 
t Acts 7. 14. 

5 was good in 
ths eyes of 
Pharaoh. 
ch. 41. 37. 

ch. 27. 28. 

6 let not 
your eye 
spare, 
etc. 

7 mouth. 



he cried, Cause every man to go out from 
me. And there stood no man with him 
while Joseph made himself known unto his 
brethren. 

2 And he 1 wept aloud: and the Egyptians 
and the house of Pharaoh heard. 

3 And Joseph said unto his brethren, a I 
am Joseph: doth my father yet live? And 
his brethren could not answer him ; for they 
were 2 troubled at his presence. 

4 And Joseph said unto his brethren, 
Come near to me, I pray you. And they 
came near. And he said, I am Joseph 
your brother, b whom ye sold into Egypt. 

5 Now therefore c be not grieved 3 nor 
angry with yourselves that ye sold me 
hither; for d God did send me before you to 
preserve life. 

6 For these two years hath the famine 
been in the land: and yet there are live 
years, in the which there shall neither be 
earing nor harvest: 

7 And God sent me before you 4 to preserve 
you a posterity in the earth, and to save 
your lives by a great deliverance. 

8 So now, it was not you that sent me 
hither, but God: and he hath made me e a 
lather to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, 
and a rider throughout all the land or 
Egypt. 

9 Haste ye, and go up to my father, and 
say unto him. Thus saith thy son Josenb., 
God hath made me lord of ah Egypt: come 
down unto me, tarry not: 

10 And / thou shalt dwell in the land of 
Goshen, and thou shalt be near unto m* 1 ., 
thou, and thy children, and thy children's 
children, and thy flocks, and thy herds, and 
all that thou hast: 

11 And there will I nourish thee ; for g yet 
there are live years of famine ; lest thou, 
and thy household, and all that thou hast, 
come to poverty. 

12 And, behold, your eyes see, and the 
eyes of my brother Benjamin, that it is 
h my mouth that speaketh unto you. 

13 And ye shall tell my father of all my 
glory in Egypt, and of all that ye have seen; 
and' ye shall haste and * bring down my 
father hither. 

14 And he fell upon his brother Benjamin's 
neck, and wept; and Benjamin wept upon 
his neck. 

15 Moreover, he kissed all his brethren, 
and wept upon them : and after that his 
brethren talked with him. 

10 H And the fame thereof was heard in 
Pharaoh's house, saving, Joseph's brethren 
are come: and it 5 pleased Pharaoh well, 
and his servants. 

17 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Say 
unto thy bretliren, This do ye; lade your 
beasts, and go, get you unto the land of 
Canaan; 

18 And take your father, and your house- 
holds, and come unto me: and I will give 
you the good of the land of Egypt, and ye 
shall eat 3 the fat of the land. 

19 Now thou art commanded, this do ye; 
take you wagons out of the land of Egypt 
for yoiu little ones, and for your wives, and 
bring your father, and come. 

20 Also 6 regard not your stuff; for the 
good of all the land of Egypt is yours. 

21 And the children of Israel did so: and 
Joseph gave them wagons, according to 
the 7 commandment of Pharaoh, and gave 
them provision for the way. 



The Dinner. 



GENESIS, XLTV. Joseph's Policy to Stay his Frethren. 



u mer man-servant was intrusted with the 
m magement of the house (cf . 39. 5.). slay and 
m ke ready— H eb. "kill a killing"— implying 
preparations for a grand entertainment (cf. 
31. 54; lSam. 25. 11; Pro. 9. 2; Matt. 22. 4.). The 
animals have to be killed as well as prepared 
at home. The heat of the climate requires that 
the cook should take the joints directly from 
the hands oi the fie slier, and the Oriental taste 
is, from habit, fond of ne wly -killed meat. A 
great profusion of viands, with an inexhaust- 
ible supply of vegetables, was provided for 
the repasts, to which strangers were invited, 
the pride of Egyptian nations consisting rather 
in the quantity and variety than in the choice 
or delicacy of the dishes at their table, dine 
at noon— the hour of di nner was at midday. 18. 
the men were afraid— Their feelings of awe on 
entering the stately mansion, unaccustomed 
as they were to houses at all— their anxiety 
at the reasons of their being taken there— 
their solicitude about the restored money— 
their honest simplicity in communicating 
their distress to the steward, and his assur- 
ance of having received their money in "full 
weight"— the offering of their fruit present, 
which would, as usual, be done with some 
parade, and the Oriental salutations that 
passed between their host and them,— are 
all described in a graphic and animated 
manner. 

31-34. The Dinner. Joseph said, Set on 
bread— equivalent to having dinner served, 
bread being a term inclusive of all victuals. 
The table was a small stool, most probably 
the usual round form, " since persons might 
even then be seated according to their rank 
or seniority, and the modern Egyptian table 
is not without its post of honour and a fixed 
gradation of place." [Wilk.] Two or at most 
three persons were seated at one table. But 
the host being the highest in rank of the 
company, had a table to himself; whilst it 
was so arranged that an Egyptian was not 
placed nor obliged to eat from the same dish 
as an Hebrew, for that is an abomination— the 
prejudice probably arose from the detesta- 
tion in which, from the oppressions of the 
shepherd-kings, the nation held all of that 
occupation. 34. took mess . . . Benjamin's five 
times— in Egypt, as in other Oriental coun- 
tries, there were, and are, two modes of 
paying attention to a guest whom the host 
wishes to honour— either by giving a choice 
piece from his own hand, or ordering it to 
be taken to the stranger. The degree of 
respect shown consists in the quantity, and 
while the ordinary rule of distinction is 
a double mess, it must have appeared a 
very distinguished mark of favour bestowed | 
on Benjamin to have no less than five times j 
any of his brethren, drank and were merry— 
Heb. " drank freely," same as Sol. Song, 5. 1; 
Jo. 11. 10. In all these cases the idea of in- 
temperance is excluded. The painful anxie- 
ties and cares of Joseph's brethren were dis- 
pelled, and they were at ease. 

CHAPTER XLIV. 

1-34. Policy to Stay his Brethren. And 
Joseph commanded his steward— The design oi 
putting the cup into the sack of Benjamin 
was obviously to bring that young man into 
a situation of difficulty or danger, in order 
thereby to discover how far the brotherly 
feelings of the rest would be roused to sym- 
pathise with his distress, and stimulate their 
exertions in procuring his deliverance. But 
38 



for what purpose was the money restored ? It 
was done, in the first instance, from kindly 
feelings to his father; but another and farther 
design seems to have been, the prevention of 
any injurious impressions as to the character 
of Benjamin. The discovery of the cup in 7? is 
possession, if there had been nothing else to 
judge by, might have fastened a painful sus- 
picion of guilt on the youngest brother; but 
the sight of the money in each man's sack 
would lead all to the same conclusion, that 
Benjamin was just as innocent as themselves, 
although the additional circumstance of the 
cup being found in his sack would bring him 
into greater trouble and danger. 2. my cup, 
the silver cup— it was a large goblet, as the 
original denotes, highly valued by its owner, 
on account of its costly material, or its ele- 
gant finish, and which had probably graced 
his table at the sumptuous entertainment of 
the previous day. 3. as soon as the morning. .. 
the men were sent away — they commenced 
their homeward journey at early dawn (see 
on 18. 2.); and it may be readily supposed in 
high spirits, after so happy an issue from all 
their troubles and anxieties. 4. when gone 
out of the city . . . Joseph sent his steward— 
they were brought to a sudden halt by the 
stunning intelligence that an article of rare 
value was a-missing from the governor's 
house. It was a silver cup; so strong suspi- 
cions were entertained against them, that a 
special messenger was despatched to search 
them. 5. is not this it— not only kept for the 
governor's personal use, but whereby he di- 
vineth . Divination by cups, to ascertain the 
course of futurity, was one of the prevalent 
superstitions of ancient Egypt, as it is of 
Eastern countries still. It is not likely 
that Joseph, a pious believer in the true 
God, would have addicted himself to this 
superstitious practice. But he might have 
availed himself of that popular notion to 
carry out the successful execution of his 
stratagem for the last decisive trial of his 
brethren. 6, 7. he overtook them, and spake 
these words — the intelligence must have 
come upon them like a thunderbolt, and 
one of their most predominant feelings 
must have been the humiliating and gal- 
ling sense of being made so often objects of 
suspicion. Protesting their innocence, they 
invited a search. The challenge was ac- 
cepted. Beginning with the eldest, every 
sack was examined, and the cup being 
found in Benjamin's, they all returned in 
an indescribable agony of mind to the house 
of the governor, throwing themselves at his 
feet, with the remarkable confession, " God 
hath iound out the iniquity of thy servants." 
16-34. Judah . . . what shall we say ?— this ad- 
dress needs no comment — consisting at first 
of short, broken sentences, as if, under the 
overwhelming force of the speaker's emo- 
tions, his utterance were choked, it becomes 
more free and copious by the effort ot speak- 
ing, as he proceeds. Every word finds its 
way to the heart; and it may well be ima- 
gined that Benjamin, who stood there speech- 
less, like a victim about to be laid on the 
altar, when he heard the magnanimous offer 
of Judah to submit to slavery for his ran- 
som: would be bound by a lifelong gratitude 
to his generous brother— a tie that seems 
to have become hereditary in his tribe. 
Joseph's behaviour must not be viewed 
from any single point, or in separate 



Jacob goeth into Egypt. 



GENESIS, XL VI, XLV1I. 



Joseph meeteth Mm, 



22 To all of them he gave each man 
changes of raiment; hut to Benjamin he 
gave three hundred pieces of silver, and 
five changes of raiment. 

23 And to his father he sent after this 
•manner; ten asses 8 laden with the good 
things of Egypt, and ten she-asses laden 
v ith corn and bread and meat for bis father 
by the way. 

24 So he sent his brethren away, and they 
departed: and he said mito them, See that 
ye fall not out by the way. 

lb And they went up out of Egypt, and 
came into the land of Canaan unto Jacob 
their father, 

26 And told him, saying, Joseph is yet 
alive, and he is governor over all the land 
of Egypt. *And y Jacob's heart fainted, for 
he believed them not. 

27 And they told him all the words of 
Joseph, which he had said unto them: and 
when he saw the wagons which Joseph had 
Bt-nt to carry him, the spirit of Jacob their 
father revived: 

28 And Israel said, It is enough; Joseph 
my son is yet alive: I will go and see him 
before I die. 

CHAPTER XL VI. 
] Jacob is coinforted by God at Beer-sheba : 6 he 
goeth into Egypt : 8 the number of his family ; 
28 Joseph meetetk him. 

A ND Israel took his journey with all that 
■* *- he had, and came to a Beer-sheba, and 

:Fered sacrifices & unto the God of his father 
Isaac. 

2 And God spake unto Israel c in the vi- 
sions of the night, and said, Jacob, Jacob. 
And he said, Here am I. 

3 And he said, I am God, d the God of thy 
father: fear not to go down into Egyyt ; for 

1 will there e make of thee a great action. 
4/1 will go down with thee into Egypt ; 

and I will also surely g bring thee up again: 
and h Joseph shall put his hand upon thine 
eyes. 

5 And * Jacob rose up from Beer-sheba: 
and the sons of Israel carried Jacob their 
father, and their little ones, and their wives, 
in the wagons which Pharaoh had sent to 
carry him, 

ey 

goods, w hich they had gotten m the land 
of Canaan, and came into Egypt, i Jacob, 
and all his seed with him: 

7 His sons, and his sons' sons with him, his 
daughters, and his sons' daughters, and all 
his seed, brought he with him into Egypt. 

8 IT And k these are the names of the chil- 
dren of Israel which came into Egypt, Jacob 
and his sons: l Reuben, Jacob's first-born. 

9 And the sons of Reuben ; Hanoch, and 
Pballu, and Hezron, and Carmi. 

10 And m the sons of Simeon; i Jemuel, 
and Jamin, and Ohad, and 2 Jachin, and 
3 Zohar, and Shaul the son of a Canaanitish 
woman. 

11 And the sons of Levi; *Gershon, Ko- 
h.ith, and Merari. 

12 And the sons of Judah; Er, and Onan, 
and Shelah, and Pharez, and Zarah: but 
" Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan. 
A nd ° the sons of Pharez were Hezron and 
I amid. 

13 And the sons of Issachar; Tola, and 
& Phuvah, and Job, and Shimron. 

14 And the sons of Zebulun; Sered, and 
lion, and Jahleel. 

L5 These be the sons of Leah, which she 
39 



B. C. 1706. 



CHAP. 46. 

8 carrying. 

k Ps. 126. 1. 
Luke 24. 
11,41. 

9 his. 



CHAP. 46. 
a ch. 21. 31. 

b ch. 26. 24. 

ch. 28. 13. 

ch. 31. 42. 
C ch. 15. 1. 

Job 33. 14, 

15. 
d ch. 28. 13. 
e ch. 12. 2. 

Dcu. 26. 5. 

Ex. 1. 9. 
/ ch. 28. 15. 

ch. 48. 21. 
g ch. 15. 16. 
ch. 50. 13, 

24.25. 
Ex. 3. 8. 
h ch. 50. 1. 
i ch. 15,13. 

Acts 7. 15. 
j Deu. 26. 5. 

Josh. 24. 4. 

Ps. 105. 23. 

Is. 52. 4. 
* Ex. 1.1. 

Ex. 6. 14. 

1 Nu. 26. 5. 
1 Chr. 5. 1. 

™ Ex. 6. 15. 

1 Ch. 4. 24. 

lOr.Nemuel. 

2 Or, Jarib. 

3 Or, Zerah, 
1 Ch. 4. 24. 

4 Or, Ger- 
shorn. 

n ch. 38. 3. 
o ch. 38. 29. 
1 Chr. 2. 5. 

5 Or, Puah, 
and Jasl.ub. 

P Nu. 26. 15, 
Zephon. 

6 Or, Ozni. 

7 Or, Arod. 
9 1 Ch. 7. 30. 
r ch. 30. 10. 
e ch. 41. 50. 

8 Or, prince. 
t 1 Chr. 7. 6, 
w Nu. 26. 38, 

Ahiram. 
t)Nu. 26.39, 
Shupham. 
lCh.7.12, 
Shuppim. 

9 Hnpham. 
w 1 Ch. 7. 12. 

10 Or, Shu- 
ham. 

a; 1 Chr. 7.13. 
V ch. 30. 5, 7. 
z ch. 29. 29. 
a Ex. 1. 5. 

11 thigh. 

b Deu. 10. 22. 
Acts 7. 14. 
Cch.31. 21. 
d Luke 2. 29. 

12 they are 
men of 
cattle. 

e ch. 47. 2, 3. 
/ ch. 30. 35. 

ch. 34. 5. 

ch. 37. 12. 
g Ex. 8. 26. 



CHAP. 47. 
a ch. 46. SL 



into Egypt, which came out of his n loins, 
besides Jacob's sons' wives, all the souls 



bare unto Jacob in Padan-aram, with his 
daughter Dinah: all the souls of his sons 
and his daughters were thirty and three. 

16 And the sons of Gad ; p Ziphion, and 
Haggi, Shuni, and 6 Ezbon, Eri, and 
"* Arodi, and Areli. 

17 And ? the sons of Asher; Jimnah, and 
Ishuah, and Isui, and Beriah, and Serah 
their sister: and the sons of Beriah; Heber, 
and Malchiel. 

18 r These are the sons of Zilpah, w r hom 
Laban gave to Leah his daughter; and these 
she bare unto Jacob, even sixteen souls. 

Id The sons of Rachel, Jacob's wile; Jo- 
seph, and Benjamin. 

20 8 And unto Joseph in the land of Eerypt 
were born Manasseh and Ephraim, which 
Asenath the daughter of Poti-pherah Spriest 
of On bare imto him. 

21 * And the sons of Benjamin were Belah, 
andBecher. andAshbehGera, and Naaman, 
"Ehi, and Rosh, v Muppim, and 9 Huppim, 
and Ard. 

22 These are the sons of Rachel, which 
were born to Jacob: all the souls were 
fourteen. 

23 w And the sons of Dan; w Hushim. 

24 x And the sons of Naphtali; Jahzeel, 
and Guni, and Jezer, and Shillem. 

25 v These are the sons of Bilhah, 2 which 
Laban gave unto Rachel his daughter; and 
she bare these unto Jacob: all the souls 
were seven. 

26 a All the souls that came with Jacob 

gypt 

s Ja 

were threescore and six. 

27 And the sons of Joseph, which were 
born him in Egypt, were two souls: b all the 
souls of the house of Jacob, which came 
into Egypt, were threescore and ten. 

28 IT And he sent Judah before him unto 
Joseph, c to direct his face unto Goshen; 
and they came into the land of Goshen. 

29 Ana Joseph made ready his chariot, 
and went up to meet Israel his father, 
to Goshen, and presented himself unto him ; 
and he fell on his neck, and wept on his 
neck a good while. 

30 And Israel said unto Joseph, d Now let 
me die, since I have seen thy face, because 
thou art yet alive. 

31 And Joseph said unto his brethren, and 
unto his father's house, I will go up, and 
show r Pharaoh, and say unto him, My breth- 
ren, and my father's house, which were 
in the land of Canaan, are come unto me; 

32 And the men are shepherds, for l ~ their 
trade hath been to feed cattle- and they 
have brought their flocks, and their herds, 
and all that they have. 

33 And it shall come to pass, when Pha- 
raoh shall call you, and shall say, 6 What 
is your occupation? 

34 That ye shall say, Thy servants' trade 
hath been about cattle / from our youth 
even until now, both we and also our la- 
thers : that ye may dwell in the land uf 
Goshen: for every shepherd is ,J an abomi- 
nation unto the Egyptians. 

CHAPTER XL VII. 

1 Joseph presenteth five of his brethren, 7 and his 
fo.ti.er, before Fharaoh: 11 he giveth them habi- 
tation and maintenance. 13 -tie getteth all (he 
Egyptians' property to Fharaoh. 22 The priests' 
land not bought, etc. 

rpHEN Joseph a came and told Pharaoh, 
± and said, My father and my brethren, 



Joseph making himself Known. GENESIS, XL V, XLVI. 



Sacrifice at Beer-sheba. 



parts, but as a whole — a well-thought, 
deep - laid, closely - connected plan : and 
though some features of it do certainly 
exhibit an appearance of harshness, yet the 
pervading principle of his conduct was real, 

genuine brotherly kindness. Eead in this 
ght, the narrative oi the proceedings de- 
scribes the continuous, though secret pursuit 
of one end ; and Joseph discovers, in his 
management of the scheme, a very high or- 
der of intellect— a warm and susceptible 
heart, united to a judgment that exerted a 
complete control over his feelings— a happy 
invention in devising means towards the 
attainment of his ends, and an inflexible 
adherence to the course however painful 
which prudence required. 

CHAPTER XLV. 
Ver. 1-28. Joseph making Himself 
Known. 1. Then Joseph could not refrain— 
The severity of the inflexible magistrate here 
gives way to the natural feelings of the man 
and the brother. However well he had 
disciplined his mind, he felt it impossible to 
resist the artless eloquence of Judah. He 
saw a satisfactory proof, in the return of all 
his brethren on such an occasion, that they 
were affectionately united to one another; 
he had heard enough to convince him, that 
time, reflection, or grace had made a happy 
improvement on their character; and he 
would, probably, have proceeded in a calm 
and leisurely manner, to reveal himself as 
prudence might have dictated. But when 
he heard the heroic self-sacrifice of Judah, 
and realised all the affection of that propo- 
sal—a proposal for which he was totally un- 
prepared—he was completely unmanned ; 
lie felt himself forced to bring this pain- 
ful trial to an end. he cried, Cause every man 
to go out— In ordering the departure of 
witnesses, of this last scene, he acted as a 
warm-hearted and real friend to his brothers 
—his conduct was dictated by motives of the 
highest prudence— that of preventing their 
early iniquities from becoming known either 
to the members of his household, or amongst 
the people oi Egypt. 2. he wept aloud— No 
doubt, from the fulness of highly excited 
feelings; but to indulge in vehement and 
long-continued transports of sobbing, is the 
usual way in which the Orientals express 
their grief. 3-12. 1 am Joseph— The emotions 
that now rose in the breast of himself as 
well as his brethren— and chased each other 
in rapid succession— were many and violent. 
He was agitated by sympathy and joy ; 
they were astonished, confounded, terrified; 
and betrayed their terror, by shrinking as 
far as they could from his presence. So 
*' troubled" were they, that he had to repeat 
his announcement of himself; and what kind, 
affectionate terms did he use. He spoke of 
their having sold him— not to wound their 
feelings: but to convince them of his iden- 
tity; and then, to re-assure their minds, he 
traced the agency of an overruling Providence, 
in his exile and present honour. Not that he 
wished them to roll the responsibility of 
their crime on God; no, his only object 
was to encourage their confidence, and 
induce them to trust in the p]ans he had 
formed for the future comfort of their 
father and themselves. 6. for yet five 
years . . . neither earing nor harvest — Ear is 
an old English word, meaning to plough 
(cf. 1 Sam. 8. 12; Is. 30. 24.). This seems to 



confirm the view given (41. 57,) that the 
famine was caused by an extraordinary 
drought, which prevented the annual over- 
flowing of the Nile; and of course made the 
land unfit to receive the seed of Egypt. 
14, 15. and he fell upon the neck of Benjamin— 
The sudden transition from a condemned 
criminal to a fondled brother, might have 
occasioned fainting or even death, had not 
his tumultuous feelings been relieved by a 
torrent of tears. But Joseph's attentions 
were not confined to Benjamin. He affec- 
tionately embraced every one of his brothers 
in succession ; and by those actions, his 
forgiveness was demonstrated more fully 
than it could be by words. 17-20. Pharaoh 
said unto Joseph, Say unto your brethren— 
As Joseph might have been prevented by 
delicacy — the king himself* invited the 

Satriarch and all his family to migrate into 
Igypt; and made most liberal arrangements 
for their removal and their subsequent settle - 
ment. It displays the character of this 
Pharaoh to advantage, that he was so kind to 
the relatives of Joseph, but indeed the great- 
est liberality he could shew, could never 
recompense the services of so great a bene- 
factor of his kingdom. 21. Joseph gave 
them wagons —which must have been novel- 
ties in Palestine; for wheeled carriages were 
and are almost unknown there. 22. changes 
of raiment — It was and is customary with 
great men, to bestow on their friends dresses 
of distinction, and in places, where they 
are of the same description and quality, 
the value of these presents consists in their 
number. The great number given to Benja- 
min, bespoke the warmth of his brother's 
attachment to him ; and Joseph felt, from 
the amiable temper they now all displayed 
—he might, with perfect safety, indulge 
this fond partiality for a mother's sou. 
23. to his father he sent— a supply of every 
thing that could contribute to his support 
and comfort— the large and liberal scale on 
which that supply was given being intended 
—like the five messes of Benjamin— as a token 
of his filial love. 24. so he sent his brethren 
away— In dismissing them on their home- 
ward journey, he gave them this parting 
admonition: See that ye fall not out by the 
way " — a caution that would be greatly 
needed; for not only during the journey 
would they be occupied in recalling the parts 
they had respectively acted in the events 
that led to Joseph's being sold into Egypt; 
but their wickedness would soon have to 
come to the knowledge of their venerable 
father. 

CHAPTER XLVI. 
Ver. 1-4. Sacrifice at Beer-sheba. 1. 
Israel took his journey with all that he had— 
that is, his household: for in compliance witli 
Pharaoh's recommendation, he left his heavy 
furniture behind. In contemplating a step si > 
important as that of leaving Canaan, which 
at his time of life he might never revisit, 
so pious a patriarch would ask the guid- 
ance and counsel of God. "With all his 
anxiety to see Joseph, he would rather 
have died in Canaan without that high- 
est of earthly gratifications, than leave 
it without the consciousness of carry- 
ing the divine blessing along with him. 
came to Beer-sheba— That place, which was in 
his direct route to Egypt, had been a favour- 
ite encampment of Abraham (21. 33.) and 



Jacob is presented to Pharaoh. GENESIS, XLY III. , Joseph's dealings in the famine. 



and their liocks, and their herds, and all 
that they have, are come ont of the land of 
Canaan ; and, behold, they are in 6 the land 
of Goshen. 

2 And lie took some of his brethren, even 
five men, and : presented them unto Pha- 
raoh. 

3 And Pharaoh said onto his brethren, 
d What is your occupation? And they said 
onto Pharaoh, s Thy servants are shep- 
herds, both we, and also our fathers. 

4 They said, moreover, unto Pharaoh, 
/For to sojourn in the land are we come; 
for thy servants have no pasture for their 
flocks ; 9 for the famine is sore in the land 
of Canaan: now therefore, we pray thee, 
let thy servants h dwell in the land of 
Goshen. 

5 And Pharaoh spake unto Joseph, saying, 
Thy lather and thy brethren are come unto 
thee: 

6 ■ The land of Egypt is before thee: in 
the best of the land make thy father and 
brethren to dwell ; i in the land of Gosken 
let them dwell: and if thou knowest any 
men of activity among them, then make 
them * rulers over my cattle. 

7 And J oseph brougnt in Jacob his father, 
and set him before Pharaoh : and Jacob 
blessed Pharaoh. 

8 And Pharaoh said unto Jacob, * How old 
art thou? 

9 And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, * The 
days of the years of my pilgrimage are an 
hundred and thirty years: m few and evil 
have the days of the years of my life been, 
and n have not attained unto the days of 
the years of the life of my fathers in the 
days of their pilgrimage. 

10 And Jacob "blessed Pharaoh, and went 
out from before Pharaoh. 

11 If And J oseph placed his father and his 
brethren, and gave them a possession in 
the land of Egypt, in the best of the land. 
in the land of ^ Barneses, 3 as Pharaoh had 
commanded. 

12 And J oseph nourished his r father, and 
his brethren, and all his father's household, 
■^ith bread, 2 according to their families. 

13 H And there was no bread in all the 
land; for the famine was very sore, a so 
that the land of Egypt, and alt the land of 
Canaan, fainted by reason of the famine. 

14 * And Joseph gathered up all the 
money that was found in the land of 
Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, for 
the corn which they bought: and Jo- 
seph brought the money into Pharaoh's 
house. 

15 And when money failed in the land of 
Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, all the 
Egyptians came unto Joseph, and said, 
Give us bread: for u why should we die in 
th 



fail, 

17 And they brought their cattle unto 
Joseph: and Joseph gave them bread in 
exchange for horses, and for the flocks, and 
for the cattle of the herds, and for the asses ; 
and he * fed them with bread for all their 
cattle for that year. 

18 When that year was ended, they came 
unto him the second year, and said unto 
him, We will not hide it from my lord, 
h< w that our money is spent; my lord also 
haxh. oiu- LticLs oi cattle: there is not ought 

40 



CHAP. 47. 
b ch. 45. 10. 

ch. 46. 28. 
e Acts 7. 13. 
d ch. 46. 33. 
e ch. 46 34. 
/ ch. 15. 13. 

Deut. »}. 5. 

Ps. 105. 23. 

Is. 52. 4. 
g ch. 43. 1. 

Acts 7. 11. 
h ch. 46. 34. 
t ch. 20. 15. 
j ver. 4. 
k 1 Kings 11. 

28. 

Pror. 22. 

29. 

Prov. 12. 

24. 
1 How many 

are the 

days of the 

years of 

thv life? 
I Heb. 11. 9, 

13. 

Ps. 39. 12. 

m Job 14.1. 

Ec. 2. 23. 

n ch. 25. 7. 

ch. 35. 28. 

ver. 7. 

p Ex.1. 11. 
Ex. 12. 37. 

1 ver. 6. 

r Pror.10.1. 
Ex. 20. 12. 

2 Or, as a 
little 
child ia 
nourished; 
according 
to the lit- 
tle ones, 
ch. 50. 21. 

« ch. 41. 30. 
Acts 7, 11. 
t ch. 41 56. 
u ver. 19. 

4 led them. 

v Ezra 7. 24. 

5 Or, princes, 
ch. 41. 45. 
2 Sam. 8. 
13. 

w ch. 33. 15. 
« ver 22. 

6 Or, princes. 
V ver. 11. 

* ch. 46. 3. 

7 the days 
of the 
years of 
his life. 

a Deut. 31. 

14. 

1 Kin. 2. 1. 
ft ch. 24. 2. 
c ch. 24. 49. 
d ch. 50. 25. 
e 2 Sam. 19, 

37. 
/ ch. 49. 29. 

ch. 50. 5, 

13. 
9 ch. 48. 2. 

IKin. L 

47. 

Heb. 11. 

21. 



CHAP. 48. 
« ch. 28. 13, 
19. 
ch. 35. 6, 

9, BM5. 



left in the sight of my lord, but our bodies 
and our lands: 

19 Wherefore shall we die before thine 
eyes, both we and our land? buy us and 
our land for bread, and we and our land 
will be sen-ants unto Pharaoh; and give 
us seed, that we may live, and not die, 
that the land be not desolate. 

20 And J oseph bought all the land of 
Egypt for Pharaoh ; for the Egyptians sold 
every man his field, because the famine 

?revailed over them: so the land became 
'haraoh's. 

21 And as for the people, he removed them 
to cities from one end of the borders of 
Egypt even to the other end thereof. 

22 * Only the land of the 5 priests bought 
he not: for the priests had a portion assign- 
ed them of Pharaoh, and did eat their por- 
tion which Pharaoh gave them ; wherefore 
they sold not their lands. 

23 Then Joseph said unto the people, Be- 
hold, I have bought you this day and your 
land for Pharaoh: lo, here is seed for you, 
and ye shall sow the land. 

24 And it shall come to pass in the in- 
crease, that ye shall give the fifth part un- 
to Pharaoh; and four parts shall be your 
own, for seed of the field, and for your 
food, and for them of your households, and 
for food for your little ones. 

25 And they said, Thou hast saved our 
lives: w let us find grace in the sight of 
my lord, and we will be Pharaoh s ser- 
vants. 

26 And Joseph made it a law over the 
land of Egypt unto this day, that Pharaoh 
should have the fifth part; x except the 
land of the 6 priests only, which became 
not Pharaoh's. 

27 1T And Israel v dwelt in the land of 
Egypt, in the country of Goshen ; and they 
had possessions therein, and z grew, and 
multiplied exceedingly. 

28 And Jacob lived m the land of Egypt 
seventeen years: so 7 the whole age of Ja- 
cob was an hundred forty and seven years. 

29 And the time a drew nigh that Israel 
must die: and he called his son Joseph, 
and said unto him. If now I have found 
grace in thy sight, ° put. I pray thee, thy 
hand under my thigh, and c deal kindly 
and truly with me : d bury me not, I pray 
thee, in Egypt: 

30 But e I will lie with my fathers ; and 
thou shalt carry me out of Egypt, and 
/ bury me in their burying-place. And he 
said, I will do as thou hast said. 

31 And he said, Swear unto me. And he 
sware unto him. And g Israel bowed him- 
self upon the bed's head. 

CHAPTEK XLVIII. 
1 Joseph with his sons visiteth his sick father. 
3 Jacob reveateth Gcd's promise, and takiih 
Evhraim and Manasseh as his own: he Uk.<s< th 
Joseph's two sons with their father, and prefer' 
reth the younger before the elders 21 Me f/rophe- 
sieth their return to Canaan. 

A 2sD it came to pass after these things, 
■"- that one tola Joseph, Behold, thy 
father is sick: and he took with him his 
two sons. Manasseh and Ephraim. 

2 And owe told Jacob, and said. Behold, 
thy son Joseph comet h unto thee: and Is- 
rael strengthened himself', and sat unon the 
bed. 

3 And Jacob said unto Joseph. God Al- 
mighty appeared unto me at ■ Luz in the 
land of U-iiu^n, una blt&aed me. 



Immigration to Egypt. 



GENESIS, XLVTX 



Presentation at Court. 



Isaac (26. 25), and was memorable for their ition from Joseph as to the locale of their 
experience of the divine goodness; and Jacob ! future settlement. 29, SO. Joseph made read/ 
seems to have deferred his public devotions ! his chariot— The difference between chariot 
till he had reached a spot so consecrated by [ and waggon was not only in the lighter and 
covenant to his own God and the God of his more elegant construction of the former, 



fathers. 2--4. God spake unto Israel— Here is a 
virtual renewal of the covenant and an assu- 
rance of its blessings. Moreover, here is 
an answer on the chief subject of Jacob's 
prayer, and a removal of any doubt as to 
the course he was meditating. At first the 
rospect of paying a personal visit to Joseph 



I 



but in the one being drawn by horses and the 
other by oxen. Being a public man in Egypt, 
Joseph was required to appear everywhere 
in an equipage suitable to his dignity; and, 
therefore, it was not owing either to pride 
or ostentatious parade that he drove his car- 
riage, while his father's family were accom- 



ad been viewed with unmingled joy. t But, | modated only in rude and humble waggons. 



on calmer consideration, many difficulties ap- 
peared to lie in the way. He might remember 
the prophecy to Abraham that h s posterity 
was to be afflicted in Egypt, and also that 
his father had been expressly told not to 
go; he might fear the contamination of 
idolatry to his family and their forgetfulness 
of the land of promise. These doubts were 
removed by the answer of the oracle, and an 
assurance given him of great and increasing 
prosperity. I will make of thee a great nation 
—How truly this promise was fulfilled, ap- 
pears in the fact, that the seventy souls who 
went down into Egypt increased, in the space 
of 215 years, to 180,000. I will surely bring 
thee up again— As Jacob could not expect to 
live till the former promise was realized, he 
must have seen that the latter was to be ac- 
complished only to his posterity. To him- 
self it was literally verified in the removal of 
his remains to Canaan; but, in the large and 
liberal sense of the words, it was made good 
only on the establishment of Israel in the 
land of promise. Joseph shall put his hand 
on thine eyes— shall perform the last office 
of filial piety; and this implied that he 
should henceforth enjoy, without interrup- 
tion, the society of that favourite son. 

5-27. Immigration to Egypt. 5. Jacob rose 
up from Beer-sheba— to cross the border, and 
settle in Egypt. However refreshed and in- 
vigorated in spirit by the religious services 
at Beer-sheba, he was now borne down by 
the infirmities of advanced age; and, there- 
fore, his sons undertook all the trouble and 
toil of the arrangements, while the enfeebled 
old patriarch, with the wives and children, 
was conveyed, by slow and leisurely stages, 
in the Egyptian vehicles sent for their ac- 
commodation. 6. goods which they had got- 
ten—not furniture, but substance— precious 
things. 7. daughters— As Dinah was his only 
daughter, this must mean daughters-in-law. 
all his seed brought he with him— Though dis- 
abled by age from active superintendance, 
yet, as the venerable shieck of the tribe, he 
was looked upon as their common head, and 
consulted in every step. 8-27. all the souls . . 
which came into Egypt . . . threescore and ten— 
Strictly speaking, there -were only sixty-six 
went to Egypt; but to these add Joseph and 
his two sons, and Jacob the head of the 
clan, and the whole number amounts to 



presented himself— in an attitude of filial re- 
verence (cf Ex. 22. 17.). The interview was 
a most affecting one— the happiness of the 
delighted father was now at its height; and 
life having no higher charms, he could, in 
the very spirit of the aged Simeon, have de- 
parted in peace. 31-34. Joseph said, I will 
go up and shew Pharaoh— It was a tribute of 
respect due to the king to apprize him of 
their arrival. And the instructions which 
he gave them were worthy of his character 
alike as an affectionate brother and a reli- 
gious man. 

CHAPTER XLVH. 
Ver. 1-31. Presentation at Court. 1. 
Joseph told Pharaoh, My father and brethren- 
Joseph furnishes a beautiful example of a 
man who could bear equally well the ex- 
tremes of prosperity and adversity. High as 
he was, he did not forget that he had a su- 
perior. Dearly as he loved his father, and 
anxiously as he desired to provide for the 
whole family, he would not go into the ar- 
rangements he had planned for their stay in 
Goshen, until he had obtained the sanction 
of his royal master. 2. took some of hi3 
brethren— probably the five eldest brothers' 
seniority being the least invidious principle 
of selection. 4. for to sojourn are we come— 
the royal conversation took the course 
which Joseph had anticipated (46. 33.), and 
they answered according to previous in- 
structions—manifesting, however, in their 
determination to return to Canaan, a faith 
and piety which affords a hopeful symp- 
tom of their having become all, or most 
of them, religious men. 7. Joseph brought 
in, &c. — there is a pathetic and most af- 
fecting interest attending this interview with 
royalty; and when, with all the simplicity 
and dignified solemnity of a man of God, 
Joseph signalized his entrance by imploring, 
the Divine blessing on the royal head, it may 
easily be imagined" what a striking impres- 
sion the scene would produce (cf. Heb. 7. 7.). 
8. Pharaoh said unto Jacob, <fec— the question 
was put from the deep and impressive inte- 
rest which the appearance of the old patri - 
arch had created in the minds of Pharaoh 
and his court. In the low-lying land of 
Egypt, and from the artificial habits of its 
society, the age of man was far shorter 
amongst the inhabitants of that country than 



seventy. In the speech of Stephen (A. 7. 14.) it had yet become in the pure bracing climate 



the number is stated to be seventy-five- but 
as that estimate includes five sons of Eph- 
raim and Manasseh (1 Chron. 7. 14-20), born 
in Egypt, the two accounts coincide. 

28-34. Arrival in Egypt. 28. sentJudah 
before him unto Joseph— This precautionary 
measure was obviously proper for apprizing 
the king of the entrance of so large a com- 
pany within his territories; moreover, it 
was necessary in order to receive instruc- 
40 



and among the simple mountaineers of Ca- 
naan. The Hebrews, at least, still attained a 
protracted longevity. 9. the days, &c— Though 
130 years, he reckons by days (cf. Ps. 90. 12.), 
which he calls few, as they appeared in the re- 
trospect, and evil, because his fife had been 
one almost unbroken series of trouble. The 
answer is remarkable, considering the com- 
parative darkness of the patriarchal age (cf. 
2 Tim. 1. 10.). 11. Joseph placed.. -in the 



Jacob's last 



GENESIS, XLTX. 



prophetic blessing. 



4 And said unto me, Behold, I will make 
thee fruitful, and multiply thee, and 1 will 
make of thee a multitude of people ; and 
will give this land to thy seed after thee b 
for an everlasting possession. 

5 And now thy ■ two sons, Ephraim and 
Manasseh, which were born unto thee in 
the land of Egypt before 1 came unto thee 
into Egypt, are mine: as Reuben and Sime- 
on, they shall be mine. 

6 And thy issue, which thou begettest af- 
ter them, shall be thine, and shall be called 
after the name of their brethren in their 
inheritance. 

7 And as for me, when I came. from Pa- 
dan, d Rachel died by me in the land of 
Canaan in the way, when yet there ivas but 
a little way to come unto Ephrath: and I 
buried her there in the way of Ephrath; the 
same is Beth-lehem. 

8 And Israel beheld Joseph's sons, and 
said, "Who are these? 

9 And Joseph said unto his father, e They 
are my sons, whom God hath given me in 
this place. And he said, Bring them, I pray 
thee, unto me, and /I will bless them. 

10 Now g the eyes of Israel were l dim for 
age, so that he could not see. And he 
brought them near unto him; and h he 
kissed them, and embraced them. 

11 And Israel said unto Joseph, « I had not 
thought to see thy face ; and, lo, God hath 
showed me also thy seed. 

12 And Joseph brought them out from be- 
tween his knees, and he bowed himself with 
his face to the earth. 

13 And Joseph took them both, Ephraim 
in his right hand toward Israel's left hand, 
and Manasseh in his left hand toward Is- 
rael's right hand, and brought them near 
unto him. 

14 And Israel stretched out his right hand, 
and laid it upon Ephraim 's head, who was 
the younger, and his left hand upon Ma- 
nasseh's head, guiding his hands wittingly; 
for Manasseh was the first-born. 

15 1F And i he blessed Joseph, and said ? 
God,before whom my fathers Abraham and 
Isaac did walk, the God which fed me all my 
life long unto this day, 

16 The Angel k which redeemed me from 
all evil, bless the lads ; and let l my name 
be named on them, and the name of my 
fathers Abraham and Isaac ; and let them 
2 grow into a multitude in the midst of the 
earth. 

17 And when Joseph saw that his father 
™laid his right hand upon the head of 
Ephraim, it 3 displeased him: and he held 
up his father's hand, to remove it from 
Ephraim 's head unto Manasseh's head. 

18 And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, 
my father: for this is the first-born; put thy 
right hand upon his head. 

19 And his father refused, and said, I know 
it, my son, I know it: he also shall become 
apeople t and he also shall be great; but 
truly n his younger brother shall be greater 
than he, and his seed shall become a * mul- 
titude of nations. 

20 And he blessed them that day, saying, 
°In thee shall Israel bless, saying, God 
make thee as Ephraim, and as Manasseh: 
and he set Ephraim before Manasseh. 

21 And Israel said unto Joseph, Behold, I 
die; but ? God shall be -with you, and bring 
you again unto the land of your lathers. 

22 Moreover « I have given to thee one I 

il 



CHAP. 48. 

b ch. 17. 3. 
Cch. 41. 50. 

ch. 46. 20. 

Josh. 13. 7. 

Josh. 14. 4. 
d ch. 35. 19. 
e ch. 33. 5. 
/ch.27. 4. 
g ch. 27. 1. 
1 heavY. 

Is. 5" 10. 
h ch. 27. 27. 
i ch. 45. 28. 
.7Heb.ll.21. 
k ch. 23. 15. 

1 Amos 9. 12. 
Acts 15.17. 

2 as fishes do 
increase. 

m ver. 14. 

3 was evil in 
his eyes. 

n Nu. 2. 19. 
Deu. 33.17. 

4 fulness. 

o Ruth 4. 11. 
P ch. 50. 24. 
q Jos. 24. 32. 

1 Chr. 5. 2. 

John 4. 5. 
*" ch. 34. 28. 

Jos. 17. 14. 



CHAP. 49. 
a Deu. 33. 1. 
Amos 3. 7. 
b Deu. 4. 30. 
Nu. 24. 14. 
C Ps. 34. 11. 
d Deu. 21.17. 

1 do not thou 
excel. 

« Deu. 27. 20. 
1 Chr. 5. 1. 

2 or, my couch 
is gone. 

/ Prov. 18. 9. 

3 Or, their 
swords are 
weapons of 
violence. 

g ch. 34. 25. 
h Pr. 1.15,16. 
i Ps. 26. 9. 

4 Or, hough- 
ed oxen. 

j Josh. 21.1. 

1 Ch. 4. 24. 
k Nu. 24. 9. 
I Nu. 24. 1 7. 
wi Ps. 60. 7. 
n 1 Chr. 5. 2. 

Is. 11. 1. 

£ze.21.27. 

Dan. 9. 25. 

Mat. 21. 9. 

Lu. 1. 32. 
o Is. 2. 2. 

Is. 11. 10. 

Is. 42. 1. 4. 

Is. 49. 6.23. 

Is. 55. 4, 5. 

Is. 60. 1-5. 

Hag. 2. 7. 

Lu. 2. 30. 
p2Ki.18.32. 
q Deu. 33. 18. 
r Jud. 13. 2, 

with Jud. 

15.20. 
« Juj. 18. 27. 

5 an wrow 



t Ps. 119.166. 
u De. 3a 20. 

<5 daughters. 



portion above thy brethren, which I took 
out of the hand r of the Amorite with my 
sword and with my bow. 

CHAPTER XLIX. 

1 Jacob calltth his sons together: She pronounceth 
curses on Reuben, 5 and on Simeon and Levi} 
8 a blessing on Judah, etc. 28 He charges them 
concerning his burial .- 33 his death. 

A ND Jacob called unto his sons, and said, 
xx Gather yourselves together, that I may 
°tell you that which shall befall you ^in 
the last days. 

2 Gather yourselves together, and hear, ye 
sons of Jacob; and c hearken unto Israel 
your father. 

3 1T Reuben, thou art my first-born, my 
might, d and the beginning of my strength, 
the excellency of dignity, and the excel- 
lency of power: 

4 Lnstable as water, i thou e shalt not ex- 
cel; because thou wentest up to thy father's 
bed; then defiledst thou it: 2 he went up to 
my couch. 

5 1T Simeon and Levi are /brethren; 

3 instruments 9 of cruelty are in their habi- 
tations. 

6 O my soul, h come not thou into their 
secret; *unto their assembly, mine honour, 
be not thou united! for in their anger they 
slew a man, and in their self-will they 

4 digged down a wall. 

7 Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce ; 
and their wrath, for it was cruel: i I will di- 
vide them in Jacob, and scatter them in 

8 1F Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren 
shall praise: thy hand shall be in the neck 
of thine enemies ; thy father's children shall 
bow down before thee. 

9 Judah is a lion's whelp: from the prey, 
my son, thou art gone up: *he stooped 
down, he couched as a lion, and as an old 
lion: who shall rouse him up? 

10 * The sceptre shall not depart from Ju- 
dah, nor a m lawgiver from between his 
feet, n until Shiloh come; "and unto him 
shall the gathering of the people be. 

11 p Binding his toal unto the vine, and his 
ass's colt unto the choice vine; he washed 
his garments in wine, and his clothes in the 
blood of grapes: 

12 His eyes shall be red with wine, and his 
teeth white with milk. 

13 1F « Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of 
the sea; and he sliall be for an haven of 
ships: and his border shall be unto Zidon. 

14 IT Issachar is a strong ass coucldng 
down between two burdens: 

15 And he saw that rest was good, and 
the land that it was pleasant ; and bowed 
his shoulder to bear, and became a servant 
unto tribute. 

16 1T r Ban shall judge his people, as one 
of the tribes of Israel. 

17 8 Dan shall be a serpent by the way, 

5 an adder in the path, that biteth the horse 
heels, so that his rider shall fall backward. 

18 * I have waited for thy salvation, O 
Lord. 

19 1l "Gad, a troop shall overcome him: 
but he shall overcome at the last. 

20 1T Out of Asher his bread shall be fat, 
and he shall yield royal dainties. 

21 1F Naphtaii is a hind let loose: he giveth 
goodly words. 

22 H Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a 
fruitful bough by a well, whose ^bimicha 
run over the wall. 



Joseph's Visit to Ms Sick Father. GENESIS, XLVm, XLIX. 



Patriarchal Blessing. 



best of the land— best pasture land in lower 
Egypt. Goshen, " the land of verdure," lay 
along the Pelusaic or eastern branch of the 
Nile. It included a part of the district of 
Heliopolis, or " On," the capital, and on the 
east stretched out a considerable length into 
the desert. The ground included within 
these boundaries was a rich and fertile ex- 
tent of natural meadow, and admirably 
adapted for the purposes of the Hebrew 
shepherds (cf. 49. 24 : Ps. 77. 72 ; 34. 10.). 13- 
22. there was no bread, &c— this probably re- 
fers to the second year of the famine (45. 6.), 
when any little stores of individuals or 
families were exhausted, and when the 
people had become universally depend- 
ent on the government. At first they 
obtained supplies for payment. Ere long 
money failed. 16. and Joseph . . . give your 
cattle—" this was the wisest course that could 
be adopted for the preservation both of the 
people and the cattle, which, being bought by 
Joseph, was supported at the royal expense, 
and very likely returned to the people at the 
end of the famine, to enable them to resume 
their agricultural labours." 21. as for the 
people, &c— obviously for the convenience of 
the country people, who were doing nothing, 
to the cities where the corn stores were situ- 
ated. 22. only the land of the priests, &c— 
these lands were inalienable, being endow- 
ments by which the temples were supported. 
The priests for themselves received an annual 
allowance of provision from the state, and it 
would evidently havejbeen the.height of cruel- 
ty to withhold that allowance when their lands 
were incapable of being tilled. 23-28. Joseph 
said, Behold, &c— the land being sold to 
the government {v. 19, 20,) seed would be 
distributed for the first crop after the famine ; 
and the people occupy them as tenants-at- 
will on the payment of a produce rent, almost 
the same rule as obtains in Egypt in the pre- 
sent day. 29-31. the time drew near, &c— one 
only of his dying arrangements is recorded; 
but that one reveals his m hole character. It 
was the disposal of his remains, which were 
to be carried to Canaan, not from a mere ro- 
mantic attachment to hisjiative soil, nor, like 
his modern descendants, from a superstitious 
feeling for the soil of the Holy Land, but 
from faith in the promises. His address to 
Joseph—' 4 if I have found grace in thy sight," 
i.e., as the vizier of Egypt— his exacting la 
solemn oath that his wishes would be ful- 
filled, and the peculiar form of that oath, all 
pointed significantly to the promise, and 
showed the intensity of his desire to enjoy 
its blessings (cf. JSum. 10. 29.). Israel bowed 
himself, &c— Oriental beds are mere mats, 
having no head, and the translation should 
be "the top of his staff," as the Apostle 
renders it (Heb. 11. 21.). 

CHAPTER XLVLU. 
Ver. 1-22. Joseph's Visit to his Sick 
Father. Thy father is sick — Joseph was 
hastily sent for, and on this occasion he took 
with him his two sons. 2. Israel strengthened 
himself, and sat upon the bed— in the chamber 
where a good man lies, edifying and spiritual 
discourse may be expected. 3, 4. God Al- 
mighty appeared to me at Luz— the object of 
Jacob, in thus reverting to the memorable 
vision at Bethel— one of the great landmarks 
in his history— was to point out the splendid 
promises in reserve for his posterity — to 
engage Joseph's interest and preserve his 
41 



continued connection with the people of 
God, rather than with the Egyptians. Be- 
hold, I will make thee fruitful— this is a 
repetition of the covenant (28. 13 --15; 35. 
12.). Whether these words are to be view- 
ed in a limited sense, as pointing to the 
many centuries during which the Jews were 
occupiers of the Holy Land, or whether the 
words bear a wider meaning, and intimate 
that the scattered tribes of Israel are to be 
reinstated in the land of promise, as their 
" everlasting possession" are points that 
have not yet been satisfactorily determined. 
5. thy two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh— It 
was the intention of the aged patriarch to 
adopt Joseph's sons as his own, thus giving 
him a double portion. The reasons of this 
procedure are stated (1 Chron. 5. 1, 2.). thy 
sons are mine— though their connections 
might have attached them to Egypt, and 
opened to them brilliant prospects in the 
land of their nativity, they willingly accepted 
the adoption, (Heb. 11. 25.). 9. bring them 
unto me, &c. — the Apostle (Heb. 11. 21.) 
selected the blessing of Joseph's sons as the 
chief because the most comprehensive, in- 
stance of the patriarch's faith which his 
whole history furnishes. 13. Joseph took 
them both— the very act of pronouncing the 
blessing was remarkable, showing that 
Jacob's bosom was animated by the spirit of 
prophecy. 21. behold, I die— the patriarch 
could speak of death with composure, but he 
wished to prepare Joseph and the rest of 
the family for the shock, but God shall, &c. 
—Jacob, in all probability, was not autho- 
rized to speak of their bondage— he dwelt 
only on the certainty of their restoration to 
Canaan. 22. moreover, I have, &c— this was 
near Shechem (33. 18; Jo. 4. 5; also Josh. 10. 
1; 20. 7.). And it is probable that the 
Amorites, having seized upon it during one 
of his frequent absences, the patriarch, with 
the united forces of his tribe, recovered it 
from them by his sword and his bow. 
CHAPTER XLIX. 

Ver. 1-33. Patriarchal Blessing. 1 
Jacob called unto his sons— It is not to the say- 
ings of the dying saint, so much as of the in- 
spired prophet, that attention is called in 
this chapter. Under the immediate influ- 
ence of the Holy Spirit he pronounced his 
prophetic benediction, and described the 
condition of their respective descendants in 
the last days, or future times. 

Reuben.— Forfeited by his crime the rights 
and honours of primogeniture. His pos- 
terity never made any figure,— no judge, 
prophet, nor ruler, sprang from this tribe. 

Simeon and Levi were associates in 
wickedness, and the same prediction would 
be equally applicable to both their tribes. 
Levi had cities allotted to them Josh. 2U. 
in every tribe. On account of their zeal 
against idolatry, they were honourably "di- 
vided in Jacob;" whereas the tribe of 
Simeon, which was guilty of the grossest 
idolatry, and the vices inseparable from it, 
were ignominiously " scattered." 

Judah.— A high pre-eminence is destined 
to this tribe (Num. 10. 14; Jud. 1. 2.). Besides 
the honour of giving name to the Promised 
land— David, and a greater than David 



the Messiah sprang from it. Chief amongst 

ie tribes, "it grew up from a lion's whelp" 

ie., a little power, till it became "an old 



the tribes, "it grew up from a lion's 
ie., & little power, till it became ' 
lion"— i. 6., calm and quiet, yet still formid- 



The death of Jacob. 



GENESIS, L. 



TJie death of Joseph. 



23 The archers have v sorely grieved him, 
and shot at him, and hated him: 

24 But his w how abode in strength, and 
the arms of his hands were made strong by 
the nanus of the mighty God of Jacob; 
(from thence x is the Shepherd, y the stone 
of Israel:) 

25 Even by the God of thy father, who 
shall help thee ; and by the Almighty, 
*who shall bless thee with blessings of 
heaven above, blessings of the deep that 
lieth under, blessings of the breasts and of 
the womb: 

26 The blessings of thy father have 
prevailed above the blessings of my pro- 
genitors unto the utmost bound of the ever- 
lasting hills: they shall be on the head 
of Joseph, and on the crown of the head 
of him that was separate from his breth- 
ren. 

27 1T Benjamin shall a ravin as a wolf: in 
the morning he shall devour the prey, b and 
at night he shall divide the spoil. 

28 tf All these are the twelve tribes of Is- 
rael: and this is it that their father spake 
unto them, and blessed them; every one ac- 
cording to his blessing he blessed them. 

29 And he charged them, and said unto 
them, I c am to be gathered unto my people: 
d bury me with my fathers e in the cave that 
is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, 

30 In the cave that is in the field of Mach- 
pelah, which is before Manure, in the land 
of Canaan, /which Abraham bought with 
the field of Ephron the Hittite for a pos- 
session of a burying-place. 

31 ° There they buried Abraham and 
Sarah his wife ; « there they buried Isaac 
and Rebekah his wile; and there I buried 
Leah, 

32 The purchase of the field and of the 
cave that is therein was from the children 
oflleth. 

33 And when Jacob had made an end of 
commanding his sons, he gathered up his 
feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost, 
and was gathered unto his people. 

CHAPTER L. 
I The mourning for Jacob: 7 his funeral. 24 Jo- 
seph prophesietk to his brethren their return to 
Canaan: 21 his age, 26 and death. 

A ND Joseph a fell upon his father's face, 
■**■ and & wept upon him, and kissed him. 

2 And Joseph commanded his servants 
the physicians to "embalm his father: and 
the physicians embalmed Israel. 

3 And forty days were fulfilled for him ; for 
so are fulfilled the days of those which are 
embalmed: and the Egyptians 1 mourned 
d for him threescore and ten days. 

4 And when the days of his mourning were 
past, Joseph spake unto e the house of Pha- 
raoh, saying. If now I have found grace in 
your eyes, speak, I pray you, in the ears of 
Pharaoh, saying, 

5 My father made me swear, saying, Lo. I 
die: m my grave /which I have digged for 
me in the land of Canaan, there shalt thou 
bury me. Now therefore let me go up, I 
pray thee, and bury my father, and I will 
come again, 

6 And Pharaoh said, Go up and bury thy 
father, according as he made thee swear. 

7 1F And J oseph went up to bury his father: 
and with him went up all the servants of 
Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and all 
the elders of the land of Egypt, 



B. C. 1689. 



CHAP. 49. 

V C h. 37. 24. 
w Job 29. 20 
* Ps. 80. 1. 

V Is. 28. 16. 
z Deu. 33.13, 
a Jud-. 20. 

21,25. 
b Nu. 23. 24, 

Esth.8. 11. 

Eze. 39. 10. 

Zech. 14. 

1,7. 
e ch. 15. 15. 

ch. 25. 8. 
d ch. 47. 30. 

2 Sam. 19. 

37. 
e ch. 50. 13. 
f ch. 23. 16. 
g ch. 23. 19. 

ch. 25. 9. 
h eh. 35. 29. 



CHAP. 50. 
a ch. 46. 4. 
6 2 Kin. 13. 

14. 
c 2 Chr. 16. 

14. 

Mat. 26. 12. 

Mark 14. 8. 

Mark 16. 1. 

Luke 24. 1. 

John 19. 

39,40. 

1 wept. 

d Nu.20.29. 

Deu. 34. 8. 
e Esth. 4. 2. 
/ 2 Chr. 16. 

14. 

Is. 22. 16. 

Mat. 27. 60. 
g Acts 8. 2. 
h 1 Sam. 31. 
13. 

Job 2. 13. 

2 That is, the 
mourning 
of the 
Egyptian s. 

t ch. 23. 16. 

Acts 7. 16. 

j Job 15. 21. 

3 charged. 
k Prov. 28. 

13. 
I ch. 49. 25. 
w* ch. 37. 7, 

10. 
n Deut. 32. 

35. 

Ro. 12. 19. 

Heb. 10.30. 
o Ps. 56. 5. 

Is. 10. 7. 
p ch. 45. 5, 

7. 

Acts 3. 13, 

14, 15. 
q ch. 47. 12. 

Mat. 5. 44. 

4 to their 
hearts. 

r Job 42. 16. 
a ch. 30. 3. 

5 borne. 

t Ex. 3. 16. 

17. 

Heb. 11. 22. 
" ch. 26. 3. 
V ch. 47. 29. 

Ex. 13. 19. 

Josh. 24. 



8 And all the house of Joseph, and hit! 
brethren, and his father's house: only their 
little ones, and their flocks, and their herds, 
they left in the land of Goshen. 

9 And there went up with him both cha- 
riots and horsemen: and it was a very 
great company. 

10 And they came to the threshing-floor 
of Atad, which is beyond Jordan, andthere 
they ° mourned with a great and very sore 
lamentation: h and he made a mourning for 
his father seven days. 

11 And when the mhabitants of the land, 
the Canaanites, saw the mourning in the 
floor of Atad, they said, This is a grievous 
mourning to the Egyptians: wherefore the 
name of it was called - Abel-mizraim,which 
is beyond Jordan. 

12 And his sons did unto him accord' !g 
as he commanded them: 

13 For » his sons carried him into the land 
of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of 
the field of Machpelah, which Abraham 
bought with the field for a possession of a 
burying-place of Ephron the Hittite, before 
Mamre. 

14 And Joseph returned into Egypt, he, 
and his brethren and all that went up with 
him to bury his father, after he had buried 
his father. 

15 H And when Joseph's brethren saw 
that their father was dead, i they said, Jo- 
seph will peradventure hate us, and will 
certainly requite us all the evil which we 
did unto him. 

16 And they 3 sent a messenger unto 
Joseph, saying, Thy father did command 
before he died, saying, 

17 So shall ye say unto Joseph, Forgive, 1 
pray thee now, the trespass of thy breth- 
ren, and their sin; *for tney did unto thee 
evil: and now, we pray thee, forgive the 
trespass of the servants of l the God of thy 
father. And Joseph wept when they spake 
unto him. 

18 And his brethren also went and m fell 
down before his face ; and they said, Be- 
hold, we be thy servants. 

19 And Joseph said unto them, Fear not; 
n for am I in the place of God? 

20 ° But as for you, ye thought evil against 
me ; but p God meant it unto good, to bring 
to pass, as it is this day, to save much peo- 
ple alive. 

21 Now therefore fear ye not: ? I will nour- 
ish you, and your little ones. And he 
comforted them, and spake * kindly unto 
them. 

22 IT And Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he and 
his father's house: and Joseph lived an 
hundred and ten years. 

23 And Joseph saw Ephraim's children 
r of the third generation: the children also 
of Machir the son of Manasseh * were 
5 brought up upon Joseph's knees. 

24 And Joseph said unto his brethren, I 
die: and * God will surely visit you, and 
bring you out of this u land unto the land 
which ne sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and 
to Jacob. 

25 And v Joseph took an oath of the chil- 
dren of Israel, saying, God will surely visit 
you, and ye shall carry up my bones from 
hence. 

26 So Joseph died, being an hundred and 
ten years old: and they embalmed him, and 
he was put in a coffin in Egypt, 



Patriarchal Bles ing. 



GENESIS, L. 



Mourning for Jacob. 



able, until Shiloh come — until "Shiloh 
come" — a word variously interpreted to 
mean "the sent" (Jo. 17. 3), "the seed" (Is. 
11. 1), the "peaceable or prosperous one" 
(Eph. 2. 141— i.e., the Messiah Is. 11. 10; Eo. 15. 
12); and when He should come, 'the tribe 
of Judah should no longer boast either 
an independent king or a judge of their 
own.' [Cal.] The Jews have been for 
eighteen centuries without a ruler and with- 
out a judge since Shiloh came, and "to Him 
the gathering of the people has been." 

Zebulun was to have its lot on the sea 
coast, close to Zidon, and to engage, like that 
state, in maritime pursuits and commerce. 

Issachar.— A strong ass couching down 
between two burdens— le., it was to be 
active, patient, given to agricultural labours. 
It was established in lower Galilee— a" good 
land," settling down in the midst of the 
Canaanites, where, for the sake of quiet, 
they "bowed their shoulder to bear, and 
became a servant unto tribute." 

Dan.— Though the son of a secondary wife, 
was to be " as one of the tribes of Israel. 
Dan— "a judge." a serpent, an adder— a 
serpent, an adder, implies subtlety and 
stratagem; such was pre-eminently the 



he died in the same faith as Abraham. 33. 
when Jacob had made an end— It is probable 
that he was supernatural] y strengthened 
for this last momentous office of the patri- 
arch, and that when the divine afflatus 
ceased, his exhausted powers giving way, he 
yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto 
his people. 

CHAPTEE L. 
Ver. 1-16. Mourning for Jacob. Joseph 
fell, &c— On him, as the principal member of 
the family, devolved the duty of closing the 
eyes of his venerable parent (cf. 46. 4.), and 
in printing the farewell kiss. 2. Joseph 
commanded, &c. — in ancient Egypt the eni- 
balmers were a class by themselves. The 
process of embalment consisted in infusing 
a great quantity of resinous substances into 
the cavities of the body, after the intestines 
had been removed, and then a regulated de- 
gree of heat was applied to dry up the hu- 
mours as well as decompose the tarry mate- 
rials which had been previously introduced. 
Thirty days were allotted for the completion 
of this process ; forty more were spent in 
anointing it with spices: the body, tanned 
from this operation, being then washed, 
_ was wrapped in numerous folds of linen 
character of Samson the most illustrious of j cloth— the joinings of which were fastened 



its judges 

Gad.— This tribe should be often attacked 
and wasted by hostile powers on their bor- 
ders. (Jud. 10. 8; Jer. 49. 1.) But they were 
generally victorious in the close of their 
wars. 

Asher.— " Blessed"— Its allotment was the 
sea coast between Tyre and Carmel, a dis- 
trict fertile in the production of the finest 
corn and oil in all Palestine. 

Naphtali.— The best rendering we know 
is this, " Naphtali is a deer roaming at liber- 
ty; he shooteth forth goodly branches, or 
majestic antlers, [Taylor's Scrip. Illust.] and 
the meaning of the prophecy seems to be 
that the tribe of Naphtali would be located 
in a territory so fertile and peaceable, that 
feeding on the richest pasture he would 
spread out, like a deer, its branching antlers. 

Joseph.— "A fruitful bough, <fcc— denotes 
the extraordinary increase of that tribe tcf. 
Num. 1. :i3-35; Josh. 16; 17; Deu. 33, 17.'. 
The patriarch describes him as attacked by 
envy, revenge, temptation, ingratitude, yet 
still, by the grace of God, he triumphed 
over all opposition, so that he became the 
mstainer of Israel; and then he proceeds to 
shower blessings of every kind upon the 
head of this lavourite son. The history of 
the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, shows 
how fully these blessings were realized. 

Benjamin shall ravin like a wolf.— This 
tribe in its early history spent its energies 
in petty or inglorious warfare, and especi- 
ally in the vioient and unjust contest (Judg. 
19; 20.;, in which it engaged with the other 
tribes, when, notwithstanding two victor- 
ies, it was almost exterminated. 28. all 
these are the twelve tribes of Israel — or ances- 
tors. Jacob's prophetic words obviously 
refer not so much to the sons as to the tribes 
of Israel. 29. he charged them— the charge 
had already been given, and solemnly under- 
taken (47. 31.). But in mentioning his 
wishes now, and rehearsing all the cir- 
cumstances connected with the purchase 
of Machpelah, he wished to declare, with 
bis latest wreath, before all his family, that 
42 



with gum, and then deposited in a wooden 
chest, made in the form of a human figure. 
3. the Egyptians, &c— it was made a period 
of public mourning, as on the death of a royal 
personage. Joseph spake, &c. — Care was 
taken to let it be known that the family 
sepulchre was provided before leaving Ca- 
naan, and that an oath bound his family 
to convey the remains thither. Besides, 
Joseph deemed it right to apply for a spe- 
cial leave of absence; and being unfit, as a 
mourner, to appear m the royal presence, 
he made the request through the medium of 
others. 7-26. went up to bury his father— a 
journey of 300 miles. The funeral cavalcade, 
composed of the nobility and military, with 
their equipages, would exhibit an imposing 
appearance. 10. they came, &e. — " atad" 
may be taken as a common noun, signify- 
ing " the plain of the thorn-bushes. It was 
on the border between Egypt and Canaan; 
and as the last opportunity of indulging grief 
was always the most violent, the Egyptians 
made a prolonged halt at this spot, while 
the family of Jacob probably proceeded 
by themselves to the place of sepulture. 
15-21. When Joseph's brethren saw, tec- 
Joseph was deeply affected by this com- 
munication. He gave them the strongest 
assurances of his forgiveness, and thereby 
gave both a beautiful trait of his own 
pious character, as well as appeared an 
eminent type of the Saviour. 22-25. Joseph 
dwelt in Egypt— He lived eighty years after 
his elevation to the chief power, witnessing 
a great increase in the prosperity of the 
kingdom, and also of his own family and 
kindred — the infant church of God. 24. 
said unto his brethren, I am dying— The na- 
tional feelings of the Egyptians would have 
been opposed to his burial in Canaan; but he 
gave the strongest proof of the strength of 
his faith and full assurance of the promises, 
by " the commandment concerning Ids 
bones." 26. They embalmed him— His funeral 
would be conducted in the highest style of 
Egyptian magnificence, and his mummied 
corpse careiully preserved till the Exodus. 



THE SECOND BOOK OF MOSES, CALLED 



EXODUS 



CHAPTER I. 
77te thflslren of Israel multiply: 8 thev are op- 
pressed by a ne\v king. 1.5 The pitty of the mid- 
v.ivis. 22 The male- children destroyed. 

VOW "these are the names of the chil- 
- 1 - dren of Israel, which came into Egypt ; 
every man and his household came with 
Jacob. 

2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, 

3 Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin, 

4 Dan. and Napntali, Gad. and Asher. 

5 And all the souls that came out of the 
1 loins of Jacob were b seventy souls: for 
Joseph was in Egypt already. 

6 And e J oseph died, and all his brethren, 
and d all that veneration. 

7 ■ And the children of Israel were fruitful, 
and increased abundantly, and multiplied, 
and waxed exceeding mighty ; and the land 
was tilled with them. 

8 1F Now there arose up a new king over 
Egypt, which knew not Joseph. 

9 And he said unto his people, Behold, 
f the people of the children of Israel are 
more and mightier than we: 

10 ' Come on, let us h deal wisely with 
them; lest they multiply, and it come to 
p.iss. that, when there falleth out any war, 
they join also unto our enemies, and fieht 
against us, and so get them up out of the 
land. 

11 Therefore they did set over them task- 
masters »to afflict them with their /bur- 
dens. And thev built for Pharaoh treasure 
cities, Pithom k and Raamses. 

12 - But the more they afflicted them, the 
more they multiplied and grew. And they 
were grieved because of the children of Is- 
rael. 

13 And the Egyptians made the children 
of Israel to serve with rigour: 

14 And they J made their lives bitter with 
hard bondage, ■ in mortar, and in brick, 
ana in all manner of service in the field: 
all their service, wherein they made them 
serve, was with rigour. 

15 f And the king of Egypt spake to the 
Hebrew midwives • of which the name of the 
one was Shiphrah, and the name of the 
other Puah ; 

16 And he said, "When ye do the office of 
a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see 
them upon the stools, if it be a son, then ye 
shall kill him; but if it be a daughter, then 
she shall live. 

17 But the midwives n feared G-od, and did 
not ° as the king of Egypt commanded 
them, but saved the men-children alive. 

18 And the king of Egypt called for the 
midwives. and said unto them, Why have 
ye done this tiling, and have saved the 
men-children alive? 

19 And p the midwives said unto Pharaoh, 
Because the Hebrew women are not as the 
Egyptian women- for they are lively, and 
aiv delivered ere the midwives come in unto 
them. 

20 » Therefore God dealt well with the 
midwives: and the people multiplied, and 
Waxed very mighty. 

21 And it came to pass, because the mid- 
wives feared God, r that he made them 
houses. 

22 And Pharaoh charged all his people, 

13 



B. C. 1706. 



CHAP. 1. 

a Gen. 40. 8. 
ch. 0. 14. 

1 thigh. 

b Gen. 46. 

20. 27. 
Deut. 10. 

C Gen. 50. 26. 

Acts 7. 15. 

dEc.l.t 

e Gen. 46. 3. 

Deu. 26. 5. 

Ps. 105.24. 

Acts 7- 17. 

/ Ps. 105. 24. 

g Ps. 10. 2. 

Ps. 83. 3, 4. 
h Job 5. 13. 
Prov. 23. 
1(5. 

Acts 7. 19. 
i Gen. 15.13. 
ch. 3. 7. 
Deu. 26. 6. 
/ch. 5. 4. 5. 
Ps. 81. 6. 
k Gen. 47. 
11. 

2 And as they 
afflicted 
them, so 
tliey mul- 
tiplied, 
etc. 

I ch. 2. 23. 

Num. 20. 

15. 

Pro. 14. 31. 

Ec. 5. 8. 
m Ps. 81. 6. 
n Pro. 16. 6. 
° Dan. 3. 16, 

18. 

Dan. 6. 13. 

Acts 5. 29. 
p Jos. 2. 4. 

2 Sa. 17.19, 

20. 

3 Prov. 11. 
18. 

Ec. 8. 12. 
Is. 3. 10. 
Heb. 6. 10. 
*• 2 Sam. 7. 
11, 13, 27, 
29. 

1 Ki. 2. 24. 
1 Kin. 11. 



CHAP. 2. 

a ch. 6. 20. 

N'u. 33. 59. 
b Heb. 11.23. 
C ch. 15. 20. 

Xu. 26. 59. 
d Acts 7. 21. 
1 That is, 

drawn out. 
e Heb. 11. 
4-26. 



prince. 

Gen. 13. 8. 
/Gen. 24.11. 

Gen. 29. 2. 
9 ch. 3 1. 
3 Or, prince, 

as 

Gen. 41.45. 
h Ge. 29. 10. 

1 Sam. 9. 

11. 



saying, Every son that is born ye shall cast 
info the river, and every daughter ye shall 
save alive. 

CHAPTER II. 

1 3foses ts born, and laid amona the flags: 6 he is 
found, and brmght up by Fharaoh' s daughter i 

12 he slayeth an Egyptian, and jleeth into Mi- 
dian 21 He marrieth Zipporah. 22 She bear- 
eth Gershom. 

A ND there went a man of the house of 
Levi, and took to wife a daughter of 
Levi. 

2 And the woman conceived, and bare a 
son: and ^when she saw him that he was a 
goodly child, she hid him three months. 

3 And when she could not longer hide him. 
she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and 
daubed it with slime and with pitch, and 
put the child therein • and she laid it in the 
nags by the river's brink. 

4 c And his sister stood afar ofF, to wit what 
would be done to him. 

5 11 And the d daughter of Pharaoh came 
down to wash herself at the river; and her 
maidens walked along by the river's side ; 
and when she saw the ark among the flags, 
she sent her maid to fetch it. 

6 And when she had opened it, she saw the 
child: and, behold, the babe wept. Andv>he 
had compassion on him. and said, This is 
one of the Hebrews' children. 

7 Then said his sister to Pharaoh's daugh- 
ter, Shall I go and call to thee a nurse of 
the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the 
child for thee? 

8 And Pharaoh's daughter said to her. Go. 
And the maid went and called the child's 
mother. 

9 And Pharaoh's daughter said unto her, 
Take this child away, and nurse it for me, 
and I will give thee thy wages. And the 
woman took the child, and nursed it. 

10 And the child grew, and she brought 
him unto Pharaoh s daughter, and he be- 
came her son. And she called his name 
1 Moses: and she said, Because I drew him 
out of the water. 

11 11 And it came to pass in those days, 
e when Moses was grown, that he went out 
unto his brethren, and looked on their bur- 
dens: and he spied an Egyptian smiting an 
Hebrew, one of his brethren. 

12 And he looked tliis way and that way, 
and when he saw that there was no man, 
he slew the Egyptian, and hid him in the 
sand. 

13 And when he went out the second day, 
behold, two men of the Hebrews strove to- 
gether: and he said to him that did the 
wrong, Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow! 

14 And he said, Who made thee 2 a prince 
and a judge over us? Intendest thou to 
kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian • And 
Moses feared, and said, Surely this thing is 
known. 

15 Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, 
he sought to slay Moses. But Moses flea 
from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in 
the land of Midian: and he sat down by /a 
well. 

lb' 9 Xow the 3 priest of Midian had seven 
daughters: h and they came and drew wa- 
ter, and tilled the troughs to water their 
lather's flock. 



THE SECOND BOOK OF MOSES, CALLED 



EXODUS. 



CHAPTER I. 
Ver. 1-7 Increase of the Israelites. 
Now these are toe names—See on 46. 8-26... 
7. children of Israel were fruitful— They were 
living in a land where, according to the 
testimony of an ancient author, mothers 

Eroduced three and four sometimes at a 
irth; and a modern writer declares that 
41 the females in Egypt, as well among the 
human race as among animals, surpass all 
others in fruitfulness. To this natural cir- 
cumstance must be added the fulfilment of 
the promise made to Abraham. 8. Now there 
arose up a new king — About sixty years 
after the death of Joseph a revolution took 
place— by which the old dynasty was over- 
thrown: and upper and lower Egypt were 
united into one kingdom. Assuming that he 
had formerly reignedin Thebes, it is probable 
that he would know nothing about the He- 
brews; and that, as foreigners and shepherds, 
the new government would, from the first, 
regard them with dislike and scorn. 9. He 
said, Behold, children of Israel are greater 
and mightier than we— They had risen to great 
prosperity— as during the life-time of Joseph 
and his royal patron, thev had, probably, en- 
joyed a free grant of the land. Their increase 
and prosperity were viewed with jealousy by 
the new government; and as Goshen lay be- 
tween "c-'ypt and Canaan, on the border of 
which latter country were anumberof warlike 
tribes— it was perfectly conformable to the 
suggestions of worldly policy that they should 
enslave and maltreat them, through appre- 
hension of their joining in any invasion by 
those foreign rovers. The new king, who 
neither knew the name nor cared for the 
services of Joseph, was either Amosis, or 
one of his immediate successors. [Osbubn.] 
11. therefore they did set over them task- 
masters—Having first obliged them, it is' 
thought, to pay a ruinous rent, and involved 
them in difficulties— that new government, in 
pursuance of its oppres.-ive policy, degraded 
them to the condition of serfs— employing 
them exactly as the labouring-people are in 
the present day, driven in companies, or 
bands, in reari ng the public works, with task- 
masters, who anciently had sticks— now whips 
—to punish the indolent, or spur on the too j 
languid. All public or royal buildings, in 
ancient Egypt, were built by captives; and 
on some of them was placed an inscription— \ 
that no free citizen had been engaged in this 
servile employment. They built for Pharaoh 
treasure cities— These two store places were in 
the land of Goshen; and being situated near 
a border liable to invasion, they were fortified 
cities cf. 2 Chron. 11. 12.). Pithon [Gr.\ 
Patumos, lay on the eastern Pelusaic branch 
of the Nile, about twelve PvOman miles from 
Heliopolis; and Raamses, called by the 
LXX. Heroopolis, lay between the same 
branch of the Nile and the Bitter Lakes. 
These two fortified cities were situated, 
therefore, in the same valley; and the forti- 
fications, which Pharaoh commanded to be 
built around both, had probably the same 
common object, of obstructing the entrance 
into Egypt, which this valley furnished the 
enemy into Asia [Heng.]. 13, 14. The Egyp- , 
tiaas made their lives bitter in hard bondage, j 
43 



in mortar and in brick— Ruins of great brick 
buildings are found in all parts of Egypt. 
The use of crude brick, baked in the sun, 
was universal in upper and lower Egypt, 
both for public and private buildings; au but 
the temples themselves, were of crude brick* 
It is worthy of remark, that more bricks 
bearing the name of Thothmes III, who is 
supposed to have been the king of Egypt, at 
the time of the Exodus, have been discovered 
than of any other period [Wilk.] Parties of 
these brick-makers are seen depicted on the 
ancient monuments with "taskmasters" — 
some standing, others in a sitting posture 
beside the labourers, with their uplifted 
sticks in their hands. 15-22. The king of 
Egypt spake unto the Hebrew midwives— Two 
only were spoken to— either they were the 
heads of a large corporation. | La.] or, by tam- 
pering with these two, the king designed to 
terrify the rest into secret compliance with 
his wishes. [Cal.] 16. if it be a son, kill 
him— opinions are divided, however, what 
was the method of destruction which the king 
did recommend. Some think that the 
" stools" were low seats on which these ob- 
stetric practitioners sat by the bedside of 
the Hebrew women; and that, as they might 
easily discover the sex, so, whenever a boy 
appeared, they were to strangle it, unknown 
to its parents ; while others are of opini on that 
the " stools" were stone troughs, by the river 
side — into which, when the infants were 
washed— they were to be, as it were, acci- 
dentally dropped. 17. fear God— their faith 
inspired them with such courage as to risk 
their lives, by disobeying the mandate of a 
cruel tyrant; but it was blended with weak- 
ness, which made them shrink from speak- 
ing the truth, the whole truth, and nothing 
but the truth. 20. God dealt well— this repre- 
sents God as rewarding them for telling a lie. 
This difficulty is wholly removed by a more 
correct translation. To make or build up a 
house in H eh. idiom, means to have a nume- 
rous progeny. The passage then should be 
rendered thus : God protected the midwives, 
and the people waxed very mighty; and be- 
cause the midwives feared, the Hebrews 
grew and prospered. 

CHAPTER H. 
Ver. 1.-10. Birth and Preservation 
or Moses. There went a man, <fec— Amram 
was the husband, and Jochebed the wife cf. 
6. 2; Num. 20. 50. . The marriage took place, 
and two children, Miriam and Aaron, were 
born some years before the infanticidal edict. 
2. the woman bare a son, ire— some extraor- 
dinary appearance or remarkable comeliness 
led his parents to augur his future greatness. 
Beauty was regarded by the ancients as a mark 
of the Divine favour, hid him three months— 
the parents were a pious couple, and the 
measures they took were prompted not only 
by parental attachment, but by a strong faith 
in the blessing of God prospering their en- 
deavours to save the infant. 3. made an ark 
of bulrushes— papyrus, a thick, strong, and 
tough reed, slime— the mud of the Nile, 
which, when hardened, is very tenacious, 
pitch— mineral tar. Boats of this description 
are seen daily floating on the surface of the 
river, with no other caulking than Nile mud. 



God appeareth to Moses 



EXODUS, ITT, IV 



in a burning busk. 



17 And the shepherds came and drove 
them away: but Moses stood up aud helped 
them, and watered their flock. 

1> And when they came to iReuel their 
father, he said, How is it that ye are come 
so soon to-day? 

ID And they said, An Egyptian delivered 
us out of the hand of the shepherds, and 
also drew water enough for us, and watered 
the flock. 

20 And he said unto his daughters, And 
where is he ? why is it that ye have left the 
man? call him, that he may J eat bread. 

21 And Moses was content to dwell with 
the man: and he gave Moses Zipporah his 
daughter. 

22 And she bare him a son, and he called 
his name *Gershom: *for he said, I have 
been l a stranger in a strange land. 

23 f And it came to pass "' in process of 
time, that the king of Egypt died: and the 
children of Israel " sighed by reason of the 
bondage, and thev ciied; and "their cry 
came up unto God by reason of the bon- 
dage. 

24 And God p heard their groaning, and 
God 9 remembered his r covenant with 
Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. 

25 And G-od s looked upon the children of 
Israel, and God 5 had respect unto them. 

CHAPTER III. 
1 if oses keepeth Jethro' s flock; God appeareth un- 
to him in a burning bush, 7 and sendeth him to 
deliver Israel. 19 Fharaoh's obstinacy. 

YOW Moses kept the flock of Jethro his 
x father-in-law, the priest of Midian: and 
he led the flock to the back side of the de- 
sert, and came to a the mountain of God, 
even to Horeb. 

2 And* the Angel of the Lord appeared 
unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst 
of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the 
bush burned with fire, and the bush was 
not consumed. 

3 And Moses said, I will now turn aside, 
aud see this c great sight, why the bush is 
not burnt. 

4 And when the Lord saw that he turned 
aside to see, God called d unto him out of 
the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, 
Moses. And he said, Here am I. 

5 And he said. Draw not nigh hither: e put 
off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place 
whereon thou standest is holy ground. 

6 Moreover he said, /I am the God of thy 
father, the God of Abraham, the God of 
Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses 
hid his face ; for he was afraid to look 
upon God. 

7 H And the Lord said, I have surely seen 
the affliction of my people which are in 
Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason 
of their taskmasters : for h I know their 



B. C. 1531. 



CHAP. 2. 
i Nil. 10. 29. 

Called also 

Jethro, or 

Jether. 
j Gen 31. 54. 
4 That is, a 



k ch. 18. 3. 
I Heb. 11. 13. 
m ch. 7. 7. 
n Ps. 12. 5. 
o Gen. 18.20. 

Deu. 24.15. 

Jam. 5. 4. 
P ch. 6. 5. 
q Ps. 105. 8. 
r Ge. 15. 14. 
« 2 Sa. 16. 12. 

Luke 1. 25. 
5 knew. 



8 And * I am come down to i deliver them 
out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to 
bring them up out of that land * unto a 
good land and a large, unto a land l flowing 
with milk and honey; unto the place of the 
m Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the 
Amorites. and the Perizzites, and the Hi- 
vites. and the Jebusites. 

9 Now therefore, behold, the cry of the 
children of Israel is come unto me: and I 
have also seen the n oppression wherewith 
the Egyptians oppress them. 

l'J ° Come now therefore, and I will send 

thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring 

44 



CHAP. 3. 
a 1 Ki. 19. 8. 
6 Deu. 33. 16. 

Is. 63. 9. 

Acts 7. 30. 
c Ps. 111. 2. 
d Deu. 33.16. 
e Josh. 5. 15. 
/Gen. 28. 13. 

Mark 12.26. 
g Is. 6. 1,5. 

Rev. 1.17. 
ft Ge. 18. 21. 
i Gen. 11. 5. 
3 ch. 12. 51. 
k Deu. 1. 25. 
I Xu. 13. 27. 
m Ge. 15. 18. 
nch. 1. 11. 
° Ps. 105. 26. 

Mic. 6. 4. 
p 1 Sam. 18. 

18. 

1 Kings 3. 

7-9. 

Is. 6. 5, 8. 

Jer. 1. 6. 
q Gen. 31. 3. 

De. 31. 23. 

Josh. 1. 5. 

Is. 43. 2. 

Ro. 8. 31. 
r Gen. 32.29. 
8 ch. 6. 3. 

John 8. 58. 

Heb. 13. 8. 

Rev. 1. 4. 

t Ps. 135. 13. 

Hos. 12. 5. 
u Gen. 48.15. 
v Gen. 50. 24. 

Lu. 1. 68. 
tf G«n. 15. 

14. 
* Xu. 23. 3. 

1 Or, but by 
strong 
hand. 

V ch. 7. 3. 
Deu. 6. 22. 
Neh. 9. 10. 
Ps. 135. 9. 
Jer. 32. 20. 

2 ch. 12. 31. 
a ch. 11. 3. 

Ps. 106. 46. 

Pro. 16. 7. 
6 Gen. 15. 14. 

ch. 11. 2. 
c Job 27. 17. 

Prov. 13. 

22. 

Ezek. 39- 

10. 
2 Or, Egypt. 



forth my people the children of Israel out 
of Egypt. 

11 c " And Moses said unto God, ? Who am 
I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that 
I should bring forth the children of Israel 
out of Egypt? 

12 And lie said, q Certainly I will be with 
thee ; and this shall be a token unto thee 
that I have sent thee : When thou hast 
brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye 
shall serve God upon this mountain. 

13 And Moses said unto God, Pehold, 
when I come unto the children of Israel, 
and shall say unto them, The God of your 
fathers hath sent me unto you; and they 
shall say to me, r What is his name? what 
shall 1 say unto them? 

14 And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT 

1 AM : and he said, Thus snalt thou say 
unto the children of Israel, 8 1 AM hath 
sent me unto you. 

15 And God said moreover unto Moses. 
Thus shalt thou say unto the children of 
Israel, The Lord God of your fathers, the 
God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and 
the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you : 
this is t my name for ever, and this is my 
memorial unto all generations. 

16 Go, and gather the elders of Israel 
together, and say unto them, The u Lord 
God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, 
of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared unto me. 
saying, v I have surely visited you. and 
seen that which is done'to you in Egypt: 

17 And I have said, w I will bring you up 
out of the affliction of Egypt unto the land 
of the Canaanites, and the Hittites. and 
the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the 
Hivites, and the Jebusites, unto a land 
flowing with milk and honey. 

18 And they shall hearken to thy voice : 
and thou shalt come, thou and the elders 
of Israel, unto the king of Egypt, and ye 
shall say unto him, The Lord God of the 
Hebrews hath * met with us: and now let 
us go, we beseech thee, three days' journey 
into the wilderness, that we may sacrihee 
to the Lord our God. 

19 And I am sure that the king of Egypt 
will not let you go, i no, not by a mighty 
hand. 

20 And I will stretch out my hand, and 
smite Egypt with v all my wonders which 
1 will do m the midst thereof : and z after 
that he will let you go. 

21 And a 1 will give this people favour in 
the sight of the Egyptians: and it shall come 
to pass, that, when ye go, ye shall not go 
empty: 

22 * Put everv woman shall borrow of her 
neighbour, and of her that sojourneth in 
her house, jewels of silver, and jewels of 
gold, and raiment: and ye shall put them 
upon your sons, and upon your daughters; 
and c ye shall spoil 2 the Egyptians. 

CHAPTER IV. 
1 Moses' rod is turned into a serpent: 6 his hand 
is Uprous. 18 Be departs jrom Jethro. 21 
Gc-d s message to fharaoh. 27 Aaron is lent to 
meet Mosts. 

A XD Moses answered and said, But, be- 
-"- hold, they will not believe me, nor 
hearken unto my voice: for they will say, 
The Lord hath not appeared unto thee. 

2 And the Lord said unto him, What is 
that hi thine hand? And he smd, A rod. 

3 And he said, Cast it, on the ground. 
And he cast it on the ground, ana it 



Preservation of Moses. 



EXODUS, II. 



(cf. Is. 18. 2,) and they are perfectly water- 
tight, unless the coating is forced off by 
stormy weather, flags— a general term for 
sea or river-weed. The chest was not, as is 
often represented, committed to the bosom 
of the water, but laid on the bank, where it 
would naturally appear to have been drifted 
by the current and arrested by the reedy 
thicket. The spot is traditionally said to be 
the Isle of Kodah, near Old Cairo. 4. his 
sister— Miriam, would probably be a girl of 
ten or twelve years of age at the time. 5. 
Daughter of Pharaoh... wash— The occasion is 
thought to have been a religious solem- 
nity which the royal family opened by bath- 
ing in the sacred stream. Peculiar sacred- 
ness was attached to those portions of the 
Nile which flowed near the temples. The 
water was there fenced off as a protection 
from the crocodiles; and doubtless the prin- 
cess had an enclosure reserved for her own 
use, the road to which seems to have been 
well known to Jochebed. wrdked along— in 
procession or in file, sent her maid — her 
immediate attendant. The term is differ- 
ent from that rendered "maidens." 6-10. 
when she had opened it — The narrative 
is picturesque. No tale of romance 
ever described a plot more skilfully laid, or 
more full of interest in the development. 
The expedient of the ark, the slime and pitch 
—the choice of the time and place— the ap- 
peal to the sensibilities of the female breast 
—the stationing of the sister as a watch of 
the proceedings— her timely suggestion of a 
nurse— and the engagement of the mother 
herself— all bespeak a more than rrdinary 
measure of ingenuity as well as inter se soli- 
citude on the part of the parents. But the 
origin of the scheme was most probably owi ng 
to a divine suggestion, as its success was due 
to an overruling Providence, who not only 
preserved the child's life, but provided for his 
being trained in the nurture and admonition 
of the Lord. Hence it is said to have been 
done by faith, (Heb. 11. 23,) either in the 
general promise of deliverance, or some 
special revelation made to Amram and Jo- 
chebed— and in this view, the pious couple 
gave a beautiful example of a firm reliance 
on the word of God, united with an active 
use of the most suitable means. 10. She 
brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter— Though 
it must have been nearly as severe a trial 
for Jochebed to part with him the second 
time as the first, she was doubtless recon- 
ciled to it by her belief in his high destina- 
tion as the future deliverer of Israel. His 
age when removed to the palace is not stated; 
but he was old enough to be well instructed in 
the principles of the true religion; and those 
early impressions, deepened by the power 
of divine grace, were never forgotten or ef- 
faced, he became her son— by adoption, and 
lus high rank afforded him advantages in 
education, which in the providence of God 
were made subservient to far different pur- 
poses from what his royal patroness intended, 
called his name Moses— His parents might, as 
usual, at the time of his circumcision, have 

given him a name, which is traditionally saidj 10.) 15. Moses fled— his flight took place in 
to have been Joachim. But the name chosen the second year of Thothmes I. dwelt in the 
by the Princess, whether of Egyptian or land of Midian— situated on the shore of the 
Hebrew oiigin, is the only one by whit h he Eastern gulf of the EedSea, and occupied by 
has everleen known to the church; ana it the posterity of Midian the son of Cush. 



Eis Sympathy with the Hebrews.^ 

11-25. His Sympathy with the He- 
brews. In those days when Moses was grown 
—not in age and stature only, but in power 
as well as in renown for accomplishments 
and military prowess. (A. 7. 23.) There is 
a gap here in the sacred history which, how- 
ever, is supplied by the inspired commen- 
tary of Paul, who has fully detailed the 
reasons as well as extent of the change that 
took place in his worldly condition; and 
whether, as some say, his royal mother had 
proposed to make him co-regent and succes- 
sor to the crown, or some other circum- 
stances led to a declaration of his mind, he 
determined to renounce the palace and iden- 
tify himself with the suffering people of God. 
(He. 11. 24-26.) The descent of some great 
sovereigns like Diocletian and Charles V. 
from a throne into private life, is nothing to 
the sacrifice which Moses made through the 
power of faith, went out unto his brethren— to 
make a full and systematic inspection of their 
condition in the various parts of the country 
where they were dispersed (A. 7. 23.), and he 
adopted this proceeding in pursuance o c the 
patriotic purpose that the faith, which of 
the operation of God, was even then forni.ng 
in his heart, spied an Egyptian— one of the 
taskmasters scourging a Hebrew slave with- 
out any just cause, (A. 7. 24,) and in so cruel 
a manner, that he seems to have died under 
the barbarous treatment— for the conditions 
of the sacred story imply such a fatal issue. 
The sight w^as new and strange to him, and 
though pre-eminent for meekness (Nil. 12. 3,) 
he was fired with indignation, slew the 
Egyptian— This act of Moses may seem, and 
indeed by some has been condemned as rash 
and unjustifiable— in plain terms as a deed 
of assassination. But we must not judge of 
his action in such a country and age by the 
standard of law and the notions of right 
which prevail in our Christian land: and 
besides, not only is it not spoken of as a 
crime in scripture or as distressing the per- 
petrator with remorse, but according to exist- 
ing customs, among nomadic tribes, he was 
bound to avenge the blood of a brother. 
The person he slew, however, being a go- 
vernment officer, he had rendered himself 
amenable to the laws of Egypt, and therefore 
he endeavoured to screen himself from the 
consequences by concealment of the corpse. 
13, 14. two men of the Hebrews strove— His 
benevolent mediation in this strife— though 
made in the kindest and mildest manner was 
resented, and the taunt of the aggressor shew- 
ing that Moses' conduct on the preceding day 
had become generally known he determined 
to consult his safety by immediate flight. (He. 
11. 27.) r l hese two incidents prove that neither 
were the Israelites yet ready to go out of 
Egypt, nor Moses prepared to be their leader. 
(Ja. l. 20.) It was by the staff and not the 
sword,— by the meekness, and not the wrath 
of Moses that God was to accomplish that 
great work of deliverance. Both he and the 
peop'e of Israel were for forty years longer 
cast into the furnace of affliction, yet it was 
therein that He had chosen them. (Is. 48. 



is a permanent memorial of the painful in- 
cidents of his birth and infancy. 
U 



The territory extended northward to the 
top of the gulf, and westward far across the 



Moses is sent to de 7 ivt>r Tsrael. 



Exnnrs, v. 



Th.e Israelites' task in?re'H!*& 



became a serpent; and Moses tied from be- 
fore it. 

4 And the Lord said unto Moses, Put 
forth thine h;in<l. and take it by the tail. 
And he put forth his hand, and caught it, 
and it became a, rod in his hand: 

5 That they may a believe that the Lord 
God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, 
the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, 
hath appeared unto thee. 

6 S And the Loud said furthermore unto 
him, Put now thine hand into thy bosom. 
And he put his hand into his bosom: and 
when he took it out, behold, his hand was 
leprous b as snow. 

7 And he said, Put thine hand into thy 
bosom again. And he put his hand into 
his bosom again; and plucked it out of his 
bosom, and, behold, c it was turned again 
as his other Mesh. 

8 And it shall ccme to pass, if they will 
not believe thee, neither hearken to the 
voice of the first sign, that they will be- 
lieve the voice of the latter sign. 

9 And it shall come to pass, if they will 
not believe also these two signs, neither 
hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt 
take of the water of the river, and pour it 
upon the dry land: and d the water, which 
thou takest out of the river l shall become 
blood upon the dry land. 

10 IF And Moses said unto the Lord.O my 
Lord, I am not 2 eloquent, neither 3 here- 
tofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy 
servant ; but e I am slow of speech, and of 
a slow tongue. 

11 And the Lord said unto him, / Who 
hath made man's mouth? or who maketh 
the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the 
blind? have not I the Lord? 

12 Now therefore go, and I will be 9 with 
thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt 
Bay. 

13 And he said, O my Lord, h send, I pray 
thee, by the hand of him whom thou 4 wilt 
send. 

14 And the anger of the Lord was kindled 
against Moses, and he said, Is not Aaron 
the Levite thy brother? I know that he can 
speak well. And also, behold, he cometh 
forth to meet thee : and when he seeth 
thee, he will be slad in his heart. 

15 And thou shalt speak unto him, and 
i put words in his mouth: and I will be with 
thy mouth, and with his mouth, and i will 
teach you what ye shall do. 

16 And he shall be thy spokesman unto 
the people: and he shall be, even he shall 
be to thee instead of a mouth, and * thou 
shalt be to him instead of God. 

17 And thou shalt take this rod in thine 
hand, wherewith thou shalt do signs. 

18 M And Moses went and returned to 
6 J ethro his father-in-law, and said unto 
him, Let me go, 1 pray thee, and return 
unto my brethren which are in Egypt, and 
see whether they be yet alive. And J ethro 
said to Moses, Gk> in peace. 

19 And the Lord said unto Moses in Midi- 
all, Go, return into Egypt: for 'all the men 
are dead which sought thy life. 

20 And Moses took his wife and his sons, 
and set them upon an ass, and he returned 
to the land of Egypt: and Moses took the 
m rod of God in his hand. 

21 And the Lord said unto Moses, When 
thou goest to return into Egypt, see that 
thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh 

45 



S. C. 1491. 



CHAP. 4. 
a ch. 19. 9. 

b Nu. 12. 10. 
c Deu. 32.39. 
d ch. 7. 19. 

1 shall be 
and shall 
be. 

2 a man of 
words. 

3 since yes- 
terday, nor 
sin"6 the 
third day. 

e Jer. 1. 6. 
/ Ps. 94. 9. 

Is. 50. 4. 
Jer. 1. 9. 
Mark 18- 
11. 

Lu. 22 14. 
h Jonah 1. 3. 

4 Or, should- 
est. 

i Num. 23. 

12. 

Deu. 18. 18. 

Is. 51. 16. 

Jer. 1. 9. 
j Deu. 5. 31. 
k ch. 7. 1. 

ch. 18. 19. 

5 Jether. 

1 ch. 2. 15, 
23. 

Mat. 2. 20. 
w-ch. 17.9. 

Num. 20. 

8,9. 
n Jos. 11. 20. 

1 Sa. 6. 6. 
Dan. 5. 20. 
Rom. 9. 
14-23. 
James 1. 
13-17. 

o Hos. 11. 1. 
Rom. 9. 4. 

2 Cor. 6. 
18. 

P Jer. 31. 9. 

Jam. 1. 18. 
q ch. 11. 6. 

ch. 12. 29. 
r Nu. 22. 22. 
8 Gen. 17 14. 
t Jos. 5. 2, 3. 

6 Or, knife. 

7 made it 
toucii. 

U ch. 3. 1. 
v ch. 3. 16. 
w ch. 3. 18. 
x ch. 3. 16. 
2/ch. 2. 25. 

ch. 3. 7. 
z Gen. 24 26. 

ch. 12. 27. 

IChr .29.20. 



CHAP. 5. 
a ch. 10. 9. 
b 2 Ki. 18. 35. 

Job 21. 15. 

Ps. 12. 3-5. 

2 Chron. 32. 

14. 
c ch. 3. 19. 
d ch. 3. 18. 
e Pro. 28. 15. 
/ch. 1. 11. 
g ch. 1. 7, 9. 
h ch. 1. 11. 
1 Let the 

work be 

heavy upon 



which I have put in thine hand: but n I 
will harden his heart, that he shall not let 
the people go. 

22 And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, 
Thus saith the Lord, "Israel is my son, 
P even my first-born: 

23 And I say unto thee, Let my son go, 
that he may serve me: and if thou refuse 
to let him go, behold, « I will slay thy son, 
even thy first-born. 

24 U And it came to pass by the way in the 
inn, that the Lord r met him, and soognt 
to 8 kill him. 

25 Then Zipporah took ' a sharp 6 stone, 
and cut off the foreskin of her son, and 
7 cast it at his feet, and said, Surely a 
bloody husband art thou to me. 

26 So he let him go: then she said, A 
bloody husband thou art. because of the 
circumcision. 

27 H And iiia Lord said to Aaron, Go into 
the wilderness to meet Moses. And he 
went, and met him in u the mount of God, 
and kissed him. 

28 And Moses told Aaron all the words of 
the Lord who had sent him, and all the 
signs which he had commanded him. 

29 U And Moses and Aaron v went and 
gathered together all the elders of the 
children of Israel: 

30 And Aaron spake all the words which 
the Lord had spoken unto Moses, and did 
the signs in the sight of the people. 

31 And the people *" believed: and when 
they heard that the Lord had x visited the 
children of Israel, and that he y had looked 
upon their affliction, then z they bowed 
their heads and worshipped. 

CHAPTER V. 

1 Pharaoh chideth Moses and Aaron: 6 he in- 
createth the Israelites' task: 10 the people haw 
no straw. 15 Pharaoh checketh their coiat taints : 
20 they ery out upon Moses and Aaron. 22 Moses 
comptaineth to God. 

A ND afterward Moses and Aaron went 
- rL in, and told Pharaoh, Thus saith the 
Lord God of Israel, Let my people go, that 
they may hold a a feast unto me in the 
wilderness. 

2 And Pharaoh said, & "Who is the Lord, 
that I should obey his voice to let Israel 
go? I know not the Lord, c neither will 1 
let Israel go. 

3 And they said, d The God of th»' Hebrews 
hath met with us: let us go, we p <i> thee, 
three days' journey into the desert, and 
sacrifice unto the Lord our God; lest he 
fall upon us with pestilence, or with the 
sword. 

4 Aud the king of Egypt said unto them, 
e Wherefore do ye, Moses and Aaron, let 
the people from their works? get you unto 
your / burdens. 

5 And Pharaoh said. Behold, the people 
of the land now are ° many, and ye make 
them rest from their burdens. 

6 And Pharaoh commanded the same day 
the h taskmasters of the people, and their 
officers, saying, 

7 Ye shall no more give the people straw 
to make brick, as heretofore : let them go 
and gather straw for themselves. 

8 And the tale of the bricks, which they 
did make heretofore, ye shall lay upon 
them; ye shall not diminish ought thereof: 
for they be idle; therefore they cry, saying, 
Let us go and sacrifice to our fiou. 

9 i Let there more work be laid upon the 



Divine Appearance and 



exodus, in. 



Comm^i ion to Moses. 



desert of Sinai. And from their position 
near the sea, they early combined trading 
with pastoral pursuits. (Ge. 37. 28.) The 
head-quarters of Jet hro are supposed to have 
been where Dahab-Madian now stands; and 
from Moses coming direct to that place, he 
may have travelled with a caravan of mer- 
chants. But another place is fixed by tradi- 
tion in Wady Shuweib, or Jethro's valley on 
the east of the mountain of Moses, sat by a 
well— bee on Ge. 29. 5. 16-22. The priest 
of Midian— as the offices were usually con- 
joined, he was the ruler also of the people 
called Cushites or Ethiopians, and like many 
other chiefs of pastoral people in that early 
age, he still retained the faith and wor- 
ship of the true God. seven daughters- 
were shepherdesses to whom Moses was 
favourably introduced, by an act of courtesy 
and courage in protecting them from the 
rude shepherds of some neighbouring tribe 
at a well. He afterwards formed a close and 
permanent alliance with this family, by mar- 
rying one of the daughters, Zipporah (a 
little bird), called a Cushite or Ethio- 

{»ian, (Num. 12. l.) and whom he doubt- 
ess obtained in the manner of Jacob by 
service. He had by her two sons, whose 
names were according to common practice 
commemorative of incidents in the family 
history. 23. The king of Egypt died, and the 
children of Israel sighed— The language seems 
to imply that the Israelites had experienced 
a partial relaxation, probably through the 
influence of Moses' royal patroness: but in 
the reign of her father's successor the perse- 
cution was renewed with increased severity. 
CHAPTER III. 
Ver. 1-22. Divine Appearance and 
Commission to Moses. 1. Now Moses kept 
the flock— This employment he had entered 
on in furtherance of his matrimonial views, 
(see on ch. 2. 21, j but it is probable he was con- 
tinuing his services now on other terms like 
Jacob during the latter years of his stay with 
Laban. (Ge. 30. 28.) led the flock to the back 
side of the desert— i.e., on the west of the de 
sert [Gesenius], and assuming Jethro's head 
quarters to have been at Dan ab— the route 
by which Moses led his flock must have been 
west through the wide valley called by the 
Arabs, Wady-es-Zugherah [Robinson], which 
conducted into the interior of the wilderness 
Mountain of God— so named either according 
to Heb. idiom from its great height, as 
"great mountains." Heb. "mountains of 
God," (Ps. 36. 6.) "Goodly cedars." Heb 
" cedars of God," (Ps. 80. 10,) or as some 
think from its being the old abode of "the 
glory:"— or finally from its being the theatre 
of transactions most memorable in the his 
tory of the true religion, to Horeb, rather 
Horeb-ward— Horeb, i.e., dry, desert, was the 
general name for the mountainous district 
in which Sinai is situated, and of which it is 
a part. (See on ch. 19.) It was used to desig 
nate the region comprehending that im 
mense range of lofty,desolate,and barrenhills, 
at the base of which, however, there are not 
only many patches of verdure to be seen, 
but almost all the valleys, or wadys, as they 
are called, shew a thin coating of vegetation 
—which towards the south, becomes more 
luxuriant. The Arab shepherds seldom take 

their flocks to a greater distance than one j the last year of the term which had still to 
day's journey from their camp. Moses must run that the Lord appeared in the burning 
have gone at least two days' journey, and 'bush. 10-22. Come, now, therefore, and Iwid 
45 



although he seems to have been only follov/- 
ing his pastoral course, that region from its 
numerous springs in the clefts of the rocks 
being the chief resort of the tribes during 
the summer heats, the Providence of God 
led him thither for an important purpose. 
2, 3. The angel of the Lord appeared— It is cor~- 
mon in the Scriptures to represent the ele- 
ments and operations of nature, as winds, 
fires, earthquakes, pestilence, every thing 
enlisted in executing the divine will, as the 
" angels" or messengers of God. But in such 
cases God himself is considered as really, 
though invisibly present. Here the preter- 
natural fire may be primarily meant by tha 
expression "angel of the Lord;" but it is 
clear that under this symbol, the divine 
Being was present, whose name is given (v. 
4, 6,) and elsewhere called the angel of the co- 
venant, Jehovah Jesus, in the midst of a 
bush— The wild acacia, or thorn with which 
that desert abounds, and which is generally 
dry and brittle, so much so, that at certain 
seasons, a spark might kindle a district 1 ar 
and wide into a blaze. A fire, therefore, 
being in the midst of such a desert bush was 
" a great sight." It is generally supposed to 
have been emblematic of the Israelites' con- 
dition in Egypt — oppressed by a grinding 
servitude and a bloody prosecution, and yet 
in spite of the cruel policy that was bent on 
annihilating them, they continued as nu- 
merous and thriving as ever. The reason 
was " God was in the midst of them." The 
symbol may also represent the present state 
of the Jews, as well as of the Church gene- 
rally in the world. 4. When the Lord saw 
that he turned— The manifestations which 
God anciently made of himself were always 
accompanied by clear, unmistakeable signs 
that the communications were really from 
heaven. This certain evidence was given to 
Moses. He saw a fire, but no human agent 
to kindle it ; he heard a voice, but no 
human lips from which it came; he saw no 
living Being, but One was in the bush, in 
the heat of the flames who knew him and 
addressed him by name. Who could this be 
but a Divine Being ? 5. Put off thy slices— 
The direction was in conformity with a usage 
which was well known to Moses— for the 
Egyptian priests observed it in their temples, 
and which is observed in all eastern coun- 
tries—where the people take off their shoes 
or sandals, as we do our hats. But the East- 
ern idea is not precisely the same as the 
Western. With us, the removal of the hat 
is an expression of reverence for the place 
we enter, or rather of Him who is worshipped 
there. With them the removal of the shoes 
is a confession of personal defilement, and 
conscious unworthiness to stand in the pre- 
sence of unspotted holiness. I am the God 
. . . come to deliver— The reverential awe of 
Moses must have been relieved by the Di- 
vine Speaker, tsee on M. 22. 32,) announcing 
himself in his covenant character, and by the 
welcome intelligence communicated. More- 
over, the time as well as all the circumstances 
of this miraculous appearance were such as to 
give him an illustrious display of God's faith- 
fulness to his promises. The period of Is- 
rael's journey and affliction in Egypt had 
been predicted, (Ge. 15. 13,) and it was during 



Godpromiseth deliverance. 



EXODUS, VI. 



Genealogy of Moses. 



men, that they may labour therein ; and let 
them not regard vain words. 

10 Ti And the * taskmasters of the people 
Went out, and their officers, and they spake 
to tiie people, saying, Thus saith Pharaoh, 
I will not give you straw. 

11 Go ye, get you straw where ye can rind 
it: yet not ought of your work shall be di- 
minished. 

12 So the people were scattered abroad 
throughout all the land of Egypt to gather 
stubble instead of straw. 

13 Aud the taskmasters hasted them, say- 
ing. Fulfil your works, your 2 dady tasks, 
as when there was straw. 

14 i And the officers of the children of 
Israel, winch Pharaoh's taskmasters had 
set over them, were beaten, and demanded, 
"Wherefore have ye not fulfilled your task 
in making brick both yesterday and to-day, 
as heretofore? 

15 H Then the officers of the children of 
Israel came and cried imto Pharaoh, say- 
ing. Wherefore dealest thou thus with thy 
servants? 

lb' There is no straw given unto thy ser- 
vants, and they say to us, Make brick: and, 
behold, thy servants are beaten; but the 
fault is in thine own people. 

17 Put he said, Ye are idle, ye are idle: 
therefore ye say, Let us go and do sacrifice 
to the Lord. 

18 Go therefore now and work: for there 
shall no straw be given you, yet shall ye 
deliver the tale of bricks. 

19 And the officers of the children of Israel 
did see that they were in evil case, after it 
was said. Ye shall not rninish ought from 
your bricks of your daily task. 

20 1f And they met Moses and Aaron, who 
stood in the way, as they came forth from 
Pharaoh: 

21 * And they said unto them, The Lord 
look upon you, and judge; because ye have 
made our savour 3 to be abhorred in the 
eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of his ser- 
vants, to put a sword in their hand to slay 
us. 

22 And Moses l returned unto the Lord, 
and said, Lord, w heref ore hast thou so evil 
entreated this people? why is it tluit thou 
hast sent me? 

23 For since I came to Pharaoh to speak 
in thy name, he hath done evil to this peo- 
ple; * neither m hast thou delivered thy 
people at all. 

CHAPTER VI. 

1 God reneweth his promise by his name JEHO- 
VAH: 10 he tendeth Mosts to Fharaoh. 14 The 
generations of Reuben, 16 of Simeon, 1(5 of Levi. 

fpHEN the Lord said unto Moses, Now 
x shaft thou see what I will do to Pha- 
raoh: for with a strong hand shall he let 
them go, and with a strong hand a shall he 
drive them out of his land. 

2 And God spake unto Moses, and said 
unto him, 1 am i the Lord: 

3 And I appeared unto Abraham, unto 
Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of 
* God Almighty; but by my name c JEHO- 
VAH was 1 not known to them. 

4 d And 1 have also established my cove- 
nant with them, e to give them the land of 
Canaan, the land of their pilgrhnage, 
w herein they were strangers. 

5 And/ 1 have also heard the groaning of 
the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians 



CHAP. 5. 

ich. 1. 11. 

Pro. 29. 12. 

2 a matter of 
a day in 
his day. 

j Gen. 15.13. 
k ch. 6. 9. 

3 to stink. 
Gen. 34 30. 

1 Sa. 13. 4. 

2 Sa. 10. 6. 
1 Ch. 19. 6. 

I Nu. 11. 11. 
1 Sa. 30. 6. 

4 delivering 
thou hast 
not de- 
livered. 

m Mat. 14. 
31. 

Heb. 10. 
23. 



CHAP. 6. 

a ch. 11. 1. 
ch. 12. 31. 

1 Or.JEHO- 
VAH. 

b Gen. 17. 1. 

Gen. 35.11. 

Gen. 48. 3. 
C ch. 3. 14. 

Ps. 68. 4. 

John 8 58. 

Rev. 1. 4. 
d Gen. 15.18. 

Gen. 17. 

4, 7. 
e Gen. 17. 8. 
/ ch. 2. 24. 
g ch. 3. 17. 

ch. 7. 4. 

Deu. 26. 8. 

Ps. 81. 6. 

Ps. 136. 11, 

12. 
h ch. 15 13. 

Deut. 7- 8. 

1 Clir. 17. 

21. 

Neh. 1. 10. 
i Deut. 7. 6. 

2 Sa. 7- 24. 
j Gen. 17. 

7,8. 

ch. 29. 45, 
46. 

Deu. 29.13. 
Rev. 21 7. 
k Ps. 81. 6. 

2 lift up my 
hand. 
Gen. 14.22. 

I Gen. 15. 18. 
Gen. 26.3. 

3 shortness, 
or, strait- 
ness. 

«i Jer. 1. 6. 
n Gen. 49. 9. 

1 Chr. 5. 3. 
o Gen. 46. 10. 

1 Ch. 4. 24. 
P Gen. 46. 11. 

Num. 3. 17. 

1 Chr. 6. 1. 
q Nu. 26. 57. 
r ch. 2.1,2. 

Nu. 26. 59. 
s Nu. 16. 1. 
t Lev. 10. 4. 

Nu. 3. 30. 
u Mat. 1. 4. 
V Lev. 10. 1. 

Num. 3. 2. 
WNu.26.11. 
X Jo*. 24. 33. 



keep in bondage; and I have remembered 
my covenant. 

6 Wherefore say unto the children of Is- 
rael, I am the Lord, and * 1 will bring yoii 
out from under the burdens of the Egyp- 
tians, and I will rid you out of then bon- 
dage, and I will h redeem you with a 
stretched-out arm, and with great judg- 
ments: 

7 And I will * take you to me for a peonle. 
and J 1 ' I will be to you a God: and ye snail 
know that I am the Lord your God, which 
bringeth you out A from under the burdens 
of the Egyptians. 

8 And I will brin? you in unto the land k 
concerning the which I did 2 swear l to give it 
to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob : and I 
will give it you for an heritage; I am the 
Lord. 

9 1T And Moses spake so unto the children 
of Israel: but they hearkened not unto 
Moses for 3 anguish of spirit, and for cruel 
bondage. 

10 And the Lord spake untoMoses, saying, 

11 Go in, speak unto Pharaoh king oi 
Egypt, that he let the children of Israel go 
out of his land. 

12 And Moses spake before the Lord, say- 
ing, Behold, the children of Israel have not 
hearkened unto me ; how then shall Pha- 
raoh hear me, m who am of uncircumcised 
lips? 

13 And the Lord spake unto Moses and 
unto Aaron, and gave them a charge unto 
the children of Israel, and unto Pharaoh 
king of Egypt, to bring the children of 
Israel out oi the land of Egypt. 

14 IT These be the heads of their fathers' 
houses: n The sons of Reuben the first-bora 
of Israel; Hanoch, and Pallu, Hezron, and 
Carmi: these be the families of Reuben. 

15 ° And the sons of Simeon ; J emuel, and 
Jamin, and Ohad, and Jachin, and Zohar, 
and Shaul the son of a Canaamtish woman : 
these are the families of Simeon. 

16 And these are the names of p the sons 
of Levi according to their generations • Ger- 
shon, and Kohath, and Merari: and the 
years of the life of Levi were an hundred 
thirty and seven years. 

17 The sons of Gershon ; Libni and Shimi, 
according to their families. 

18 And * the sons of Kohath; Amram, and 
Izhar, and Hebron^ and Uzziel. And the 
years of the life of Kohath were an hundred 
thirty and three years. 

19 And the sons of Merari; Mahli and 
Mushi: these are the families of Levi ac- 
cording to their generations. 

20 And r Amram took him Jochebed his 
father's sister to wife; and she bare him 
Aaron and Moses: and the years of the life 
of Amram were an hundred and thirty and 
seven years. 

21 And e the sons of Izhar; Korah, and 
Nepheg. and Zichri. 

22 And * the sons of Uzziel; Mishael, and 
Elzaphan, and Zithri. 

23 And Aaron took him Elisheba, daughter 
of u Amminadab, sister of ^Naashon, to wife ; 
and she bare him v Nadab, and Abihu, 
Eleazar, and Ithamar. 

24 And the w sons of Korah; Assir, and 
Elkanah, and Abiasaph: these are the fa- 
milies of the Korhites. 

25 And Eleazar, Aaron's son, took him one 
of the daughters of Putiel to wife; and 
* she bare him Phinehas; these are the 



Miraculous Change of the Rod . EXO DU S, IV, V. 

send thee— Considering the patriotic views 
that had formerly animated the breast of 
Moses, we might have anticipated that no 
mission could have been more welcome to 
his heart than to be employed in the national 
emancipation of Israel. But he evinced great 
reluctance to it and stated a variety of ob- 
jections, all of which were successively met 
and removed— and the happy issue of his 
labours was minutely described. 
CHAPTER IV. 
Ver. 1-31. Miraculous Change of the 
Rod, &c. 1. But behold— H eb." if." "perhaps," 
" they will not believe me,"— What evidence 
can I produce of my divine mission? There 
was still a want of full confidence, not in the 
character and divine power of his employer, 
but in His presence and power always 
accompanying him. He insinuated that 
his communication might be rejected and 
himself treated as an impostor. 2. what 
is that in thine hand?— The question was 
put not to elicit information which God 
required, but to draw the particular at- 
tention of Moses, a rod — probably the 
shepherd's crook— among the Arabs, a long 
staff, with a curved head, varying from three 
to six feet in length. 6. put . . .hand into thy 
bosom— the open part of his outer robe, worn 
about the girdle. 9. take water out of the 
river— Nile. Those miracles, two of which 
were wrought then, and the third to be per- 
formed on his arrival in Goshen, Mere at 
first designed to encourage himself as satis- 
factory proofs of his divine mission, and to 
be repeated for the special confirmation of 
his embassy before the Israelites. 10-17. I 
am not eloquent— It is supposed that Moses 
laboured under a natural defect of utterance, 
or had a difficulty in the free and fluent ex- 
pression of his ideas in the Egyptian language, 
which he had long disused/This new objection 
was also overruled, but still Moses who fore- 
saw the manifold difficulties of the under- 
taking, was anxious to be freed from the 
responsibility. 14. The anger of the Lord was 
kindled— The Divine Being is not subject to 
ebullitions of pass' on; but his displeasure 
was manifested by transferring the honour 
of the priesthood, which would otherwise 
have been bestowed on Moses to Aaron, 
who was from this time destined to be 
the head of the house of Levi, (lCh. 23. 13.) 
Marvellous had been his condescension and 
patience in dealing with Moses ; and now 
every remaining scruple was removed by the 
unexpected and welcome intelligence that 
his brother Aaron was to be his col- 
league. God knew from the beginning what 
Moses would do, but he reserves this mo- 
tive to the last as the strongest to rouse 
his languid heart, and Moses now fully 
and cordially complied with the call. If 
we are surprised at his backwardness amidst 
all the signs and promises that were given 
him, we must admire his candour and 
honesty in recording it. 18. Moses returned to 
Jethro— Being in his service, it was right to 
obtain his consent, but Moses evinced piety, 
humility, and prudence, in not divulging the 
special object of his journey. 19. all the 
men are dead— The death of the Egyptian 
monarch took place in the four hundred and 
twenty-ninth year of the Hebrew sojourn in 
that land, and that event, according to the 
law of Egypt, took off his proscription of 
Moses, if it had been publicly issued. 20. 



Moses Departeth from Jethro. 



40 



took wife, and sons, and set them on an ass— 
[Sept. "asses." Those animals are not now 
[ used in the desert of Sinai, except by the 
i Arabs for short distances. Returned— en- 
tered on his journey towards Egypt, rod 
of God — so called from its being to be appro- 
priated to His service, and because whatever 
miracles it might be employed in performing 
would be wrought not by its iuherent pro- 
perties, but by a divine power following on its 
use. icf. A. 3. 12.) 24. inn— Heb. a halting 
place for the night, sought to kill him — i.e. he 
was either overwhelmed with mental distress 
or overtaken by a sudden and dangerous 
malady. The narrative is obscure, but the 
meaning seems to be, that, led during his 
illness to a strict self-examination, he was 
deeply pained and grieved at the thought of 
having, to please his wife, postponed or ne- 
glected the circumcision of one of his sons, 
probably the younger. To dishonour that 
sign and seal of the covenant was criminal 
in any Hebrew, peculiarly so in one destined 
to be the leader and deliverer of the He- 
brews; and he seems to have felt his sickness 
as a merited chastisement for his sinful 
omission. Concerned for her husband's 
safety, Zipporah overcomes her maternal 
feelings of aversion to the painful rite, per- 
forms herself, by means of one of tlie sharp 
flints with which part of the desert abounds, 
an operation, which her husband, on whom 
the duty devolved, was unable to do, and hav- 
ing brought the bloody evidence, exclaimed 
in the painful excitement of her feelings that 
from love to him she had risked the life of her 
child. [Cal., Bull., Bos.] 28. So he let him go 
—Moses recovered: but the remembrance of 
this critical period in his life would stimu- 
late the Hebrew legislator to enforce a faith- 
ful attention to the rite of circumcision, 
when it was established as a Divine ordinance 
in Israel, and made their peculiar distinction 
as a people. 27. Aaron met . . .and kissed him— 
After a separation of 40 years, their meeting 
would be mutually happy. Similar are the 
salutations of Arab friendswhen they meet in 
the desert still; conspicuous is the kiss on 
each side of the head. 29. Moses and Aaron 
went— towards Egypt, Zipporah and her 
sons having been sent back. (cf. ch. 18. 2.) 
gathered all the elders— Aaron was spokes- 
man, and Moses performed the appointed 
miracles— through which " the people," i. e., 
the elders, believed (1 Ki. 17. 24; Jo. 3. 2.), and 
received the joyful tidings of the errand on 
whichMoses had come withdevout thanksgiv- 
ing. Formerly they had slighted the message 
and rejected the messenger. Formerly Moses 
had gone in his own strength; now he goes 
leaning on God, and strong only through 
faith in Him who had sent him. Israel also 
had been taught a useful lesson, and it was 
good for both that they had been afflicted. 
CHAPTER V. 
Ver. 1-23. First Interview with Pha- 
raoh. 1. Moses and Aaron went — As re- 
presentatives of the Hebrews, they were 
entitled to ask an audience of the king, 
and their thorough Egyptian training taught 
them how and when to seek it. they told 
him— when introduced, they delivered a 
message in the name of the God of Israel. 
This is the first time He is mentioned by that 
national appellation in Scripture. It .seems 
to have been used by divine direction ch. 4. 
22.), and designed to put honour on tho 



Moses' commission is proved 



exodus, vn, VIII. 



by signs to Pharaoh: 



AND 



heads of the fathers of the Levites, accord- 
ing to their families. 

2o' These are that Aaron and Moses, to 
whom the Lord said, Bring out the children 
of Israel from the land of Egypt, according 
to their * armies. 

27 These are they which z spake to Pha- 
raoh king of Egypt, a to bring out the chil- 
dren of Israel from Egypt: these are that 
Moses and Aaron. 

2S H" And it came to pass, on the dzyivhen 
the Lord spake unto Moses in the land of 
Egypt, 

29 That the Lord spake unto Moses, say- 
ing, I am the Lord: ° speak thou unto Pha- 
raoh king of Egypt all that I say unto thee. 

30 And Moses said before the Lord, Be- 
hold, I am of uncircumcised lips, and how 
shall Pharaoh hearken unto me? 

CHAPTER VII. 
1 Moses is encouraged to go to Pharaoh : 10 his rod 
turned into a serpent: 11 the sorcerers do the 
like. 13 Pharaoh'* heart is hardened. 19 The 
river is turned into blood. 

the Lord said unto Moses, See, I 
have made thee a a god to Pharaoh; 
and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet. 

2 Thou shalt speak all that I command 
thee; and Aaron thy brother shall speak 
unto Pharaoh, that he send the children of 
Israel out of his land. 

3 And 1 will harden Pharaoh's heart, and 
& multiply my c signs and my wonders in the 
land or Egypt. 

4 But Pharaoh shall not hearken unto 
you, d that I may lay my hand upon Egypt, 
and bring forth mine armies, and my peo- 
ple the children of Israel, out of the land 
of Egypt e bv great judgments. 

5 And the Egyptians / shall know that I 
am the Lord, when I g stretch forth mine 
hand upon Egypt, and bring out the chil- 
dren of Israel from among them. 

6 And Moses and Aaron did as the Lord 
commanded them, so did they. 

7 And Moses was h fourscore years old, 
and Aaron fourscore and three years old, 
when they spake unto Pharaoh. 

8 fi And the Lord spake unto Moses and 
unto Aaron, saying, 

9 When Pharaoh shall speak unto you, 
saying, » Show a miracle for you: then thou 
shalt say unto Aaron, i Take thy rod, and 
cast it before Pharaoh, and it shall become 
a serpent. 

10 tf And Moses and Aaron went in unto 
Pharaoh, and they did so as the Lord had 
commanded: and Aaron cast down his rod 
before Pharaoh, and before his servants, 
and it k became a serpent. 

11 Then Pharaoh also l called the wise 
men and m the sorcerers : now the magicians 
of Egypt, they also n did in like manner 
with their enchantments. 

12 For they cast down every man his rod, 
and they became serpents: but Aaron's rod 
swallowed up their rods. 

13 And he hardened Pharaoh's heart, that 
he hearkened not unto them; ° as the Lord 
had said. 

14 % And the Lord said unto Moses, p Pha- 
raoh's heart is hardened, he refuseth to let 
the people go. 

15 Get thee unto Pharaoh in the morning; 
lo, he goeth out unto the water; and thou 
shalt stand by the river's brink against he 
come ; and q the rod which was turned to a 
gerpent shalt thou take in thine hand. 

47 



C. 1491. 



CHAP. 6. 
V ch. 7. 4. 

ch. 12. 17, 

51. 

Nu. 33 1. 
2 ch. 5. 1, 3. 

ch. 7. 10. 
a ch. 32. 7. 

ch. 33. 1. 

Ps. 77. 20. 
6 ch. 7. 2. 



CHAP. 7. 

ch. 4. 16. 
Jer. 1. 10. 

b ch. 11. 9. 
c ch. 4. 7. 
d ch. 10. 1. 

ch. 11. 9. 
« ch. 6. 6. 
/ ch. 8. 22. 

ch. 14. 4, 

18. 

Ps. 9. 16. 
9 ch. 3. 20. 
h Deu. 29. 5. 
Deu. 31. 2. 
Deu. 34. 7. 
Acts 7. 23, 

30. 
i Is. 7. 11. 

John 2. 13. 

John 0. 30. 
3 ch. 4. 2, 

17. 
k ch. 4. 3. 

1 Gen. 41. 8. 
Dan. 2. 2. 

m 2 Tim. 

3. 8- 
n ver. 22. 

ch. 8. 7, 

18. 

ch. 4. 21. 
P ch. 8. 15. 

ch. 10. 1, 

20, 27. 
q ch. 4. 2, 3. 
i- ch. 3. 12, 

18. 

ch. 5. 1, 3. 
8 Ps. 19. 16. 

Ezek. 20. 

48. 

Ezek. 25. 

17. 

Ezok. 34. 

30. 

Joel 3.17. 
t ch. 4. 9. 
w Rev. 16. 

4,6. 
v ver. 24. 
w ch. 8. 5. 

ch. 9. 22. 

ch. 10. 12, 

21. 

ch. 14. 21, 

26. 

1 gathering 
of their 
waters. 

x ch. 17. 5. 
V Ps. 78. 44. 
Ps. 105. 29. 

2 Pro. 29. 1. 



CHAP. 8. 

a ch. 3. 12. 
5 ch. 7. 14. 

ch. 9. 2. 
c Rev. 16. 13. 
d Ps. 105. 30. 
1 Or, dough. 
e eh. 7. 19. 
/Ps. 78.45. 

Ps. 105. 30. 
gch, 7.11. 



16 And thou shalt say unto him, The Lord 
God of the Hebrews hath sent me unto 
thee, saving, Let my people sro, r that they 
may serve me in the wilderness: and, be- 
hold, hitherto thou wouldest not hear. 

17 Thus saith the Lord, In this 8 thou 
shalt know that I am the Lord: behold, I 
will smite with the rod that is in mine 
hand upon the waters which are in the 
river, and * they shall be turned u to blood. 

18 And the fish that is in the river shall 
die, and the river shall stink; and the 
Egyptians shall v loathe to chink of the 
water of the river. 

19 1F And the Lord spake unto Moses, 
Say unto Aaron,Take thy rod, asid w stretch 
out thine hand upon the waters of Egypt, 
upon their streams, upon their rivers, and 
upon their ponds, and upon all their i pools 
ot water, that they may become blood; and 
that there maybe blood throughout all the 
land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood, and 
hi vessels of stone. 

20 And Moses and Aaron did so, as the 
Lord commanded ; and he * lifted up the 
rod, and smote the waters that were in the 
river, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the 
sight of his servants; and all the y waters 
that were in the river were turned to 
blood. 

21 And the fish that was in the river died; 
and the river stank, and the Egyptians 
could not drink of the water of the river: 
and there was blood throughout all the land 
of Egypt. 

22 And the magicians of Egypt did so 
with their enchantments: and Pharaoh's 
heart was hardened, neither did he hearken 
unto them ; as the Lord had said. 

23 And Pharaoh turned and went into his 
house, neither z did he set his heart to this 
also. 

24 And all the Egyptians digged round 
about the river for water to drink ; for they 
could not drink of the water of the river. 

25 And seven days were fulfilled, after 
that the Lord had smitten the river. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

1 Frogs are threatened, 5 and sent. 16 The dust is 
turned into lice, which the magicians coubl not 
do. 'JO The plague of fiies. 3'J Pharaoh is still 
hardened. 

AND the Lord spake unto Moses, Go 
X3 - unto Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus 
saith the Lord, Let my people go, ° that 
they may serve me. 

2 And if thou b refuse to let them, go, be- 
hold, I will smite all thy borders with 
c frogs: 

3 And the river shall bring forth frogs 
abundantly, which shall go up and come 
into thine house, and into d thy bed-cham- 
ber, and upon thy bed, and into the house 
of thy servants, and upon thy people, and 
into thine ovens, and into tny i kneading 
troughs: 

4 And the frogs shall come up both on 
thee, and upon thy people, and upon all 
thy servants. 

5"1T And the Lord spake unto Moses, Say 
unto Aaron, e Stretch forth thine hand 
with thy rod over the streams, over the 
rivers, and over the ponds, and cause frogs 
to come up upon the land of Egypt. 

6 And Aaron stretched out his'hand over 
the waters of Egypt: and/ the frogs came 
up, and covered the land of Egypt. 

7 9 And the magicians did so with their 



First Interview with Pharaoh. 

R ebre ws in their depressed condition. (Heb. 
11. K5.) 2. Pli.raoh said, Who is the Lord- 
rather "Jehovah." Lord was a common 
name applied to objects of worship; but Je- 
hovah was a name he had never heard of ; 
he estimated the character and power of 
this God by the abject and miserable con- 
dition of the worshippers, and concluded 
that He held as low a rank among the gods 
as his people did in the nation. To demon- 
strate the supremacy of the true God over 
all the gods of Egypt, was the design of the 
plagues. Will not let Israel go — As his 
honour and interest were both mvolved, 
he determined to crush this attempt, and 
in a tone of insolence, or perhaps profa- 
nity, rejected the request for the release of 
the Hebrew slaves. 3. The God of the Hebrews 
hath met us— Instead of being provoked into 
reproaches or threats, they mildly assured 
him that it was not a proposal originating 
among themselves, but a duty enjoined on 
them by their God. They had for a long series 
of years been debarred from the privilege of 
religious worship, and as there was reason 
to fear that a continued neglect of divine or- 
dinances would draw down upon them the 
judgments of offended heaven, they begged 
permission to go three days' journey into the' 
desert — a place of seclusion — where their 
sacrificial observances would neither suffer 
interruption nor give umbrage to the Egyp- 
tians. In saying this, they concealed their 
ultimate design of abandoning the kingdom, 
and by making this partial request at first, 
they probably wished to try the king's temper 
before they disclosed their intentions any 
farther. But they said only what God had 
put in their mouths (ch. 3. 12, 18.), and 'this 
legalizes the specific act, while it gives no 
sanction to the general habit of dissimula- 
tion.' [Chalmers.] 4. Wherefore do ye, Moses 
and Aaron, let the people, &c— Without taking 
any notice of what they had said, he treated 
them as ambitious demagogues, who were 
appealing to the superstitious feelings of the 
people, to stir up sedition, and diffuse a spirit 
of discontent, which spreading through so 
wist a body of slaves, might endanger the 
peace of the country. 6. Pharaoh commanded 
—It was a natural consequence of the high 
displeasure created by this interview, that 
he should put additional burdens on the op- 
pressed Israelites, taskmasters — Egyptian 
overseers, appointed to exact labour of the 
Israelites, officers — Hebrews placed over 
their brethren, under the taskmasters, pre- 
cisely analogous to the Arab officers set 
over the Arab Eellahs, the poor labourers 
in modern Egypt. 7. ye shall no more give the 
people straw— The making of bricks appears 
to have been a government monopoly, as the 
ancient bricks are nearly all stamped with 
the name of a king, and they were formed, 
as they are still in Lower Egypt, of clay 
mixed with chopped straw, and dried or 
hardened in the sun. The Israelites were 
employed in this drudgery; and though they 
still dwelt in Goshen, and held property in 
flocks and herds, they were compelled in ro- 
tation to serve in the brick-quarries, pressed 
in alternating groups, just as the fellaheen or 
peasants are marched by press-gangs in the 
same country still, go . . . gather straw, &c— 
the enraged despot did not issue orders to 
do an impracticable thing. The Egyptian 
reapers in the corn-harvest were accustomed 
47 



EXODUS^ VI. Henewat of the Promise. 

merely to cut off the ears and leave the 
stalk standing. 8. tale— an appointed number 
of bricks. The materials of their labour 
were to be no longer supplied, and yet, as 
the same amount of produce was exacted 
daily, it is impossible to imagine moreaggre- 
vated cruelty— a more perfect specimen of 
Oriental despotism. 12. So the people were 
scattered— It was an immense grievance to 
the labourers individually, but there would 
be no hindrance from the husbandmen 
whose fields they entered, as almost all 
the lands of Egypt were in the posses- 
sion of the crown. (Ge. 47. 20.). 13-19. task- 
masters hasted . . . officers beaten— As the 
nearest fields were bared, and the people had 
to go farther for stubble, it was impossible for 
them to meet the demand by the usual tale 
of bricks. 4 The beating of the officers is 
just what might have been expected from an 
Eastern tyrant, especially in the valley of the 
Nile, as it appears from the monuments, 
that ancient Egypt, like modern China, was 
principally governed by the stick. (Taylor.] 
The mode of beating was by the offender 
being laid flat on the ground, and generally 
held by the hands and feet while the chastise- 
ment was administered.' [Wilk.1 (Deut. 
25. 2.). A picture representing the Hebrews 
in a brick-field, exactly as described in this 
chapter was found in an Egyptian tomb at 
Thebes. 20, 21. They met Moses. . . the Lord. . . 
judge— Thus the deliverer of Israel found that 
this patriotic interference did, in the first 
instance, only aggravate the evil he wished 
to remove, and that instead of receiving the 
gratitude, he was loaded with the reproaches 
of his countrymen. But as the greatest dark- 
ness is immediately before the dawn, so the 
people of God are often plunged into the 
deepest affliction when on the eve of their 
deliverance, and so it was in this case. 
CHAPTER VI. 
Ver. 1--13. .Renewal of the Promise. 
Lord said unto Moses — The Lord, who is 
long-suffering and indulgent to the errors 
and infirmities of his people, made allow- 
ance for the mortification of Moses as the 
result of this first interview, and cheered 
him with the assurance of a speedy and suc- 
cessful termination to his embassy. 2. And 
God spake unto Moses— For his further en- 
couragement, there was made to him an 
emphatic repetition of the promise, (ch. 3. 
20. ) 3. 1 am God Almighty— All enemies must 
fall, all difficulties must vanish before my 
Omnipotent power, and the patriarchs had 
abundant proofs of this, but by my name, 
&c— rather, interrogatively, by my name 
Jehovah was I not known to them? Am not 
I, the Almighty God who pledged my honour 
for the fulfilment of the covenant, also the 
self-existent God who lives to accomplish 
it. Eest assured, therefore, that I shall 
bring it to pass. This passage has occa- 
sioned much discussion ; and it has been 
thought by many to intimate that as the 
name Jehovah was not known to the patri- 
archs, at least in the full bearing or practical 
experience of it, the honour of the disclosure 
was reserved to Moses, who was the first 
sent with a message in the name of Jehovah, 
an/i enabled to attest it by a series of public 
miracles. 9-13. Moses spake— The increased 
severities inflicted on the Israelites seem to 
have so entirely crushed their spirits as 
well as irritated them, that they refused 



The plagues of lice and flies. 



EXODUS, IX. 



The murrain of beasts. 



enchantments, and brought up frogs upon 
the land of Egypt. 

8 1[ Then Pharaoh called for Moses and 
Aaron, and said, /l Entreat the Lord, that 
he may take away the frogs from me, and 
from my people; and I will let the people 

fo, that they may do sacrifice unto the 
,ORD. 

9 And Moses said unto Pharaoh. 2 Glory 
over me: 3 when shall I entreat for thee, 
and for thy servants, and for thy people, 

* to destroy the frogs from thee and ihy 
houses, that they may remain in the river 
only? 

10 And he said, 5 To-morrow. And he 
said, Be it according to thy word ; that thou 
mayest know that * there is none like unto 
the Lord our God. 

11 And the frogs shall depart from thee, 
and from thy houses, and from thy ser- 
vants, and from thy people; they shall re- 
main in the river only. 

12 And Moses and Aaron went out from 
Pharaoh: and Moses i cried unto the Lord 
because of the frogs which he had brought 
against Pharaoh. 

13 And the Lord did according to the 
word of Moses ; and the frogs died out of 
the houses, out of the villages, and out of 
the fields. 

14 And they gathered them together upon 
heaps ; and the land stank. 

15 Put when Pharaoh saw that there was 

* respite, l he hardened his heart, and 
hearkened not unto them ; as the Lord had 
said. 

16 1T And the Lord said unto Moses, Say 
unto Aaron, Stretch out thy rod, and 
smite the dust of the land, that it may be- 
come lice throughout all the land of Egypt. 

17 And they did so : for Aaron stretched 
out his hand with his rod, and smote the 
dust of the earth, and m it became lice in 
man and in beast ; a\l the dust of the land 
became lice throughout all the land of 

Egypt. 

18 And n the magicians did so with their 
enchantments to bring forth lice, but they 
could not: so there were lice upon man 
and upon beast. 

19 Then the magicians said unto Pharaoh, 
This is p the finger of God: and Pharaoh's 
heart was hardened, and he hearkened not 
unto them • as the Lord had said. 

20 1f And the Lord said unto Moses, ? Rise 
up early in the morning, and stand before 
Pharaoh; lo, he cometh forth to the water; 
and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord, 
Let my people go, that they may serve me: 

21 Else, if thou wilt not let my people go, 
behold, I will send 6 swarms of Hies upon 
thee, and upon thy servants, and upon thy 
people, and mto thy houses: and the houses 
of the Egyptians shall be full of swarms of 
/lies, andalso the ground whereon they are. 

22 And r I will sever in that day the land 
of Goshen, in which my people dwell, that 
no swarms of flies shall be there; to the 
end thou mayest know that I am the Lord 
in the midst of the earth. 

23 And 1 will put i a division between my 
people and thy people: 8 to-morrow shall 
tins sign be. 

24 And the Lord did so: and 8 there came 
a grievous swarm of flies into the house of 
Pharaoh, and into his servants' houses, and 

t: the land was 
e swarm of flies. 



B. C. 1491. 



CHAP. 8. 
h ch. 9. 28. 
ch. 10. 17. 
Nu. 21. 7. 
IKi. 13. C 
Acts 8. 24. 

2 Or, have 
this honour 
over me, 
etc. 

3 Or, again3t 
when. 

4 to cut off. 

5 Or, against 
to-mor- 
row. 

t ch. 9. 14. 
Deu. 33. 26. 
2Sa. 7.22. 

1 Ch. 17.20. 
Ps. 86. 8. 
Is. 46. 9. 
Jer. 10. 6,7. 

j ch. 9. 33. 

ch. 10. 18. 

ch. 32. 11. 

Jam. 5. 16, 

17, 18. 
k Ec. 8. 11. 
I Pro. 21. 29. 
m p s .^05. 

31/ 
n ch. 7. 11. 
Ln. 10. 18. 

2 Tim. 3. 
8,9. 

p 1 Sam. 6. 

3,9. 

Job 27. 11. 

Ps. 8. 3. 

Mat.12.28. 

Lu. 11. 20. 

Acts 13. 

11. 
q ch. 7. 15. 

6 Or, a mix- 
ture of 
noisome 
beasts, etc. 

r ch. 9. 4, 6, 
26. 

7 a redemp- 
tion. 

8 Or, by to- 
morrow. 

8 Ps. 78. 45. 

9 Or, de- 
stroyed. 

t Ge. 46. 34. 
Deu. 7.25, 
26. 

Deu. 12. 31. 
" ch. 3. 18. 
v ch. 3. 12. 
w ch. 9. 28. 

1 Ki. 13. 6. 

Ezra 6. 10. 

Acts 8. 24. 
x Jam. 5. 17. 
V ch. 4. 21. 

Pro. 28.14. 

Romans 9. 

17-23. 

James 1. 

13-17. 



into all the land of Egypi 
d corrupted by reason of th 
48 



CHAP. 9. 

a ch. 8. 1. 

Jer. 22. 1. 
6 ch. 8. 2. 

Rom. 2. 5. 
c ch. 7. 4. 
d ch. 8. 22. 
e Ps. 78. 50. 
/ch. 8. 32. 
g Rev. 16. 2. 
h De. 28. 27. 
i 2 Tim. is. 9. 



25 IT And Pharaoh called for Moses and 
for Aaron, and said, Go ye, sacrifice to your 
God in the land. 

'26 And Moses said, Ii is not meet so to 
do ; for we shall sacrifice the * abomination 
of the Egyptians to the Lord our God: lo, 
shall we sacrifice the abomination of the 
Egyptians before their eyes, and will they 
not stone us? 

27 We will go u three days' journey into 
the wilderness, and sacrifice to the Lord 
our God, as v he shall command us. 

28 And Pharaoh said, I will let you go, 
that ye may sacrifice to the Lord your 
God in the wilderness ; only ye shall not go 
very far away : w entreat for me. 

29 And Moses said, Behold, I go out from 
thee, and I will entreat the Lord that the 
swarms of flies may depart from Pharaoh, 
from his servants, and from his people, to- 
morrow: but let not Phara<^ deal deceit- 
fully any more in not letting the people go 
to sacrifice to the Lord. 

30 And Moses went oat from Pharaoh, 
and entreated the Lord. 

31 And x the Lord did according to the 
word of Moses -and he removed the swarms 
of flies from Pharaoh, from his servants, 
and from his people : there remained not 
one. 

32 And Pharaoh ^hardened his heart at 
this time also, neither would he let the 
people go. 

CHAPTER IX. 
1 The murrain of beasts. 8 The plague of boils and 
blains, 22 of hail. 27 Fharaon sueth to Moses, 35 
but yet is hardened. 

rPHEN the Lord said unto Moses, a Go in 
- 1 - unto Pharaoh, and tell him. Thus saith 
the Lord God of the Hebrews, Let my peo- 
ple go, that they may serve me. 

2 For if thou o refuse to let them go, and 
wilt hold tbem still, 

3 Behold, the c hand of the Lord is upon 
thy cattle which is in the field, upon the 
horses, upon the asses, upon tiie cai..eis, 
upon the oxen, and upon the sheep: there 
shall be a very grievous murrain. 

4 And d the Lord shall sever between the 
cattle of Israel and the cattle of Egypt: and 
there shall nothing die of all that is the 
children's of Israel. 

5 And the Lord appointed a set time, say- 
ing, To-morrow the Lord shall do this thing 
in the land. 

6 And the Lord did that thing on the 
morrow, and e all the cattle of Egypt died: 
but of the cattle of the children of Israel 
died not one. 

7 And Pharaoh sent, and. behold, there 
was not one of the cattle or the Israelites 
dead. And /the heart of Pharaoh was 
hardened, and he did not let the people go. 

8 11 And the Lord said unto Moses and 
unto Aaron, Take to you handfuls of ashes 
of the furnace, and let Moses sprinkle it to- 
ward the heaven in the sight of Pharaoh. 

9 And it shall become small dust in all 
the laud of Egypt, and shall be g a boil 
breaking forth with blains upon man, 
and upon beast, throughout all the land of 
Egypt. 

10 And they took ashes of the furnace, and 
stood before Pharaoh; and Moses sprinkled 
it up toward heaven ; and it became h a boil 
breaking forth with blains upon man and 
upon beast. 

11 And the * magicians could not stand 



The Genealogy of Moses. 



EXODUS, vn. 



Second Interview with Pharaoh, 



to listen to any more communications. (Ex. I 
14. 12.) Even the faith of Moses himself 
was faltering; and he would have abandoned 
the enterprise in despair had he not received 
a positive command from God to revisit the 
people without delay, and at the sime time 
renew their demand on the king in a more 
decisive and peremptory tone. 12. how 
shall I speak . . . uncircumcised lips'?— A meta- 
phorical expression among the Hebrews, 
who, taught to look on the circumcision of 
iny part as denoting perfection, signified its 
deficiency or unsuitableness by uncircum- 
cision. The words here express how pain- 
fully Moses felt his want of utterance or 
persuasive oratory. He seems to have fallen 
into the same deep despondency as his 
brethren, and to be shrinking with nervous 
timidity from a difficult, if not desperate 
cause. If he had succeeded so ill with the 
people, whose dearest interests were all 
involved, what better hope could he enter- 
tain ot his making more impression on the 
heart of a king elated with pride and strong 
in the possession of absolute power? How 
strikingly was the indulgent forbearance of 
God displayed towards his people amid all 
their backwardness to hail his announcement 
of approaching deliverance ! No perverse 
complaints or careless indifference on their 
part retarded the development of His gra- 
cious purposes. On the contrary, here, as 
generally, the course of his Providence is 
slow in the infliction of judgments, while it 
moves more quickly, as it were, when misery 
is to be relieved or benefits conferred. 

14-27". The Genealogy of Moses. 14. 
These be the heads— Chiefs or governors of 
their houses. The insertion of this genealo- 
gical table in this part of the narrative was 
intended to authenticate the descent of 
Moses and Aaron. Both of them were com- 
missioned to act so important a part in the 
events transacted in the court of Egypt, and 
afterwards elevated to so high offices in the 
government and Church of God, that it was 
of the utmost importance that their lineage 
should be accurately traced. Eeuben and 
Simeon being the eldest of Jacob's sons, a 
passing notice is taken of them, and then the 
historian advances to the enumeration of 
the principal persons in the house of Levi. 
20. Jochebed . . . father's sister— The Septua- 
gint and Syriac versions render it his cousin. 
23. Elisheba— ie.,Elisabethan. These minute 
particulars recorded of the family of Aaron, 
while he has passed over his own, indicate 
the real modesty of Moses. An ambitious 
man or an impostor would have acted in a 
different manner. 

CHAPTEE vTI. 

Ver. 1-25. Second Interview with 
Pharaoh. 1. The Lord said unto Moses- 
He is here encouraged to wait again on the 
king— not, however, as formerly in the atti- 
tude of a humble suppliant, but now armed 
with credentials as God's ambassador, and 
to make his demand in a tone and manner 
which no earthly monarch or court ever 
witnessed. I have made thee a god— made, 
i.e., set, appointed ; " a god," i. e., he was to 
act in this business as God's representative, 
to act and speak in his name, and to perform 
things beyond the ordinary course of nature. 
The Orientals familiarly say of a man who is 
eminently great or wise "he is a god" among 
men. Aaron thy brother, &c.— i.e., interpreter 



or spokesman. The one was to be the vice- 
gerent of God, and the other must be consi- 
dered the speaker throughout all the ensuing 
scenes, even though his name is not expressly 
mentioned. 3. 1 will harden Pharaoh's heart— 
This would be the result. But the Divine 
message would be the occasion, not the cause 
of the king's impenitent obduracy. 4, 5. I 
will lay mine hand, &c— The succession of 
terrible judgments with which the country 
was about to be scourged would fully de- 
monstrate the supremacy of Israel's God. 7. 
Moses was fourscore years— This advanced age 
was a pledge that they had not boen readily 
betrayed into a rash or hazardous enter- 
prise, and that under its attendant infirmi- 
ties they could not have carried through the 
work on which they were entering had they 
not been supported by a Divine hand. 8, 9. 
When Pharaoh shall speak, &c. — The king 
would naturally demand some evidence of 
their having been sent from God; and as he 
would expect the ministers of his own gods 
to do the same works the contest, in the 
nature of the case, would be one of miracles. 
9-13. Notice has already been taken of the 
rod of Moses, (ch. 4. 2.) but rods were carried 
also by all nobles and official persons in the 
court of Pharaoh. It was an Egyptian cus- 
tom, and the rods were symbols of authority 
or rank. Hence God commanded his ser- 
vants to use a rod. 10. Aaron cast down his 
rod, &c— It is to be presumed that Pharaoh 
had demanded a proof of their Divine mis- 
sion. 11. then Pharaoh called, &c— His object 
in calling them was to ascertain whether this 
doing of Aaron's was really a work of Divine 
power or merely a feat of magical art. The 
magicians of Egypt in modern times have 
been long celebrated adepts in charming 
serpents, and particularly by pressing the 
nape of the neck, they throw them into a 
kind of catalepsy, which renders them stiff 
and immoveable— thus seeming to change 
them into a rod. They conceal the serpent 
about their persons, and by acts of legerde- 
main produce it from their dress, stiff and 
straight as a rod. Just the same trick was 
played off by their ancient predecessors, the 
most renowned of whom, Jannes and Jambi es 
(2 Tim. 3. 8.), were called in on this occasion. 
They had time after the summons to make 
suitable preparations — and so it appears 
they succeeded by their " enchantments" in 
practising an illusion on the senses. 12. but 
Aaron's rod, &c— This was what they could 
not be prepared for, and the discomfiture 
appeared in the loss of their rods, which 
were probably real serpents. 13, 14. Pha- 
raoh's heart was hardened— Whatever might 
have been his first impressions, they were 
soon dispelled; and when he found his ma- 
gicians making similar attempts, he con- 
cluded that Aaron's affair was a magical 
deception, the secret of which was not known 
to his wise men. 15. Get thee unto Pharaoh— 
Now therefore began those appalling miracles 
of judgment by which the God of Israel, 
through his ambassadors, proved his sole 
and unchallengeable supremacy over all the 
gods of Egypt, and which were the natural 
phenomena of Egypt, at an unusual sea- 
son, and in a miraculous decree of in- 
tensity. The court of Egypt, whether held 
in Barneses, or Memphis, or Tanis in the 
field of Zoan (Ps. 78. 12.), was the scene of 
I those extraordinary transactions, and Mose 



The plague of hail. 



EXODUS, X. 



The plague of locusts threatened. 



before Moses because of the boils ; for the 
boil was upon the magicians, and upon all 
the Egyptians. 

12 And i the Lord hardened the heart of 
Pharaoh, and he hearkened not unto them; 
as *the Lord had spoken unto Moses. 

13 1f And the Lord said unto Moses, L Hise 
up early in the morning, and stand before 
Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith the 
Lord God of the Hebrews, Let my people 
go, that they may serve me. 

11 For I will at this time send all my 
plagues upon thine b<art, and upon thy 
servants, and upon thy people; m that thou 
ma vest know that there w none like me in 
all the earth. 

15 For now I will n stretch out my hand, 
that I may smite thee and thy people with 
pestilence*; and thou shalt be cut off from 
the earth. 

16 And in very deed for °this cause have I 
1 raised thee up, for to show in thee my 
power ; and that my name may be ueclared 
throughout all the earth. 

17 As yet exaltest thou thyself against my 
people, mat thou wilt not let them go? 

18 Behold, to-morrow about this time I will 
cause it to rain a very grievous hail, such as 
hath not been in Egypt since the foundation 
thereof even until now. 

19 Send therefore now, and gather thy 
cattle, and all that thou hast in the field; 
for upon every man and beast which shall 
"be found in the field, and shall not be 
brought home, the hail shall come down 
upon them, and they shall die. 

20 He that feared the word of the Lord 
among the servants of Pharaoh made Ms 
servants and his cattle fiee into the houses: 

21 And he that 2 regarded not the word of 
the Lord left his servants and his cattle in 
the field. 

22 H And the Lord said unto Moses, 
Stretch forth thine hand toward heaven, 
that there may be p hail in all the land of 
Egypt, upon man, and upon beast, and 
upon every herb of the held, throughout 
the land of Egypt. 

23 And Moses stretched forth his rod to- 
ward heaven ; and q the Lord sent thunder 
and hail, and the tire ran along upon the 

ground ; and the Lord rained hail upon the 
md of Egypt. 

24 So there was hail, and fire mingled with 
the hail, very grievous, such as there was 
none like it in all the land of Egypt since it 
became a nation. 

25 And the hail smote throughout all the 
land of Egypt all that was in the field, both 
man and beast; and the hail r smote every 
herb of the field, and brake every tree of the 
field. 

26 Only 8 in the land of Goshen, where the 
children of Israel were, was there no hail. 

27 1f And Pharaoh sent, and called for 
Moses and Aaron, and said unto them, *I 
have sinned this time : u the Lord is righ- 
teous, and I and my people are wicked. 

28 Entreat v ihe Lord (for it is enough) that 
there be no more a mighty thunderings and 
hail ; and I will let you go, and ye shall stay 
no longer. 

29 And Moses said unto him, As soon as I 
arn gone out of the city, I will w spread 
abroad my hands unto the Lord ; and the 
thunder shall cease, neither shall there be 
anv more hail- that thou mayest know how 
that r he x earth is the Lord's. 

19 



B. C. 1491. 



CHAP. 9. 

j ch. 8. 32. 
k ch. 4. 21. 
I ch. 8. au. 
" l De. 3. 24. 

De. 33. 26. 

2 Sa. 7 22. 

lCh.17.20. 

Ps. 71. 19. 

Ps. 80. 8. 

I&a. 46. 9. 

Isa. 45. 

Jer. 10.6,7. 
n eh. 3. 20. 

Prov. 16. 4. 
Rom. 9. 17. 
1 Pet. 2. 9. 

1 made thee 
stand. 

2 set not his 
h^art unto. 

p Rev. 16. 21. 
a Jos. 10. 11. 

Ps. 18. 13. 

Ps. 78. 47. 

Ps.105.32. 

Ps. 148. 8. 

Is. 30. 30. 

£z. 38. 22. 

Rev. 8. 7. 
r Ps. 105. 33. 
8 ch. 9. 4, 6. 

ch. 11. 7. 

Is. 32.18,19. 
t ch. 10. 16. 
«2Chr.l2.6. 

Ps. 129. 4. 

Ps. 145. 17. 

Lam. 1. 18. 

Dan. 9. 14. 
v ch. 8. 8, 28. 

ch. 10. 17. 

Acts 8. 24. 

3 voices of 
God. 
Ps.29.3,4. 

w 1 Ki.8. 22, 
38. 

Ps. 143. 6. 
Is. 1. 15. 
x p s . 24. 1. 

1 Co. 10.26. 

y Is. 26. 10. 

z Ruth 1. 22. 

Rmh2.23. 

4 hidden, or, 
dark. 

a C h. 8. 12. 

5 by the hand 
of Moses, 
ch. 4. 13. 



CHAP. 10. 
a ch. 7- 14. 
6 ch. 7. 4. 
c Deu. 4. 9. 

Ps. 44. 1. 

Pa. 71. 18. 

Joel 1. 3. 
dlKi. 21.29. 

2 Ch. 34.27. 

Jam. 4. 10. 

1 Pet. 5. 6. 
e Pro. 30. 27. 

Rev. 9. 3. 
leve. 

/ J*oel 2. 25. 
g ch. 8.3,21. 
h ch. 23. 33. 

Jos. 23. 13. 

1 Sa. 18. 21. 

Ec 7.26. 

1 Cor. 735. 
2 who, and 

who, etc. 
i Prov 3. 9. 
j en. o. 1. 



30 But as for thee and thy servants, y l 
know that ye will not yet fear the Lord 
God. 

31 And the flax and the barley was smit- 
ten; z for the barley was in the ear, and the 
flax was boiled. 

32 But the wheat and the rye were not 
smitten- for they were 4 not grown un. 

33 And Moses went out of the city" from 
Pharaoh, and a spread abroad his hands 
unto the Lord; and the thunders and hail 
ceased, and the rain was not poured upon 
the earth. 

34 And when Pharaoh saw that the rain 
and the hail and the thunders were ceased, 
he sinned yet more, and hardened his heart, 
he and his servants. 

35 And the heart of Pharaoh was har- 
dened, neither would he let the ehildrea 
of Israel go ; as the Lord had spoken a uy 
Moses. 

CHAPTER X. 
4 Ood threateneth to send locusts. 7 Pharaoh 
moved by his servants, inclineth to let the Israel- 
ites go. 12 The plague of locusts, 21 of dark- 
ness. 24 Pharaoh s'utlh to Jloses: 21 his heart 
is yet hardened. 

A ND the Lord said unto Moses, Go in 
xx unto Pharaoh: a for I have hardened 
his heart, and the heart of his servants, 
that 6 1 might show these my signs before 
him: 

2 And that c thou mayest tell in the ears oi 
thy son, and of thy sou's son, what things 1 
have wrought in Egypt, and my signs which 
I have done among them ; that ye may know 
how that I am the Lord. 

3 And Moses and Aaron came in unto 
Pharaoh, and said unto him, Thus saith 
the Lord God of the Hebrews, How long 
wilt thou refuse to d humble thyself before 
me? let my people go, that they may serve 
me: 

1 Else, if thou refuse to let my people go, 
behold, to-morrow will I bring the e locusts 
into thy coast: 

5 And they shall cover the i face of the 
earth, that one cannot be able to see the 
earth: and /they shall eat the residue of 
that which is escaped, which remaineth 
unto you from the hail, and shall eat 
every tree which groweth for you out of the 
field: 

6 And they ° shall fill thy houses, and the 
houses of all thy servants, and the houses 
of all the Egyptians ; which neither thy fa- 
thers, nor thy fathers' fathers have seen, 
since the day that they were upon the earth 
unto this day. And he turned himself, and 
went out from Pharaoh. 

7 And Pharaoh's servants said unto him, 
How long shall this man be * a snare unto 
us? let the men go, that they may serve the 
Lord their God: knowest thou not yet that 
Egypt is destroyed? 

8 And Moses and Aaron were brought 
again unto Pharaoh: and he said unto them, 
Go, serve the Lord your God: 2 6u£ who are 
they that shall go? 

9 And Moses said, * TVe will go with our 
young and with our old, with our sons and 
with our daughters, with our flocks and 
with our herds will we go : for i we must hold 
a feast unto the Lord. 

10 And he said unto them, Let the Lord 
be so with you, as I will let you go, and 
your little ones: look to it; for evil is before 
you. 



Plague of Frogs, 



EXODUS, VIII. 



Plagues of Lice and Flies. 



must have resided during that terrible period 
in the immediate neighbourhood, in the 
morning, &c.— for the purpose of ablutions 
or devotions, perhaps, for the Nile was an 
object of superstitious reverence, the patron 
deity of the country. It might be that Moses 
had been denied admission into the palace; 
but be that as it may, the river was to be the 
subject of the first plague, and therefore he 
was ordered to repair to its banks with the 
miracle-working rod, now to be raised not in 
demonstration, but in judgment, if the refrac- 
tory spirit of the king should still refuse con- 
sent to Israel's departure for their sacred rites. 
17-21. Aaron lifted up his rod, &c— Whether 
the water was changed into real blood, or 
only the appearance of it, (and Omnipotence 
could effect the one as easily as the other), 
this was a severe calamity. How great must 
have been the disappointment and disgust 
throughout the land when the river became 
of a blood-red colour, of which they had a 
national abhorrence; their favourite beve- 
rage became a nauseous draught, and when 
the fish, which formed so large an article 
of food, were destroyed. The immense 
scale on which the plague was inflicted is 
seen by its extending to " the streams," or 
branches of the Nile— to the " rivers"— the 
canals— the "ponds" and "pools," that which 
is left after an overflow— the reservoirs, and 
the many domestic vessels in which the JN ile 
water was kept to filter. And accordingly th e 
sufferings of the people from thirst must 
have been severe. Nothing could more 
humble the pride of Egypt than this dis- 
honour brought on their national god. 22. 
The magicians did so, <fec— Little or no pure 
water could be procured, and therefore their 
imitation must have been on a small scale — 
the only drinkable water to be got being dug 
among the sands. It must have been on a 
sample or specimen of water dyed red with 
some colouring matter. But it was sufficient 
to serve as a pretext or command for the king 
to turn unmoved and go to his house. 
CHAPTER VIII. 
Ver. 1-15. Plague of Frogs. 1. The Lord 
spake. . .go unto Pharaoh— The duration of the 
first plague for a whole week must have 
satisfied all that it was produced not by any 
accidental causes, but by the agency of Om- 
nipotent power. As a judgment of God, 
however, it produced no good effect, and 
Moses was commanded to wait on the king 
and threaten him in the event of his con- 
tinued obstinacy with the infliction of a 
new and different plague. As Pharaoh's 
answer is not given, it may be im erred 
to have been unfavourable, for the rod 
was again raised. 2. I will smite, &c— Those 
animals, though the natural spawn of the 
river, and therefore objects familiar to the 
people were on this occasion miraculously 
multiplied to an amazing extent, and it is 
probable that the ova of the frogs, which had 
been previously deposited in the mire and 
marshes were miraculously brought to per- 
fection at once. 3. bed-chambers, bed— mats 
strewed on the floor as well as more sump- 
tuous divans of the rich, ovens— holes made 
in the ground and the sides of which are 
plastered with mortar, kneading troughs— 
those used in Egypt were bowls of wicker 
or rush- work. "What must have been the 
state of the people when they could find 
no means of escape from the cold, damp 



touch and unsightly presence of the frogs, 
as they alighted on every article and 
vessel of food. 5, 6. stretch forth, &c — 
The miracle consisted in the reptiles 
leaving their marshes at the very time 
he commanded them. 7. The magicians did 
so with their enchantments— required great 
art to make the offensive reptiles appear on 
any small spot of ground. What they under- 
took to do already existed in abundance all 
around. They would better have shewn their 
power by removing the frogs. 8. Pharaoh 
called, entreat the Lord— The frog which was 
now used as an instrument of affliction 
whether from reverence or abhorrence, was 
an object of national superstition with the 
Egyptians ; the god Ptha being represented 
with a frog's head. But the vast numbers, 
together with their stench, made them an 
intolerable nuisance, so that the king was so 
far humbled as to promise that if Moses 
would intercede for their removal he would 
consent to the departure of Israel, and in 
compliance with this appeal, they were with- 
drawn at the very hour named by the mon- 
arch himself. But many, while suffering 
the consequences of their sins, make pro- 
mises of amendment and obedience which 
they afterwards forget, and so Pharaoh when 
he saw there was a respite, was again hard- 
ened. 

16-19. Plague of Lice. 16. smite the 
dust of the land, &c— Aaron's rod, by the 
direction of Moses who was commanded by 
God, was again raised, and the land was 
filled with gnats, mosquitoes,— that is the 
proper meaning of the original term. In 
ordinary circumstances they embitter life 
in Eastern countries, and therefore the ter- 
rible nature of this infliction on Egypt may 
be judged of when no precautions could 
preserve from their painful sting. The very 
smallness and insignificance of these fierce 
insects made them a dreadful scourge. The 
magicians never attempted any imitation, 
and what neither the blood of the river nor 
the nuisance of the frogs had done, the visi- 
tation of this tiny enemy constrained them 
to acknowledge ' this is the finger of God," 
properly " gods," for they spoke as heathens. 

20-32. Plague of Flies. 20. Rise up early 
...Pnaraoh cometh, &c— Pharaoh still appear- 
ing obdurate, Moses was ordered to meet him 
while walking on the banks of the Nile, and 
repeat his request for the liberation of 
Israel, threatening in case of continued refu- 
sal to cover every house from the palace to 
the cottage with swarms of flies— while, as a 
proof of the power that accomplished this 
judgment, the land of Goshen should be 
exempted from the calamity. The appeal 
was equally vain as before, and the predicted 
evil overtook the country in the form of what 
was not "flies" such as we are accustomed 
to, but divers sorts of flies, (Ps. 78. 45, the 
gad-fly, the dog-fly, the cock roach, the Egyp- 
tian beetle, for ail these are mentioned by 
different writers. They are very destructive, 
some of them inflicting severe bites on ani- 
mals, others destroying clothes,books,plants, 
every thing;— the worship of flies, particu- 
larly of the beetle, was a prominent part of 
the religion of the ancient Egyptians. The 
employment of these winged deities to chas- 
tise them must have been pain.ul and hu- 
miliating to the Egyptians, while it must 
at the same time have strengthened the laith 



The plague ofdarlcnest. 



EXODUS, XI, X1L Death of the fir?t*orn threatened. 



11 Not so: eo now ye tkat are men, and 
serve the Lord; for that ye did desh 
.re driven out froin Phara-.:_ 
sence. 

L; f And the Lord said unto 1 

h * out thine hand over the laud ol 
for the locusts, that they ma] 
up upon the land of Egypt, ami ' eat every 
h^rb oi* the land, even all that the had 
hath: 

13 And Moses stretched forth his rod over 
the land of Egypt, and the Lord brought 
an east wind upon the land all that day. 
and all tiuit night ; and when it was murh- 
ing, the east wind brought the locusts. 

li And m the locusts went up over all the 
land of Egypt, and rested in all the coasrs 
oi Egypt: very grievous were they; 
them there were no such locusts as they, 
r alter them shall be such. 

15 Eor they ■ covered the face of the whole 
earth, so ttiat the land was darkened; and 
they p did eat every herb of the hind, and 
all the fruit of the trees which the hail had 
left: and there remained not an; 
thing in the trees, or in the herbs of the 
field, through all the land of Egypt, 

lo r Then Pharaoh a called lor Mc - 
Aaron in haste ; and he said. « I have sinned 
; the Lord your God, and against 
you. 

17 Now therefore forgive, I pray thee, my 
sin only this once, and r entreat the Lord 
your God. that he may take away from me 
this death only. 

VA And he 8 went out from Pharaoh, and 
entreated the Lord. 

ly And the Lord turned a mighty 
rind, which took away the I 
and 4 cast them f into the Red sea ; there 
remained not one locust in all the coasts ol 

20 But the Lord u hardened Pharaoh's 
heart, so that he would not let the children 
of Israel go. 

•Jl r And the Lord said unto Moses, 
* Stretch out thine hand toward heaven, 
that there may be darkness over the land 
of Egvpt, 5 even darkness which may be 

felt. 

L h J And Moses stretched forth his hand 
toward heaven; and there was a lf thick 
darkness in all the land of Egypt three 

20 They saw not one another, neither rose 
any from his place for three days: z but all 

Daren of Israel had tight in thcir 

JlgS. 

21 r And Pharaoh called unto Moses, and 

e the Lord ; only let your 

ana your herds be stayed: let your 

little v ones also go with you. 

25 And Moses said. Thou must give 6 us 

also sacrifices and burnt offerings, that we 

may sacrihee unto the Lord our God. 

j* cattle also shall go with us ; there 
shall not an hoof be left behind: for thereof 
must we take to serve the Lord our God; 
c know not with what we must nave 
Lo&D until we come thither. 
.7 \ Bat the Lord ■ hardened Pharaoh's 
. :. and he would not let them go. 
And Pharaoh said imto him. Get thee 
from me, take heed to I ! my face 

no more : for in that da j I my face 

thou shalt die. 

•Jy Ar i I, Thou hast spoken well, 

I a will see thy face again no more, 

m 



CHAP. Ml 

I v?r. 4. 5. 

■ - ■ -" 
P5. 38. 4-3. 

Rev. 9. 2 

] . nam! M 
eaiL 

r eh. 9. 28. 
1 Ki. 13. 6. 

: 

4 bstoai. 

t Joel 2. 20. 
" 2 Chr. 28. 

B 

Rom. 3. 

4.5. 

J^--_r5 1. 

1-3-17. 
v ch. 9. 22. 
i thai Me 

may ieel 

.;..- :--zii 

K-Ps.l 6.25. 

- - a 

y rer. 10. 
l .--. : :\ir 

. .»: .= 
* ver. SDL 

ch. 4. a. 

eh. 14.4,8. 
■ HaV 11. 



GUAPTEB XI. 

1 God's messace to the Israelites to borrow jewels 
neigkbomn. 4 The death of thejirst- 
born of tgypt Uireaiened, etc. 

A XD the Lord said onto Moses. Yet will 

■"- 1 bn d Pharaoh, 

ftenrards he will let you 

go hen: i he shall let you go, he 

skill surely thrust yon out hence alto- 
gether. 

2 Speak now in the ears of the people, and 
let every man 1 borrow of his neighbour, and 
every woman of her neighbour, b jewels of 
silver, and jewels of gold. 

3 And ° the Lord gave the people favour 
in the sidit of the Egyptians. Moreover 

jheman 5 M jses peat in the land 

Egypt, in the sight :i'. laraoh'fe servants, 
:' the people. 

4 r And Moses said. Thus saith the Lord, 
About e liddnighi will I go out into the 
midst of Egvpt : 

5 And / ail the first-born in the land of 
from the first-born of 

Pharaoh tnat edtteth upon his throne, even 

d ate the first-fa urn of the maid- - 

is behind the mill ; and all the first-born of 

6 And g there shall be a great cry through- 
out all the land of Egypt, such as there 
was none like it, nor shall be like it any 
more. , 

7 But asainst any of the children of Israel 
shall h not a dog move his tongue, against 
man or beast ; that ye may know how that 
the Lord doth put • a ciifierence bel 
the Eevptians and Israel. 

i vants shall come 
down unto me, and bow down the.: 
unto me, saving. Get thee out, and ail the 
people - that follow thee: and after that I 
oat. And he went out from Pha- 
raoh in s a great an 

9 And the Lord said unto Moses. Pha- 
raoh shall not hearken unto you; that my 
wonders mav be multiplied in the land of 

10 And Moses and Aaron did all these 
wonders before Pharaoh: i and the Lokd 
hardened Pharaoh's heart, so that he 
not let the children of Israel go out of ids 
land. 

CHAPTER XII. 

1 The beginning of the yeir changed. 3 The pass- 

xejuvt-borm oj 

art s.ai.i. 31 The fir.iiii:es are driven out oj the 
land. 43 Grdin.ti.ee of : 
A XD the Lord spake unto Moses and 
-"- Aaron in the land of Egypt, sa; 

2 rhis a month shall be onto you the be- 
ginning of months : it shall be the first 
month of the year to you. 

3 r Speak ye unto all the eongreg 
ing, In the tenth day 

month thev'shall take to then 

a i lamb, accord! g to the house ol 

fathers, a lamb for an house. 

4 And if the household be too little for 
the lamb, let him and his neighbour next 
unto his house take it according to the 
number of the soi r ery man according 

rating shaL: oountforthe 

lamb. 

•5 V ar lamb shall be b without W 
a male - of the first year: ye shall 
out from the sheep, or from 
i c ,\^ a. 3. 6 And ye shall keep it up until the c four- 



CHAP. 11. 
a eh. 12- 31. 

6 eh. 3. 22. 

ch.12.35. 
e ch. 3. 21. 

ch. 12. 36. 

« ch. 12. 12, 

s; a. 

A::: M ■:. 17. 

fAmm* ML 

I 
h Joa. 10. a. 

Job 5. 23. 

K:s.2.15. 

'_ :_ i : :i 
at thy 
feet. 
la :. . 4. 
1 . 

Judz. 8. 5. 
1 Sin. SDL 
I 

3 heat of 
mages 

j ch. 10. 20, 
27. 

Rom. 9. 22. 



CHAP. 12. 
a eh. 13. 4. 

Deu. 16, 1. 
lOr, tid. 
E Ua. 12. 

19. 

il*L 1. 8. 

14. 

H c b. 9. 14. 
■2 : :- ::' a 



Murrain of Feasts. 



EXODUS, IX, X. 



Plague of Hail. 



of the Israelites in the God of their fathers 
as the only object of worship. 25-32. Pha- 
raoh called for Moses. .. go, sacrifice, &c— Be- 
tween impatient anxiety to be freed from ! 



the air, saying to the objects of their displeas- 
ure, snch a sickness or such a curse shall 
come upon you. " [Roberts.] Moses took 
ashes from the furnace — H eb., brickkiln. 



this scourge, and a reluctance to part with ! The magicians being sufferers in their own 
the Hebrew bondsmen, the king followed the persons, could do nothing, though they had 
course of expediency : he proposed to let been called; and as the brickkiln was one 
them free to engage in their religious rites of the principal instruments of oppres- 
within any part of the kingdom. But true sion to the Israelites, it was now converted 
to his instructions, Moses would acceae to into a means of chastisement to the Egyp 



no such arrangement, he stated a most valid 
reason to shew the danger of it; and the 
king having yielded so far as to allow them 
a brief holiday across the border, annexed to 
this concession a request that Moses would 
entreat with Jehovah for the removal of the 



tians, who were made to read their sin in 
their punishment. 

18-35. Plague of Hail. 18. 1 will cause it 
to rain, &c— The seventh plague which Pha- 
raoh's hardened heart provoked was that of 
hail, a phenomenon which must have pro- 



plague. He promised to do so, and it was \ duced the greatest astonishment and con- 
removed the following day. But no sooner j sternation in Egypt, as rain and hailstones, 
was the pressure over than the spirit of j accompanied by thunder and lightning, were 



Pharaoh, like a bent bow, sprang back to its 
wonted obduracy, and regardless of his pro- 
mise, he refused to let the people depart. 
CHAPTER IX. 
Ver. 1-7. Murrain of Beasts. 3. Behold 
the hand of the Lord is on thy cattle— A fifth 
application was made to Pharaoh in behalf 



very rare occurrences, such as hath not been 
in Egypt— In the Delta, or lower Egypt, where 
the scene is laid, rain occasionally falls be- 
tween January and March — hail is not 
unknown, and thunder sometimes heard. 
But a storm, not only exhibiting all these 
elements, but so terrific, that hailstones fell 



of the Israelites by Moses, who was instructed | of immense size, thunder pealed in awful 
to tell him that, if he persisted in opposing j volleys, and lightning swept the ground like 
their departure, a pestilence would be sent fire, was an unexampled calamity. 20, 21. 
amongst all the flocks and herds of the He that feared . . . regarded not, &c— Due pre- 
Egyptians, while those of the Israelites j monition, it appears, had been publicly given 
would be spared. As he showed no inten- of the impending tempest— the cattle seem 
tion of keeping his promise, he was still a | to have been sent out to graze, which is from 



mark for the arrows from the Almighty 
quiver, and the threatened plague of which 
he was forewarned was executed. But it is 
observable, that in this instance it was not 
inflicted through the instrumentality or 
waving of Aaron's rod, but directly by the 
hand of the Lord, and the fixing of the pre- 
cise time tended still further to determine 
the true character of the calamity. ( Jer. 12. 
4.) 6. all the cattle of Egypt died— not abso- 
lutely every beast, for we find {v. 19, 21.) that 
there were still some; but a great many died 
of each herd— the mortality was frequent and 
wide-spread. The adaptation of this judg- 
ment consisted in the Egyptians venerating 
the more useful animals, such as the ox, the 
cow, and the ram; in all parts of the country 
temples were reared and divine honours 
paid to these domesticated beasts, and thus 
while the pestilence caused a great loss in 
money, it struck a heavy blow at their super- 
stition. 7. Pharaoh sent . . . there was not one, 
&c— The despatch of confidential messengers 
indicates that he would not give credit to 
vague reports t and we may conclude that 
some impression had been made on his 
mind by that extraordinary exemption, but 
it was neither a good nor a permanent im- 
pression. His pride and obstinacy were in 
no degree subdued. 

8-17. Plague of Boils. 8. Take to you 
handfuls, &c— The next plague assailed the 
persons of the Egyptians, and it appeared in 
the form of ulcerous eruptions upon the 
skin and flesh. (Le. 13. 20; Job, 2. 7; 2 Ki. 
20. 7.) That this epidemic did not arise from 
natural causes was evident from its taking 
effect from the particular action of Moses 
done in the sight of Pharaoh. The attitude 
he assumed was similar to that of Eastern 



January to April, when alone pasturage can 
be obtained, and accordingly the cattle were 
in the fields. This storm occurring at that 
season, not only struck universal terror into 
the minds of the people, but occasioned the 
destruction of all— people and cattle, which, 
in neglect of the warning, had been left in 
the fields, as well as of all vegetation. It was 
the more appalling that hailstones in Egypt 
are small and of little force— lightning also 
is scarcely ever known to produce fatal 
effects, and to enhance the wonder, not a 
trace of any storm was found in Goshen. 
31, 32. The flax and barley was smitten, &c— 
The peculiarities that are mentioned in these 
cereal products arise from the climate and 
physical constitution of Egypt. In that 
country flax and barley are almost ripe 
when wheat and rye (spelt) are green. And 
hence the flax must have been "boiled"— i.e., 
risen in stalk or podded in February, thus 
fixing the particular month when the event 
took place. Barley ripens about a month 
earlier than wheat. Flax and barley are 
generally ripe in March, wheat and rye (pro- 
perly spelt) in April. 27-35. Pharaoh . . I have 
sinned— this awful display of Divine displea- 
sure did seriously impress the mind of Pha- 
raoh, and, under the weight of his convictions, 
he humbles himself to confess he has done 
wrong in opposing the Divine will. At the 
same time he calls for Moses to intercede for 
cessation of the calamity. Moses accedes to 
his earnest wishes, and this most awful visita- 
tion ended. But his repentance proved a 
transient feeling, and his obduracy soon be- 
came as great as before. 

CHAPTER X. 
Ver. 1-20. Plague of Locusts. 1. shew 
these my signs, &c— Sinners even of the 



magicians, who, " when they pronounce an | worst description are to be admonished, 
imprecation on an individual, a village, or a ; even though there may be little hope of 
country, take the ashes of cows' dung (that amendment, and hence those striking mir- 
is. from a common fire) and throw them in acles that carried so clear and conclusive 
50 



The rite of the passover. 



EXODUS, XII. 



The first-born of Egypt slain. 



•teenth day of the same month: and the 
whole assembly of the congregation of Is- 
rael shall kill it 3 in the evening. 

7 And they shall take of the blood, and 
strike it on the two side posts and on the 
upper door post of the nouses, wherein 
they shall eat it. 

8 And they shall eat the flesh in that 
night, roast with fire, and d unleavened 
bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat 
it. 

9 Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with 
water, but roast with fire; his head with 
his legs, and with the purtenance thereof. 

10 And e ye shall let nothing of it remain 
until the morning; and that which reniain- 
eth of it until the morning ye shall burn 
with fire. 

11 And thus shall ye eat it; with your 
loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and 
your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it 
in haste:/ it is the Lord's passover. 

12 For 1 will pass through the land of 
Egypt this night, and will smite all the 
first-born in the land of Egypt, both man 
and beast ; and h against all the 4 gods of 
Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the 
Lord. 

13 And * the blood shall be to you for a 
token upon the houses where ye are: and 
when I see the blood, I will pass over 
you, and the plague shall not be upon you 
o to destroy you, when I smite the land of 
Egypt. 

14 And this day shall be unto you for a 
memorial ; and ye shall keep it a i feast to 
the Lord throughout your generations ; ye 
shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for 
ever. 

15 1T Seven * days shall ye eat unleavened 
bread; even the first day ye shall put away 
leaven out of your houses: for whosoever 
eateth leavened bread from the first day 
until the seventh day, * that soul shall be 
cut off from Israel. 

16 And in the first day there shall be an 
holy convocation, and in the seventh day 
there shall be an holy convocation to you ; 
no manner of work shall be done in them, 
Bave tluxt which every G man must eat, that 
only may be done of you. 

17 And ye shall observe the feast of un- 
leavened bread ; for m in this self-same day 
have I brought your armies out of the land \ 
of Egypt: therefore shall ye observe this 
day m your generations by an ordinance 
for ever. 

18 In n the first month, on the fourteenth 
day of the month at even, ye shall eat mi- j 
leavened bread, until the one and twentieth I 
day of the month at even. 

19 Seven ** days shall there be no leaven ] 
found in your houses: for whosoever eateth ' 
that which is leavened, p even that soul 
shall be cut off from the congregation of 
Israel, whether he be a stranger, or born 
m the land. 

20 Ye shall eat nothing leavened; in all 
your habitations shall ye eat unleavened 
bread. 

21 % Then Moses called for all the elders 
of Israel, and said unto them, i Draw out 
and take you a i lamb according to your 
families, and kill the passover. 

22 And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, 
and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, 
and strike the lintel and the two side posts 
with the blood that is in the basin; and 

51 



B. C. 1491. 



CHAP. 12. 

3 between 
the two 
evenings, 
ch. 16. 12. 

d Nu. 9. 11. 

1 Cor. 5. 8. 
e ch. 23. 18. 
/Deu. 16. 5. 
gch. 11.4,5. 

Amos 5.17. 
h Nu. 33. 4. 

4 Or, princes, 
ch. 22. 28. 
Ps.82.1,6. 
John 10.34. 

tlleb.11.28. 

6 for a de- 
struction. 

j Le. 23. 4, 5. 
2Ki.23.21. 

k Nu. 28. 17. 
De.16.3,8. 
1 Cor. 5. 7. 

I Gen. 17. 14. 
Nu. 9. 13. 

6 soul. 

m ch. 13. 3. 
n Lev. 23. 5. 
o ch. 23. 15. 

ch. 34. 18. 
P Nu. 9. 13. 
q Nu. 9. 4. 

Josh. 5. 10. 

Ezra 6. 20. 

Lu. 22. 7. 

7 Or, kid. 

r Ezek. 9. 6. 

Rev. 7. 3. 

Rev. 9. 4. 
« 2 Sa. 24. 16. 

1 Cor. 10.10. 

* Deu. 32. 7. 
Josh. 4 6. 
Ps. 78. 6. 

u Nu. 8. 17. 
Nu. 33. 4. 
Ps. 135. 8. 
Ps.136. 10. 
Is. 37. 36. 

8 house of 
the pit. 

V ch. 11. 6. 
Pro. 21. 13. 
Ezek. 7. 27. 
Jam. 2. 13. 

VJ ch. 10. 9. 

* Gen. 27. 34. 

V ch. 11. 8. 
Ps. 105. 38. 

* Gen. 20. 3. 

9 Or, dough. 

ch. 8. 3. 

10 Or, de- 
manded. 

a ch. 3. 22. 

ch. 11. 2. 
6 Gen. 15. 

14. 

ch. 3. 22. 
c Num. 33. 

3.5. 
d Gen. 47. 

11. 
e Gen. 12. 2. 

Gen. 46. 3. 

ch. 38. 26. 

Num. 1. 46. 

Num. 11. 

21. 

II a great 
mixture. 
Nu. 11.4. 

/ch. 6. 1. 

ch. 11. 1. 
g Ge. 15. 13. 

Acts 7. 6. 

Gal. 3. 17. 



none of you shall go out at the door of his 
house until the morning. 

23 For the Lord Mill pass through to 
smite the Egyptians; ana when he seeth 
the blood upon the lintel, and on the two 
side posts, the Lord will pass over the 
door, and r will not suffer * the destroyer 
to come in unto your houses to smite you, 

24 And ye shall observe this thing for an 
ordinance to thee and to thy sons for ever. 

25 And it shall come to pass, when ye be 
come to the land which the Lord will give 
you, according as he hath promised, that 
ye shall keep this sendee. 

'26 And t it shall come to pass, when your 
children shall say unto you, What mean ye 
by this service ? 

27 That ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of 
the Lord's passover, who passed over the 
houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, 
when he smote theEgyptians, and delivered 
our houses. And the people bowed the 
head and worshipped. 

28 And the children of Israel went away, 
and did as the Lord had commanded Moses 
and Aaron, so did they. 

29 IT And it came to pass, that at midnight 
the u Lord smote all the first-born in 
the land of Egypt, from the first-born of 
Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the 
first-born of the captive that was in the 
8 dungeon ; and all the first-born of cattle. 

30 And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, 
and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; 
and there was a v great cry hi Egypt ; for 
there was not a house where there was not 
one dead. 

31 H And he called for Moses and Aaron 
by night, and said, Rise up, and get you 
forth from among my people, w both ye 
and the children of Israel; and go, serve 
the Lord, as ye have said. 

32 Also take your flocks and your herds, 
as ye have said, and be gone ; and * blesa 
me also. 

33 And y the Egyptians were urgent upon 
the people, that they might send them out 
of the land in haste; for they said, z We be 
all dead men. 

34 And the people took their dough before 
it was leavened, their 9 kneading troughs 
being bound up in their clothes upon their 
shoulders. 

35 And the children of Israel did accord- 
ing to the word of Moses ; and they W bor- 
rowed of the Egyptians a jewels of silver, 
and jewels of gold, and raiment. 

36 And the Lord gave the people favour 
in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they 
lent unto them such things as they re- 
quired: and b thev spoiled the Egyptians. 

37 U And c the children oflsrael journeyed 
from d Rameses to Succoth, about e six 
hundred thousand on foot that were men, 
besides children. 

38 And u a mixed multitude went up also 
with them; and flocks and herds, even very 
much cattle. 

39 And they baked unleavened cakes of 
the dough which they brought forth out 
of Egypt, for it was not leavened; because 
thev /were thrust out of Egypt, and could 
not tarry, neither had they prepared for 
themselves any victual. 

40 H Now the sojourning of the children 
of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was 9 four 
hundred and thirty years. 

41 And it came to pass at the end of the 



Plague of Locusts. 



EXODUS, XI. 



The First-Bom Threatened. 



demonstration of the being and character 
of the true God were performed in length- 
ened series before Pharaoh to leave him 
without excuse, when judgment should be 
finally executed. 2. and that thou mayest tell, 
<fec— -There was a further and higher reason 
for the infliction of those awful judgments. 
viz., that the knowledge of them there, and 
the permanent record of them still might 
furnish a salutary and impressive lesson to 
the Church down to the latest ages. Worldly 
historians might have described them as 
extraordinary occurrences that marked this 
era ot Moses in ancient Egypt. But we are 
taught to trace them to their cause ; the 
judgments of divine wrath on a grossly idol- 
atrous king and nation. 4. to-morrow, I will 
bring locusts— Moses was commissioned to 
renew the request so often made and denied, 
with an assurance that an unfavourable 
answer would be followed on the morrow by 
an invasion of locusts. This species of in- 
sect resembles a large, spotted, red and 
black, double - winged grasshopper, about 
three inches or less in length, with the two 
hind legs working like hinged springs of 
immense strength and elasticity. Perhaps 
no more terrible scourge was ever brought 
on a land than those voracious insects, 
which fly in such countless numbers as to 
darken the land which they infest, and on 
whatever place they alight, they convert it 
into a waste and barren desert, stripping the 
ground of its verdure, the trees of their 
leaves and bark,and producing in a few hours 
a degree of desolation, which it requires the 
lapse of years to repair. 7-11. Pharaoh's ser- 
vants said— Many of his courtiers must have 
suffered serious losses from the late visita- 
tions, and the prospect of such a calamity, 
as that which was threatened and the magni- 
tude of whichf ormer experience enabled them 
to realise, led them to make a strong remon- 
strance with the king. Finding himself not 
seconded by his counsellors in his continued 
resistance, he recalled Moses and Aaron, and 
having expressed his consent to their depar- 
ture, inquired who were to go? The prompt 
and decisive reply, " all:" neither man nor 
beast shall remain, raised a storm of indig- 
nant fury in the breast of the proud king; he 
would permit the grown up men to go away. 
But no other terms would be listened to. 
they were driven out, &c.— In the East, when a 
person of authority and rank feels annoy- 
ed by a petition which he is unwilling to 
grant, he makes a signal to his attendants 
who rush forward, and seizing the obnoxious 
suppliant by the neck, drag him out of the 
chamber with violent haste. Of such a cha- 
racter was the impassioned scene in the 
court of Egypt, when the king had wrought 
himself into such a fit of uncontrollable fury 
as to treat ignominiously the two venerable 
representatives of the Hebrew people. 13. 
The Lord brought an east wind— The rod of 
Moses was again raised, and the locusts 
came. They are natives ol the desert, and 
are only brought by an East wind into 
Egypt, where they sometimes come in sun- 
obscuring clouds, destroying in a few days 
every green blade in the track they traverse. 
Man, with all his contrivances, can do 
nothing to protect himself from the over- 
whelming invasion. Egypt has often suf- 
fered from locusts. But the one that followed 
the wave of the miraculous rod was alto- 
61 



gether unexampled. Pharaoh fearing irre- 
trievable ruin to his country, sent in ha«te 
for Moses, and confessing his sin, implored 
the intercession of Moses, who entreated the 
Lord, and a "mighty strong west wind took 
away the locusts." 

21-23. Plague of Darkness. 21. Stretch 
out thine hand. . . darkness— Whatever second- 
ary means were employed in producing it, 
whether thick clammy fogs and vapours, ac- 
cording to some, a sand-storm, or the cham- 
sin, according to others; it was such that it 
could be almost perceived by the organs of 
touch, and so protracted as to continue for 
three days, which the chamsin does. [Heng.] 
The appalling character of this calamity con- 
sisted in this that the sun was an object of 
Egyptian idolatry; that their pure and serene 
sky of that country was never marred by the 
appearance of a cloud. And here, too, the 
Lord made a marked difference between Go- 
shen and the rest of Egypt. 24-26. Pharaoh 
called unto Moses— Terrified by the preterna- 
tural darkness, the stubborn king relents, and 
proposes another compromise — the flocks 
and herds to be left, as hostages for their 
return. But the crisis is approaching, and 
Moses insists on all he had asked for. The 
cattle would be needed for sacrifice— how 
many or how few, could not be known till 
their arrival at the scene of religious ob- 
servance. But the emancipation of Israel 
from Egyptian bondage was to be complete. 
28. Pharaoh said, Get thee from me— The calm 
firmness of Moses provoked the tyrant. 
Frantic with disappointment and rage, with 
offended and desperate malice, he ordered 
him from his presence, and forbade him 
ever to return. 29. Moses said, Thou hast 
spoken well. 

CHAPTER XI. 

Ver. 1-8. 1. Death of the First-Born 
Threatened. 1. The Lord said— rather had 
said unto Moses. It may be inferred, 
therefore, that he had been apprized 
that the crisis was now arrived, that the 
next plague would so effectually humble and 
alarm the mind of Pharaoh, that he would 
"thrust them out thence altogether;" and thus 
the word of Moses (ch. 10. 29.), must be re- 
garded as a prediction. 2, 3. Speak now in the 
ears of the people — These verses, describing 
the communication which had been made in 
private to Moses, are inserted here as a 
parenthesis, and will be considered (ch. 12. 
35.). 4. Thus saith the Lord, About midnight- 
Here is recorded the announcement ot the 
last plague made in the most solemn manner 
to the king, on whose hardened heart all his 
painful experience had hitherto produced 
no softening, at least no permanently good 
effect, will I go out— Language used alter the 
manner of men. 5. all the first-born in the 
land shall die— the time, the suddenness, 
the dreadful severity of this coming calamity, 
and the peculiar description of victims, both 
amongst men and beasts, on whom it was to 
fall, would all contribute to aggravate its 
character, maid-servant . . . behind the mill— 
The grinding of the meal for daily use in 
I every household is commonly done by female 
I slaves, and is considered the lowest employ- 
ment. tTwo portable millstones are used for 
the purpose, of which the uppermost is turned 
by a small wooden handle, and during the 
operation the maid sits behind the mill. 6. 
shall be a great cry —In the case of a death. 



The ordinance of the passover. EXODUS, XIII, XIV. The Israelites go out of Egypt. 



four hundred and thirty years, even the 
self-same day it came to pass, that all h the 
hosts of the Lobd went out from the land 
of Egypt. 

42 it is !2 a night to be much observed 
unto the Lord for bringing them out from 
the land of Egypt: thisu that night of the 
Lord to be observed of idl the children of 
Israel in their generations. 

43 1i And the Lord said unto Moses and i * ljey - &• 



B. C. 1491. 

CHAP. 12. 

h ch. 7. 4. 

12 a niirht 
of obser- 
vations. 

i Xu. 9. 14, 

j Gen. 17. 
12. 13. 



Aaron, This is « the ordinance of the pass- 
over: There shall no stranger eat thereof: 

44 But every man's sen-ant that is bought 
for money, when thou hast i circumcised 
him, then shall he eat thereof. 

45 A * foreigner and an hired servant shall 
not eat thereof. 

46 In one house shall it be eaten: thou 
shalt not carry forth ought of the flesh 
abroad out of the house; l neither shall ye 
break a bone thereof. 

47 All the congregation of Israel shall 
13 keep it. 

48 And m when a stranger shall sojourn 
with thee, and will keep the passover to 
the Lord, let all his males be circumcised, 
and then let him come near and keep it ; 
and he shall be as one that is born in the 
land: for no uncireunicised person shall 
eat thereof. 

49 One n law shall be to him that is home- 
born, and unto the stranger that sojourn- 
eth among you. 

50 Thus did all the children of Israel; as 
the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron, 
so did they. 

51 And it came to pflss the self-same day, 
that the Lord did bring the children of 
Israel out of the land ot Egypt by ° their 
armies. 

CHAPTER XIII. 
1 Tht first-born sanctified to God. 3 The memo- 
rial of the passover is commanded to be observed 
yearly 11 The firstlings of beasts are set apart. 
17 The Israelites go out of Egypt, and earn/ Jo- 
seph's bones with them: 20 iney come to JStkami 
21 God guideth them by a piilar of a cloud and 
a pillar of fire. 

A «D the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 
■**- 2 Sanctify a unto me all the first-born, 
whatsoever openeth the womb among the 
children of Israel, both of man and of beast: 
it is mine. 

3 ft And Moses said unto the people, & Re- 
member this day, in which ye came out 
from Egypt, out of the house of "■ bondage ; 
for by c strength of hand the Lord brought 
too out from this place: there shall no 
leavened bread be eaten. 

4 This <* day came ye out, in the month 
Abib. 

5 And it shall be, when the Lord shall 
bring thee into the land of the Canaanites, 
and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and 
the Hivites, and the Jebusites. which he 
sware unto thy fathers to give thee, a land 
flowing with milk and honey, that thou 
shalt keep this service in this month. 

6 Seven e days thou shalt eat unleavened 
bread, and in the seventh day shall be a 
feast to the Lord. 

7 Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven 
days ; and there shall no leavened bread be 
seen with thee, neither shall there be leaven 
seen with thee in all thy quarters. 

8 And thou shalt / show thy son in that 
day, saying, This is done because of that 
which the Lord did unto me when I came 
forth out of Egypt. 

52 



10. 
I P». 34. 20. 

John 19. 
33. 
13 do it. 
» Nu. C. 14. 
» Num. 15. 

15. 

Gal. 3. 28. 
o Acts 7. 36. 



CHAP. 13. 
<* Lev. 27. 

26. 

Nu. 3. 13. 

Nu. 18. 15. 

Deut. 15. 

19. 

Lu. 2. 23. 
6 eh. 12. 42. 

Deu. 16. 3. 

1 servants. 
c ch. C. 1. 

d ch. 23. 15. 

ch. 34. 18. 

Deu. 16. 1. 

e ch. 12. 15, 

16. 
/ Ps. 44. 1. 
g Num. 15. 
39. 

Deu. 6. 8. 
De.11.18. 
Prov. 1. 9. 
Is. 49. 16. 
Jer.22. 24. 
Mat. 23. 5. 
* Gen. 15. 18. 
Gen. 17.8. 
Gen. 28. 15. 
t ch. 28. 29. 
ch. 34. 19. 
Lev. 27. 26. 
Nu. 18. 15. 
Ez^k. 44. 

2 cause to 
pass over. 

3 Or, kid. 

j Nu. 3. 46. 
k ch. 12. 26. 

Deu. 6. 20. 

Jos. 4. 6. 

21. 

4 to-morrow. 
I Deut. 6. 8. 
m C h. 14. 11. 

Nu. 14.1. 
n De. 17. 16. 
o ch. 14. 2. 
Nu. 33. 6. 

5 Or, by five 
in a rank. 

p Ge. 50. 25. 

Jos. 24. 32. 

Acts 7. 16. 
q Nu. 33. 6. 
r Deu. 1. 33. 

Ne.9.12,19. 

Ps. 78. 14. 

Is. 4. 5. 

1 Cor. 1U.1. 
8 Ps.121.5-8. 



CHAP. 14. 
o Nu. 33. 7. 
6 Jer. 44. 1. 
c Ps. 35. 21. 
P..7L1L 



9 And it shall be for a * sign unto thee 
upon thine hand, and for a memorial be- 
tween thine eyes, that the Lord's law may 
be in thy mouth: for with a strong hand 
hath the'LoRD brought thee out of Egypt. 

10 Thou shalt therefore keep this ordi- 
nance in his season from year to year. 

11 r And it shall be, when the Lord shall 
bring thee into the land of the Canaanites, 
as he h sware unto thee and to thy fathers, 
and shall give it thee, 

12 That * thou shalt 2 set apart unto the 
Lord all that openeth the matrix, and 
every firstling that cometh of a beast which 
thou hast; the males shall be the Lord's. 

13 And every firstling of an ass thou shalt 
redeem with a 3 lamb ; and if thou wilt not 
redeem it, then thou shalt break his neck: 
and all the first-born of man among thy 
children i shalt thou redeem. 

14 f And * it shall be when thy son asketh 
thee 4 in time to come, saying, What is 
this? that thou shalt say unto him, By 
strensrth of hand the Lord brought us out 
from "Egypt, from the house of bondage: 

15 And' it came to pass, when Pharaoh 
would hardly let us go, that the Lord slew 
all the first-bora in the land of Egypt, both 
the first-born of man, and the first-born of 
beast: therefore I sacrifice to the Lord all 
that openeth the matrix, being males; but 
all the first-born of my children 1 redeem. 

lb' And it shall be for l a token upon thhie 
hand, and for frontlets between thine eyes: 
for by strength of hand the Lord brought 
us forth out of Egj-pt. 

17 H And it came to pass, when Pharaoh 
had let the people go, that God led them 
not through the way of the land of the 
Philistines, although that ivas near; for 
God said, Lest peiadventure the people 
repent m when they see war, and ll they 
return to Egypt: 

13 But God ° led the people about, through 
the way of the wilderness of the Red sea. 
And the children of Israel went up » har- 
nessed out of the land of Egypt. 

iy And Moses took the bones of Joseph 
with him: for he had straitly sworn the 
children of Israel, saying, * God will surely 
visit you ; and ve shall carry up my bones 
awav' hence with you. 

20 V And q they took theirjourney from 
Succoth, and encamped in Etham, in the 
edge of the -wilderness. 

21 And r the Lord went before them by 
day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the 
way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give 
them fight;* to go by day and night: 

22 He 8 took not away the pillar of the 
cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, 
from before the people. 

CHAPTER XIV. 
1 God instructeth the Israelites in their journey. 
5 Pharaoh pursueth. 10 The Israelites trimr- 
mur; 13 Moses comforteth them. 15 God in- 
structeth Moses. 19 The cloud removeth bdiind 
the camp. 21 They pass through the Med sea. 
2<i The Egyptians drowned. 
A ND the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 
•^ 2 Speak unto the children of Israel, 
that they turn and encamp before a Pi- 
hahiroth, between b Migdol and the sea. 
over against Baal-zephon: before it shall 
ye encamp by the sea. 
3 For Pharaoh will say of the children of 
Israel, c They are entangled in the laud, 
the wilderness hath shut them in. 



Thi Passover Instituted. 



EXODUS, xn. 



Unleavened Bread. 



people in the East set up loud wailings, and 
lmasnnation may conceive what " a great cry" 
wou'd be raised when death would invade 
every family in the kingdom. 7. not a dog— 
Ko town or village in Egypt or in the East 
generally is free from the nuisance of doss, 
who prowl about the streets and make the 
most hideous noise at any passengers at night. 
What an emphatic significance does the 
knowledge of this circumstance give to the 
fact in the sacred record, that on the awful 
night that was coming, whan the air should 
be rent with the piercing shrieks of mourners, 
so great and universal would be the panic in- 
spired by the hand of God, that not a dog 
would move his tongue against the children 
of Israel. 8. all these thy servants shall how 
themselves unto me— This should be the effect 
of the universal terror; the hearts of the 
proudest would be humbled and do re- 
verential homage to God, in the person of 
His representative, went out in great anger 
— holy and righteous indignation at the 
duplicity, repeated falsehood, and hardened 
impenitence of the king; and this strong 
emotion was stirred in the bosom of Moses, 
not at the ill reception given to himself, but 
the dishonour done to God. (M. 19. 8; Eph. 
4. 26.) 

CHAPTER Xn. 
Ver. 1-10. The Passover Instituted. 1. 
The Lord spake-rather had spoken unto Moses 
and Aaron, for it is evident that the com- 
munication here described must have been 
made to them on or before the tenth of the 
month. 2, This month. ...the beginning of 
months— The first not only in order, but in 
estimation. It had formerly been the seventh 
according to the reckoning of the civil year, 
which began in September, and continued 
unchanged, but it was thenceforth to stand 
first in the national religious year which 
began in March, April. 3. Speak ye unto all 



the Israelites were sinners as well as the 
Egyptians, God was pleased to accept the 
substitution of a lamb— the blood of which 
being seen sprinkled on the door-posts, pro- 
cured them mercy. It was to be on the side- 
posts and upper door-posts, where it might 
be looked to, not on the threshold, where it 
might be trodden under foot. This was an 
emblem of the blood of sprinkling. (He. 12. 
24, 29.) 8. Roast with fire— for the sake of 
expedition; and this difference was always 
observed between the cooking of the paschal 
lamb and the other offerings. (2 Ch. 35. 13.) 
unleavened bread — also for the sake of 
despatch Deut. 16. 3,) but as leaven is, cor- 
ruption <Lu. 12. 1,) there seems to have been 
a typical meaning under it. (1 Co. 5. 8.) bit- 
ter herbs— lit. bitters— to remind the Israel- 
ites of their affliction in Egypt, and morally 
of the trials to which God's people are 
subject on account of sin. 9. Eat not of it 
raw — i.e., with any blood remaining — a 
caveat against conformity to idolatrous 
practices. It was to be roasted whole, not a 
bone to be broken, and this pointed to 
Christ. (J. 19. 36.) 10. let nothing remain— 
which might be applied in a superstitious 
manner, or allowed to putrefy, which in a 
hot climate would speedily have ensued; 
and which was not becoming in what had 
been offered to God. 

11-14. The Bite of the Passover. 11. loins 
girded. . .shoes on feet— as prepared for a jour- 
ney. The first was done by the skirts of the 
loose outer cloth being drawn up and fas- 
tened in the girdle, so as to leave the leg 
and knee free for motion. As to the other 
the Orientals never wear shoes in-doors, and 
the ancient Egyptians, as appears from the 
monuments, did not usually wear either 
shoes or sandals. These injunctions seem 
to have applied chiefly to the first celebra- 
( tion of the rite. It is the Lord's passover— 
the" congregation— The recent event's had pre- j called by this name from the blood-marked 



pared the Israelitish people for a crisis in 
their affairs, and they seem to have yielded 
implicit obedience at this time to Moses. 
It is observable that, amid all the hurry 



dwellings of the Israelites being passed over 

figuratively bv the destroying angel. 12. 

smite. ..gods of Egypt— perhaps used here for 

. princes and grandees. But, according to 

and bustle of such a departure, their serious ! Jewish tradition, the idols of Egypt were all 

attention was to be given to a solemn act of | on that night broken in pieces. (See ISu. 33, 



religion, a lamb for a house— a kid might be 
taken v. 5.) The service was to be a domes- 
tic one, for the deliverance was to be from 
an evil threatened to every house in Egypt. 
4. If the household, <fcc— It appears from 
Josephus that ten persons were required to 
make up the proper paschal communion, 
every man according to his eating— It is said 
that the quantity eaten of the paschal lamb, 
by each individual, was about the size of an 



4; Is. 19. l.i 13, 14. for a memorial, <fcc— The 
close analogy traceable in all points between 
the Jewish and Christian passovers is seen 
also in the circumstance that both festivals 
were instituted before the events they were 
to commemorate had transpired. 

15-51. Unleavened Bread. 15. Seven days 
...Eat, &c— This was to commemorate an- 
other circumstance in the departure of the 
Israelites, who were urged to leave so hur- 



olive. 5. lamb without blemish— The smallest j riedly that their dough was unleavened [v, 



deformity or defect made a lamb unfit for 
sacrifice— a type^ of Christ. (He. 7. 26; 1 Pe. 



'39), and they had to eat unleavened cakes. 
Deut. 16. 3.) The greatest care was always 
1. 19.) male of the first year— Christ in the j taken by the Jews to free their houses from 
prime of life. 6. keep it, &c— being se- ! leaven— the owner searching every corner of 
lected from the rest of the flock it was ! his dwelling with a lighted candle. A figu- 
to be separated four days before sacrifice; rative allusion to this is made ;lCo.5.7 J The 
and for the same length of time was Christ j exclusion of leaven for seven days would 
under examination and his spotless inno- I not be attended with inconvenience in the 
cence declared before the world, kill it in the j East, where the usual leaven is dough, kept 
evening— i.e., the interval between the sun's j till it becomes sour, and it is kept from one 
beginning to decline, and sunset, correspond- 1 day to another for the purpose of preserving 

leaven in readiness. Thus even were there 
none in all the country, it could be got 



ing to our three o'clock in the afternoon. 7 

Strike it, &c— as a sign of safety to those with , . 

in. The posts must be considered of tents, j within twenty-four hours. [Hakmer.] cutoff 

in which the Israelites generally lived, • — Excommunicated from the community 



though some might be in houses. 
52 



Though i and privileges of the chosen people. 16. holy 



Pharaoh pursueth the Israelites, EXODUS, XV. 



The Egyptians are drowned. 



4 And d 1 will harden Pharaoh's heart, 
that he shall follow alter them ; and I e wili 
be honoured upon Pharaoh, and upon all 
his host ; that the Egyptians may know that 
I am the Lord. And they did so. 

5 11 And it was told the king of Egypt that 
the people lied: and the heart of Pharaoh 
and of his servants was turned against the 
people, and they said, Why have we done 
this, that we have let Israel go from serv- 
ing us? 

6 And he made ready his chariot, and took 
his people with him: 

7 And he took six hundred chosen chariots, 
and all the chariots of Egypt, and captains 
over every one of them. 

8 And the Lord hardened the heart of 
Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued 
after the children of Israel: and / the chil- 
dren of Israel went out with an high 
hand. 

9 But the g Egyptians pursued after them, 
all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, and 
his horsemen, and his army, and overtook 
them encamping hy the sea, beside Pi- 
hahiroth, before Baal-zephon. 

10 1T And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the 
children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, 
behold, the Egyptians marched after them ; 
and the v were sore afraid: and the children 
of Israel h cried out unto the Lord. 

11 And * they said unto Moses, Because 
there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou 
taken us away to die in the wilderness? 
wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to 
carry us forth out of Egypt? 

12 Is i not this the word that we did tell 
thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that 
we may serve the Egyptians? For it had 
been better for us to serve the Egyptians, 
than that we should die in the wilderness. 

13 1T And Moses said unto the people, 
Fear * ye not, stand still, and see the sal- 
vation of the Lord, which he will show to 
you to-day: 1 for the Egyptians whom ye 
nave seen to-day, ye shall see them again 
no more for ever. 

14 The l Lord shall fight for you, and ye 
shall m hold your peace. 

15 H And the Lord said unto Moses, "Where- 
fore criest thou unto me? speak unto the 
children of Israel, that they go forward: 

16 But n lift thou up thy rod, and stretch 
out thine hand over the sea, and divide it ; 
and the children of Israel shall go on dry 
ground through the midst of the sea. 

17 And I, behold, I will ° harden the 
hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall 
follow them : and I will get me honour upon 
Pharaoh, and upon all his host, upon his 
chariots, and upon his horsemen. 

18 And the Egyptians shall know that I 
am the Lord, when I have gotten me hon- 
our upon Pharaoh, upon his chariots, and 
upon his horsemen. 

19 11 And p the angel of God, which went 
before the camp ol Israel, removed and 
went behind them- and the pillar of the 
cloud went from before then: face, and 
stood behind them: 

20 And it came between the camp of the 
Egyptians and the camp of Israel ; and « it 
was a cloud and darkness to them, but it 
gave light by night to these: so that the 
one came not near the other all the night. 

21 And Moses stretched out his hand over 
the sea; and the Lord caused the sea to go 
back by a strong east wind all that night, 

53 



B. C. 1491. 



CHAP. 14. 

dJa.1.13-17. 

e ch. 9. 16. 
Ro.9.17-23, 

f ch. 6. 1. 
ch. 13. 9. 
Nu. 33. 3. 

g ch. 15. 9. 
Josh. 24.0. 

h Josh. 24. 7, 
Neh. 9. 9. 
Ps. 34. 17. 
Ps. 107. 6. 

iPs.106.7,8 

j ch. 6. 9. 

k 2 Chr. 20. 
15, 17. 
Is. 41. 10, 
13, 14. 

1 Or, for 
whoreas ye 
have seen 
the Egyp- 
tians to- 
day, etc. 

I Deu. 20. 4. 
Job. 10. 14, 
42. 

Jos. 23.3. 
2 Ch. 20.29. 
Neh. 4. 20. 
Is. 31.4. 

in Is. 30. 15. 

n ch. 7. 19. 

Pro. 29. J. 
p Gen. 48.16. 

1 Is. 8. 14. 

2 Cor. 4. 3. 
r Josh. 3. 16. 

Josh. 4. 23. 

Neh. 9. 11. 

Pa. 74. 13. 

Ps. 106. 9. 

Ps. 114. 3. 
8 ch. 15. 19. 

Nu. 33. 8. 

Ps. 66. 6. 

Ps. 78. 13. 

I Cor. 10.1. 

Heb. 11.29. 
t Hab. 3. 10. 

2 Or, and 
made them 
to go 
heavily. 

V, Josh. 4.18. 

3 shook off. 
Deu. 11.4. 
Ps. 78. 63. 
Neh. 9. 11. 

v Hab. 3. 8. 
w Ps. 77. 20. 

Ps. 78. 62, 

53. 
x p B . 106. 

8,10. 
V Ps. 58. 10. 

Ps. 59. 10. 

4 hand. 

« ch. 19. 9. 
John 2. 11. 
John 11.45. 

CHAP. 15. 
a Judg. 5. 1. 

2Sa. 22.1. 
b Is. 12. 2. 
«2Sa.22.47. 

Ps. 09. 5. 
d Re. 19. 11. 
e Ps. 83. 18. 
/•Ps.118.15. 
g Ps. 59. 13. 

Deu. 4. 24. 

He. 12. 29. 
h Is. 6. 24. 
i Job 4. 9. 



and made the sea dry land, and the waters 
were r divided. 

22 And 8 the children of Israel went into 
the midst of the sea upon the dry ground: 
and the waters were * a wall unto them on 
their right hand, and on their left. 

23 IF And the Egyptians pursued, and 
went in after them to the midst of the sea, 
even all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and 
his horsemen. 

21 ADd it came to pass, that in the morn- 
ing watch the Lord looked unto the host 
of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire 
and of the cloud, and troubled the host of 
the Egyptians, 

25 And took off their chariot wheels, " that 
theydrave them heavily: so that the Egyp- 
tians said, Let us ttee from the face of 
Israel ; for the Lord fighteth for them 
against the Egyptians. 

26 And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch 
out thine hand over the sea. that the waters 
may come again upon the Egyptians, upon 
then* chariots, and upon then- horsemen. 

27 And Moses stretched forth his hand 
over the sea, and the sea u returned to his 
strength when the morning appeared • and 
the Egyptians fled against it; and the Lord 
3 overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of 
the sea. 

28 And v the waters returned, and covered 
the chariots, and the horsemen, and all 
the host of Pharaoh that came into the 
sea after them ; there remained not so much 
as one of them. 

29 But w the children of Israel walked 
upon dry land in the midst of the sea; and 
the waters were a wall unto them on their 
right hand, and on their left. 

30 Thus the Lord * saved Israel that day 
out of the hand of the Egyptians: and Israel 
saw v the Egyptians dead upon the sea- 
shore. 

31 And Israel saw that great * work which 
the Lord did upon the Egyptians: and the 

£eople feared the Lord, and z believed the 
iORD, and his servant Moses. 
CHAPTER XV. 
1 Moses* song. 22 The people want water. 23 
The bitter waters at Marah are sweetened. 21 
They remove to Elim. 

HPHEN sang ° Moses and the children of 
-*- Israel this song unto the Lord, and 
spake, saying, I will sing unto the Lord, 
for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse 
and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. 

2 The Lord is my strength and b song, 
and he is become my salvation: he is my 
God. and I will prepare him an habitation; 
my father's God, and I c will exalt him. 

3 The Lord is a man of d war: the Lord is 
his e name. 

4 Pharaoh's chariots and his host hath he 
cast into the sea: his chosen captains also 
are drowned in the Red sea. 

5 The depths have covered them: thej 
sank into the bottom is a stone. 

6 / Thy right hand, O Lord, is become 
glorious in power; tny right hand, O Lord, 
hath dashed hi pieces the enemy. 

7 And in th greatness of thine excellency 
thou hast overthrown them that rose up 
against thee: thou sentest forth thy wrath, 
which consumed them h as stubble. 

8 And ♦ with the blast of thy nostrils the 
wafers were gathered together, i the floods 
Blood upright as an heap, and the depths 



i Hab, 3, 10. were co\igeaied in the heart of the sea. 



Death of the First-Born. 



EXODUS, XII. 



Departure of the Israelites. 



convocation— lit. calling of the people, which 
was done by sound of trumpet, (Mu. 10. 2,) a 
sacred assembly— for these days were to be re- 
garded as Sabbaths-excepting only that meat 
might be cooked on them (ch. 6. 23.) 16. Ye 
shall observe, &c— The seven days of this feast 
were to commence the day after the passover. 
It was a distinct festival following that feast; 
but although this feast was instituted like 
the passover before the departure, the ob- 
servance of it did not take place till after. 19. 
Stranger— No foreigner could partake of the 
passover, unless circumcised— The " stran- 
ger" specified as admissible to the privilege 
must, therefore, be considered a gentile 
proselyte. 21-25. Then Moses called, &c— 
Here are given special directions for the 
observance, hyssop — a small red moss, 
[Hasselquist.] The caper-plant, [Royle.1 
It was used in the sprinkling, being well 
adapted for such purposes, as it grows 
in bushes— putting out plenty of suckers 
from a single root. And it is remarkable 
that it was ordained in the arrangements of 
an all -wise Providence that the Koman 
soldiers should undesignedly, on their part, 
make use of this symbolical plant to Christ 
when, as our passover, he was sacrificed for 
us. None shall go out, &c— this regulation 
was peculiar to the first celebration, and in- 
tended, as some think, to prevent any suspi- 
cion attaching to them of being agents in the 
impending destruction of the Egyptians ; 
there is an allusion to it, (Is. 26. 20.). 26. When 
your children shall say— independently of some 
observances which were not afterwards re- 
peated,the usages practised at this yearly com- 
memorative feast were so peculiar that the 
curiosity of the young would be stimulated, 
and thus parents have an excellent opportu- 
nity which they were enjoined to embrace 
for instructing each rising generation in the 
origin and leading facts of the national faith. 
27, 28. people bowed the head— All the preced- 
ing directions were communicated through 
the elders, and the Israelites being deeply 
solemnized by the influence of past and 
prospective events, gave prompt and faithful 
obedience. 29. at midnight the Lord smote— 
At the moment when the Israelites were ob- 
serving the newly instituted feast in the 
singular manner described, the threatened 
calamity overtook the Egyptians. It is more 
easy to imagine than describe the confusion 
and terror of that people suddenlyrousedfrom 
sleep and enveloped in darkness— none could 
assist their neighbours, when the groans of 
the dying and the wild shrieks of mourners 
were heard every where around. The hope 
of every family was destroyed at a stroke. 
This judgment, terrible though it was, 
evinces the equity of divine retribution. 
For eighty years the Egyptians had caused 
the male children of the Israelites to be cast 
into the river,and now all their own first-born 
fell under the stroke of the destroying angel. 
They were made, in the justice of God, to 
feel something of what they had made His 
people feel. Many a time have the hands of 
sinners made the snares in which they have 
themselves been entangled, and fallen into 
the pit which they have dug for the righteous. 
44 Verily there is a God that judgeth in the 
earth." 30. not a house where . . . not one dead— 
Perhaps this statement is not to be taken 
absolutely. The Scriptures frequently use 
the word "all," "none," in a comparative 



sense — and so in this case. There would b3 
many a house in which there would be no 
child, and many in which the first-born 
might be already dead. What is to be under- 
stood is, that almost every house in Egypt had 
a death in it. 31. called for Moses and Aaron 
—a striking fulfilment of the words of Moses 
(ch. 11. 8,), and showing that they were spoken 
under divine suggestion. 32. also take your 
flocks, &c— all the terms the king had formerly 
insisted on were now departed from, his pride 
had been effectually humbled. Appalling 
judgments in such rapid succession showed 
plainly that the hand of God was against him. 
His own family bereavement had so crushed 
him to the earth that he not only showed 
impatience to rid his kingdom of such 
formidable neighbours, but even begged an 
interest in their prayers. 34. people took . . . 
kneading troughs— Having lived so long in 
Egypt, they must have been in the habit of 
using the utensils common in that country. 
The Egyptian kneading trough was a bowl of 
wicker or rush work, and it admitted of be- 
ing nastily wrapped up with the dough in it 
and slung over the shoulder in their hykes 
or loose upper garments. 35. Children of 
Israel borrowed— When the Orientals go to 
their sacred festivals, they always put on 
their best jewels. The Israelites themselves 
thought they were only going 3 days' journey 
to hold a feast unto the Lord, and in these 
circumstances it would be easy for them to 
borrow what was necessary for a sacred 
festival. But "borrow" conveys a wrong 
meaning. The word rendered borrow signifies 
properly to ask, demand, require. The 
Israelites had been kept in great poverty, 
having received little or no wages. They 
now insisted on full remuneration for all 
their labour, and it was paid in light and 
valuable articles adapted for convenient car- 
riage. 36. The Lord gave the people favour- 
Such a dread of them was inspired into the 
universal minds of the Egyptians, that 
whatever they asked was readily given, 
spoiled the Egyptians— the accumulated earn- 
ings of many years being paid them at this 
moment, the Israelites were suddenly en- 
riched, according to the promise made to 
Abraham, (Ge. 15. 14.) and they left the 
country like a victorious army laden with 
spoil. (Ps. 105. 37; Ez. 39. 10.) 37. Journeyed 
from Rameses— now generally identified with 
the ancient Heroopolis, and fixed at the 
modern ^L&u-Keisheid. This position agrees 
with the statement that the scene of the 
miraculous judgments against Pharaoh was 
41 in the field of Zoan." And it is probable 
that, in expectation of their departure, 
which the king on one pretext or another 
delayed, the Israelites had been assembled 
there as a general rendezvous. In journey- 
ing from Rameses to Palestine, there was a 
choice of two routes — the one along the 
shores of the Mediterranean to El-Arish, the 
other more circuitous round the head of the 
Red Sea and the desert of Sinai. The latter 
Moses was directed to take. (ch. 13. 17.) to 
Succoth— i.e., booths, probably nothing more 
than a place of temporary encampment. 
The Hebrew word signifies a covering or 
shelter, formed by the boughs of trees; and 
hence, in memory of this lodgement, the 
Israelites kept the feast of tabernacles 
yearly in this manner, six hundred thousand 
men—It appears from Num. l. that theenu- 



ft* mm* -/.'•/':- '. 



EXODUS, XVI. 



The people murmur for bread. 



JrT. 49. 19. 

-''--■- -■ - 7 



9 The enemy said. I will pursue. I wfll 

overtake, I will * divide the spoil: my lust 

shall be satisfied upon them; I will draw 

rd, mv hand shall i destroy tnem I 

ton didst blow with thy wind 

red them: they saiik as lead in the 

• 

.:> l is like unto thee. Lord, among 

the * gods? who is like thee, glorious in 

holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? 

'.. ... u stretch. rjghfl hand, 

:th swallowed them. 

13 Th"U in th- : led forth the 

people which thou hast redeemed: thou hast " i"^*!* 

ji thy strength unto* thy holy pS^IW 

9 Deo. 2.25. 

r l m S :T. 

« I-." i\ ?. 

Is. 43.1. 

--;r i: ::. 

Th. 2. 14. 

: ?r-. . .- 

•: ?v. •_. :. 

• : h .w .-:. 

3Tl*tfc, 



habitation. 

14 The * people shall hear, and be afraid: 
'snail take hold hi .iic inhabitants 
c: Pilmtina 

: '-: :? ■: : E .". 
amazed; ^the might v men of Moab, trem- 
hold upon them; ail the 
inhal d :.aan shall melt away. 

ar "i and dread shall fall upon them ; 
greatness of thine arm they shall be 
as still r as a stone; till thy people pass 
:.d, till the people p«^: 
' thou hast purchased. 
17 Thou shalt bnng them in, and * plant 
them in the mountain of thine inheritance, 
in the place, O Lord, ichich thou hast 
made for thee to dwell in; in the Sanc- 
tuary. Uomd, which thy hands 
established. 
Ifl [he Lord shall re:.~ for e- •-. 

his chariots and with his horsemen into 

the sea, and the Lord brought again the 

of the sea upon them; but tfie cnil- 

c:L .: .-: .-'. vreni on dry lamd in flic 

. ' A nd Miriam the prophetess, the sister 
:l, "took a timbrel in her hand; and 
vomen went out after her with tim- . 
I:-..- .:. :. ■■■::':. !:,:_ .->. 

I Miriam answered them, Sir..: ; : I : 
the Lord, for he hath triumphed sic I 
the horse and his rider hath he thrown into 
the sea. 

£.' 1 So Moses brought Israel from the Red 
sea ; a: . : out into the wilderness 

of Shur; and they went three days in the 
wilderness, and found no water. 

23 f And when thev came to r Marah. thev 
could not drink of the waters of Marah, for 
t:.r ; Air- '■..:-.-:; '.'..z.z'..:- :Le :.^ c w ;: 
was called a Marah. 

im And the people murmured 
Moses, saying, What shall we drink? 

25 And he "cried unto the Lord; and the 
Lord showed him a tree, x which when he 
had cast into the waters, the watr. 
made sweet: there he *made for them a sta- 
tute and an ordinance, and there ■ he proved 
them, 

ud said, a If thou wilt diligentlv 
hearken to the voice of the Lord : 
and wilt do that which is right in his sight, 
and wilt give ear to his commandments, 
and keep all his statutes, 1 will put none of 
these * diseases upon thee, which I have 
brought upon the Egyptians: for 1 am the 
Lord e that healeth thee. 

i me to Elim, where were 
twelve wells of water, and threescore and 

ten Patau ".ices; c^.- ~...r -.z....:..: -. _ - 

by toe wafers. 



i.--.-: ?:. 



Jo. 3. 1.4. 

P = rl T 

« Deo. 7- 12. 

": lr- _: .7. 

: :- = -.: : -. 

Pi. I.:. I. 

w ;-.- j 

i Nu.. oo i. 



CHAP. 15. 

:■ Fi . •: J:. 

:c:.-.:: .:.. 

-■>■=-.::. 4. 

d J«*i6.3L 

1C r.i J. 
1 ■:: ':-:. - 

•; : i bj ■ 

Pro. a'. 8. 

Mj.-. : ::. 
> in «.■: if. 

/JLer.25.21. 

y St. 16. 28, 

% Is :-: i. 
.':ii U. 4. 

EISmlOLT 

Lo.lfj.16. 

1.:-.:^. t 
i nti.ia 

; : s... : ::. 

k >u. 14. 27. 
«i«r.T. 

-. *. f. ;. 



GHAPTEB XVI. 

1 The Israelites come to Sm. 2 7Vv MnMr./bc 
I want of bread, li Qwils and mnnuta are sent. 

.'.'-'.• .•.:•-! ■ ■ ■. ■ ■ ::::..:..:- 

: ' \ -: 

A M» thry took their journev fror. 
x * .:. 1 ail the congregation of the children 
of Israel came unto the wilderness of - Sin, 
which is br .ai, on 
the fifteenth day of the second month 
departing out of the land of 

] the whole congregation of the chil- 
dren of Israel b murmured against Moses 

ron in the wilderness: 

children of Israel said unto 
them, Would re had died by the 

hand of the Lord in the land of Egvpt* 

we sat by the flesh pots, and when 
we did eat bread to the full: for ye have 
' brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill 
this whole assemblv with hunger. 

4 * Then said the Lord unto Moses, Be- 
hold, I will rain *bread from heaven for 

fou; and the people shall go out and gather 
_at I 'may 
E: iem, whether they will walk in my 
iw, or no. 

5 And it shall come to pass, that on the 
sixth day they shall prepare that which 

ring in; and /it shall be twice as 
much as they gather daily. 
G An 1 Moses and Aaron said unto all the 
children of Israel, 9 At even, then ye shall 
know that the Lord hath brought you out 
: 

7 And in the morning, then ye shall see 
:':.- ■ rdry ;: :L:- L.:.: : iorthat he besrefll 
;■ . -.:r :...::..:; -•;... :;...- L . :.: :..; 
what are we. that ve murmur against us! 

8 And Moses said. This shall be, when the 
Lord shall give you in the evening flesh to 
eat, and in the morning bread to the full; 
for that the Lord heareth your murmur. 
ings which ye murmur against him: and 
what are we? your murmurings art not 
against us, but * against the Lord. 

y And Moses spake unto Aaron. Say unto 
all the congregation of the children of 
Israel. Come near before the Lord: for he 
:..;-:. iifiru y .'ir :..-^;.-.::..j5. 

10 f And it came to pass, as Aaron spake 
unto the whole congregation of the children 

looked toward the wil- 
derness, and. behold, the glory of the Lord 
i.\Zzi:zi- :r. :Lt d.v.i. 

11 And the Lord spake unto Moses, say- 



jw ... ::. 

o Stt. 11. SL 

p« : 0.4:'. 
w >:. n. k 

f >m. 11. T. 
Dart. I 9. 
HrL9Ll& 

Fi "; -4. 

Fs.::f m 

2 Or. Wh*s 
htiis! «r, 
it » »por- 

rb.S ft 
Ma 6, 8, 

49.5S. 

lCflr.103. 



I *have heard the murmurin gs of the 



: : : Israel: speak unto them, say- 

: even ye shall eat flesh, and ** m 

the morning ye shall be filled with bread; 

and * ye shall know that 1 am the Lord 

vour God. 

i it came to pass, that at eren ° the 
quails came up. and covered the camp ; and 
in the morning * the dew lay round about 

. I when the dew that lay was gone 

up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness 

then lag »a ratal] round thing, ai:xd. as 

the hoar frost on the ground. 

15 And when the children of Israel saw ti, 

i one to another, - It is manna: for 

unto them, r This is the bread which the 
Lord hath given you to eat 
lb This is the thing which the Lord hath 



27ie First-Bom Sanctified. 



EXODUS, XIII. 



Journey from Egypt. 



meration is of men above 20 years of age. 
Assuming, what is now ascertained by stat- 
istical tables, that the numbers of males 
above that age is as nearly as possible the 
half of the total number of males, the 
whole male population of Israel, on this com- 
putation, would amount to 1,200,000; and add- 
ing an equal number for women and children, 
the aggregate number of Israelites who left 
Egypt would be 2,400,000. 38. a mixed multi- 
tude—^., a great rabble, (see also Num. 11. 
4; Deu. 29. 11.) slaves, persons in the lowest 
grades of society, partly natives and partly 
foreigners, bound close to them as com- 
panions in misery, and gladly availing them- 
selves of the opportunity to escape in the 
crowd, (cf. Zech. 8. 23.) 40. the sojourning 
of the children of Israol— The Septuagint ren- 
ders it thus: "The sojourning of the children 
and of their fathers, which they sojourned in 
the land of Canaan and in the lapdof Egypt." 
These additions are important, for the period 
of sojourn in Egypt did not exceed 215 years; 
but if we reckon from the time that Abraham 
entered Canaan and the promise was made in 
which the sojourn of his posterity in Egypt 
was announced,this makes up the time to 430 
years. 41. even the self-same day— implying 
an exact and literal fulfilment of the pre- 
dicted period. 49. One law— This regulation 
displays the liberal spirit of the Hebrew 
institutions. Any foreigner might obtain 
admission to the privileges of the nation on 
complying with their sacred ordinances. 
In the Mosaic equally as the Christian dis- 
pensation privilege and duty were insepara- 
bly conjoined. 

CHAPTEK XIII. 

Ver. 1, 2. The First-Born Sanctified. 
Sanctify unto me all the first-born— To sanctify 
means to consecrate, to set apart from a 
common to a sacred use. The foundation of 
this duty rested on the fact, that the Israel- 
ites having had their first born preserved by 
a distinguishing act of grace from the general 
destruction that overtook the families of the 
Egyptians, were bound in token of gratitude 
to consider them as the Lord's peculiar pro- 
perty, (cf. He. 12. 23.) 

3-10. Memorial of the Passover. 3. 
Moses said . . . Remember this day— The day 
that gave them a national existence and 
introduced them into the privileges of in- 
dependence and freedom, deserved to live 
in the memories of the Hebrews and 
their posterity; and, considering the sig- 
nal interposition of God displayed in it, 
to be held not only in perpetual, but de- 
vout remembrance, house of bondage— lit. 
house of slaves— i.e., a servile and degrading 
condition, by strength of hand— the emanci- 
pation of Israel would never have been ob- 
tained except it had been wrung from the 
Egyptian tyrant by the appalling judgments 
of God, as had been at the outset of his mis- 
sion announced to Moses, (ch. 3. 19.) There 
shall no leavened bread, <fec— the words are 
elliptical, and the meaning of the clause may 
be paraphrased thus:—" For by strength of 
hand the Lord brought you out from this 
place, in such haste, that there could or 
should be no leavened bread eaten." 4. 
month Abib— lit. a green ear, and hence the 
month Abib is the month of green ears, 
corresponding to the middle of our March. 
It was the best season for undertaking a 
journey to the desert-region of Sinai, espe- 
54 



daily with flocks and herds: for then the 
winter torrents have subsided, and the 
wadys are covered with an early and luxu- 
riant verdure. 5-7. When the Lord shall 
bring thee— The passover is here instituted 
as a permanent festival of the Israelites. 
It was, however, only a prospective observ- 
ance: we read of only one celebration of the 
passover during the protracted sojourn in 
the wilderness; but on their settlement in 
the promised land, the season was hallowed 
as a sacred anniversary, in conformity with 
the directions here given. 8-10. thou shalt 
shew thy son— The establishment of this and 
the other sacred festivals presented the best 
opportunities of instructing the young in a 
knowledge of His gracious doings to their an- 
cestors in Egypt. 9. It shall be for a sign, (fee- 
There is no reason to believe that thr; Oriental 
tatooing— the custom of staining the hands 
with the power of Hennah, as Eastern females 
now do— is here referred to. Nor is it pro- 
bable that either this practice or the phylac- 
tories of the Pharisees— parchment scrolls, 
which were worn on their wrists and fore- 
heads—had so early an existence. The words 
are to be considered only as a figurative 
mode of expression, that the Lord's law, <fec. 
—i.e., that it may be the subject of frequent 
conversation and familiar knowledge among 
the people. 

11—16. Firstlings of Beasts. 15. every 
firstling, <fec— The injunction respecting the 
consecration of the first-born, as here re- 
peated, with some additional circumstances. 
The firstlings of clean beasts, such as lambs, 
kids, and calves, if males, were to be devoted 
to God and employed in sacrifice. Those 
unclean beasts as the ass's colt, being unfit 
for sacrifice, were to be redeemed. (Num. 
18. 15.) 

17-21. Journey from Egypt. 17. God led 
them, &c. — The shortest and most direct 
route from Egypt to Palestine was the usual 
caravan road that leads by Belbeis, El-Arish, 
to Ascalon and Gaza. The Philistines, who 
then possessed the latter, would have been 
sure to dispute their passage, for between 
them and the Israelites there was a heredi- 
tary feud; (1 Chr. 7.21,22:) and so early a com- 
mencement of hostilities would have discour- 
aged or dismayed the unwarlike band which 
Moses led. Their faith was to be exercised 
and strengthened, and from the commence- 
ment of their travels we observe the same 
careful proportion of burdens and trials to 
theirjeharacter and state, as the gracious Lord 
shows to his people still in that spiritual 
j ourney of which the former was typical. 18. 
led them about, &c— This wondrous expanse 
of water is a gulf of the Indian ocean. It 
was called in Hebrew "the weedy sea," from 
the forest of marine plants with which it 
abounds. But the name of the Eed Sea is 
not so easily traced. Some think it was 
given from its contiguity to the countries 
of Edom (red), others derive it from its 
coral rocks, while a third class ascribe the 
origin of the name to an extremely red ap- 
pearance of the water in some parts, caused 
by a numberless multitude of very small 
mollusca. This sea, atlits northern extremity, 
separates into two smaller inlets— the eastern 
called anciently the Elanitic gulf, now the 
gulf of Akaba; and the western the Heroo- 
polite gulf, now the gulf of Suez, which there 
can be no doubt extended much more to the 



Mauna {3 sent. 



EXODUS, XT1T. AmaleJc is overcome at Rephidim. 



commanded. Gather of it every man ac- 
cording to his eating, 8 an omer 3 for every 
man. according to the number of your 
* persons ; take ye every man for them whic h 
are in his tents. 

17 And the children of Israel did so, and 
gathered, some more, some less. 

18 And when they did mete it with an 
omer. f he that gathered much had nothing 
over, and he that gathered little had no 
lack: they gathered every man according 
to his eating. 

19 And Moses said, Let no man leave of it 
till the morning. 

20 Notwithstanding they hearkened not 
unto Moses; but some of them left of it 
until the morninsr, and it bred worms, 
and stank: and Moses was wroth with 
them. 

21 And they gathered it every morning, 
every man according to his eating: and 
when the sun waxed not, it melted. 

22 1T And it came to pass, that on the 
sixth day they gathered twice as much 
bread, two omers for one man: and all the 
nil ere of the congregation came and told 
Moses. 

23 And he said unto them. This {5 that 
which the Lord hath said. To-morrow is 
u the rest of the holy sabbath unto the 
Lord: bake that which ye will bake to-day, 
ami seethe that ye will seethe; and that 
which remaineth over lay up for you to be 
kept until the morning. 

24 And they laid it up till the morning, as 
Moses bade: and it did not * stink, neither 
was there any worm therein. 

25 And Moses said. Eat that to-day; for 
to-day u ' is a sabbath unto the Lord: to- 
day ye shall not lind it in the held. 

26 Six z days ye shall gather it ; but on the 
seventh day, which is the sabbath, in it 
there shall be none. 

27 1T And it came to pass, that there 
went out some of the people on the 
seventh day for to gather, and they found 
none. 

28 And the Lord said unto Moses, How 
long v refuse ye to keep my commandments 
and my laws ? 

29 See. for that the Lord hath given you 
the sabbath, therefore he giveth you on 
the sixth day the bread of two days : 
abide ye every man in his place ; let 
no man go out of his place on the seventh 
day. 

30 So the people rested on the seventh 
day. 

31 And the house of Israel called the name 
thereof Manna: and 2 it was like coriander 
Beed, white ; and the taste of it was like 
wafers made with honey. 

32 r . And Moses said.' This is the thing 
which the Lord commandeth, Fill an omer 

v of it to be kept for your generations; that 
they may see the bread wherewith I have 
fed you in the wilderness, when I brought 
you forth from the land of Egypt. 

33 And Moses said unto Aaron, a Take a 
pot. and put an omer full of manna there- 
in, and lay it up before the Lord, to be 
kept for your generations. 

34 As the Lord commanded Moses, so 
Aaron laid it up b before the Testimony, 
to be kept. 

35 Ana the children of Israel did eat 
tnanna c forty years, d until they came to 
a land inhabited; they did eat manna until 

bb 



B. C. HOI. 



CHAP. 1G. 
« ver. 36. 

3 by the poll, 
or. head. 

4 skills. 

1 2 Cor. 8. 15. 
u Gen. 2. 3. 

ch. 2 >. 8. 

ch. 31. 15. 

ch. 35. 3. 

Lev. 23 3. 

V ver. 20. 

"' Heb. 4. 4. 

Mat.12.12. 

Mat .21.20. 
* ch. 2 J. 9, 

1 I. 

V 1 Kin. 17. 
14. 

Ps. 78. 10, 

K. 106. 13. 

Jer. 4. 14. 

. BNo.ll.7A 

1 a Heb. 9. 4. 

| 6 ch. 40. 20. 

I 1 Ki. 8. 9. 

c Nu. 33. 33. 

Deu.8.2,3. 

Neh. 9. 20, 

21. 

John 6. 31, 
49. 
d Josh. 5.12. 
Neh. 9. 15. 

CHAP. 17. 
a ch. 1G. 1. 

Nu. 33. 12, 

14. 
6 Nu. 20. 3. 
c Is. 7. 12. 

Mat. 4. 7. 

1 Cor. 10.9. 
d ch. 16. 2. 
e 1 Sa. 30. 6. 

John 10.31. 
. / Ezok. 2. 6. 
I g Nu. 20.8. 
h 1 Cor. 10.4. 

1 That is, 
tentation. 
Ps. £'5. 8. 
Heb. 3. 8. 

2 That is, 
chiJiog, or, 
strife. 

t Gen. 36. 12. 

Nu. 24. 20. 

Du.'.i5.17. 

1 Sa. 15. 2. 
j Called 

Jesus, 

Acts 7. 45. 

Heb. 4. 8. 

k Jam. 5- 16. 

I ch. 34. 27. 

m Do. 25. 19. 

lSa.30.1. 

2 Sa. 8. 12. 
Ez-a9.11. 

3 That is. 
the LORD 
mv banner. 
Jud. 6. 24. 

4 Or, because 
the hand of 
Amalek is 
against the 
throne of 
the LORD, 
therefore, 
etc. 

5 the hand 
upon the 
throne 
of the 
LORD. 



they came unto the borders of the land of 

Canaan. 
36 Now an omer is the tenth part of an 

ephah. 

CHAPTER XYII. 

1 The people murmur for water at Rephidim, and 
are sent to th-: rock m Rortb. \o Amatdt over- 
come: 14 God's vengeance against them. 15 
J/ ses buildeth an a tar. 

A ND a all the congregation of the chil- 
' rx dren of Israel joumeved from the 
wilderness of Sin, after their journeys, 
according to the commandment of the 
Lord, and pitched in Rephidim: and thtre 
was no water for the people to drink. 

2 Wherefore b the people did chide with 
Moses, and said, Give us water that we may 
drink. And Moses said unto them. Why 
chide ye with me ? wherefore do ye c tempt 
the Lord? 

3 And the people thirsted there for water; 
and the people d murmured against Moses, 
and said, "Wherefore is this tfiat thou hast 
brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us 
and our children and our cattle with 
thirst? 

4 And Moses cried unto the Lord, saying, 
What shall I do unto this people? they be 
almost ready to e stone me. 

5 And the Lord said unto Moses, / Go on 
before the people, and take with thee of 
the elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith 
thou 9 smotest the river, take in thine hand, 
and go. 

6 Behold, h I will stand before thee there 
upon the rock in llorcb; and thou shalt 
smite the rock, and there shall come water 
out of it, that the people may drink. And 
Moses did so in the sight ot the elders of 
Israel. 

7 And he called the name of the place 
1 Massah, and 2 Meribah, because of the 
chiding of the children of Israel, and be- 
cause they tempted the Lord, saying, la 
the Lord among us, or not? 

S 1 Then ' came Amalek, and fought with 
Israel in Rephidim. 

9 And Moses said unto i Joshua, Choose 
us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek: 
to-morrow I will stand on the top of the hill 
with the rod of God in mine hand. 

10 So Joshua did as Moses had said to 
him, and fought with Amalek: and Moses, 
Aaron, and Hur, went up to the top of the 
hill. 

11 And it came to pass, when Moses * held 
up his hand, that Israel prevailed ; aud 
wnen he let down his hand, Amalek pre- 
vailed. 

12 Rut Moses' hands were heavy; and 
they took a stone, and put it under him, 
and' he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur 
stayed up his hands, the one on the one 

I side, and the other on the other side ; and 
I his hands were steady until the going down 
' of the sun. 

j 13 And Joshua discomfited Amalek and 
! his people with the edge of the sword. 
! 14 And the Lord said unto Moses, ' Write 
this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse 
it ki the ears of Joshua: for " I will utterly 
put out the remembrance of Amalek from 
under heaven. 

15 And Moses built an altar, and called 
the name of it 3 JEHOVAH-uissi: 

16 For he said, * Because nlie Lord hath 
sworn that the Lord will have war with 
Amalek from generation to generation. 



God Instructeth the Israelites 



EXODUS, XIV. 



as to their Journey. 



north anciently than it does now. It was 
toward the latter the Israelites marched, 
went up harnessed— i.e., girded, equipped for 
a long journey. (See J?s. 10 ">. 37.; The margin 
renders it '•' five in a rank," meaning obvi- 
ously five large divisions, under five presid- 
ing officers, according to the usages of all 
caravans; and a spectacle of such a mighty 
and motley multitude must have presented 
an imposing appearance, and its orderly 
progress could have been effected only 
by the superintending influence of God. 
19. took the bones of Joseph— in fulfilment of 
the oath he exacted from his brethren. (Ge. 
60. 25, 26.) The remains of the other patri- 
archs—not noticed from their obscurity- 
were also carried out of Egypt; (A. 7. 16.) and 
there would be no difficulty as to the means 
of conveyance— a few camels bearing these 
precious relics would give a true picture of 
Oriental customs, such as is still to be seen 
in the immense pilgrimages to Mecca. 20. 
encamped in Etham— This place is supposed 
by the most intelligent travellers to be the 
modern Ajrud. where is a watering place, 
and which is the third stage of the pilgrim 
caravans to Mecca. "It is remarkable 
that either of the different routes eastward 
from Heliopolis, or southward from Heroo- 

f»olis, equally admit [of Ajrud being Etham. 
t is 12 miles north-west from Suez, and is 
literally on the edge of the desert." [Pict. 
Bib. ] 21, 22. the Lord went before them— by 
a visible token of his presence the Shecinah, 
in a majestic cloud, Ps. 78. 14; Ne. 9. 12; 1 Co. 
10. 1,) called the angel ot God. (ch. 14. 19; 
23. 20-23; Ps. 99. 6, 7; Is. 63. 8, 9.) 
CHAPTER XIV. 
Ver. 1-4. God Instructeth the Israel- 
ites as to their Journey. Speak... that 
they turn and encamp— The Israelites had now 
completed their three days' journey, and at 
Etham the decisive step would have to be 
taken whether they would celebrate their 
intended feast and return, or march on- 
wards by the head of the Bed Sea into the 
desert, with a view to a final departure. 
They were already on the borders of the 
desert, and a short march would have placed 
them beyond the reach of pursuit, as the 
chariots of Egypt could have made little 
progress over dry and yielding sand. But, 
at Etham, instead of pursuing their journey 
eastward with the sea on their right, they 
were suddenly commanded to diverge to the 
south, keeping the gulf on their left; a route, 
which not only detained them lingering on 
the confines of Egypt, but in adopting it, 
they actually turned their backs on the land 
of which they had set out to obtain the pos- 
session. A movement so unexpected, and of 
which the ultimate design was carefully con- 
cealed, could not but excite the astonish- 
ment of all, even of Moses himself, although 
from his implicit faith in the wisdom and 
power of his Heavenly Guide, he obeyed. 
The object was to entice Pharaoh to pursue, 
in order that the moral effect which the 
judgments on Egypt had produced in releas- 
ing God's people from bondage, might be 
still further extended over the nations by 
the awful events transacted at the Eed Sea. 
Pi-hahiroth— the mouth of the defile, or pass 
—a description well suited to that of Bedea, 
which extended from the Nile, and opens on 
the store of the Bed Sea. Migdol— a fortress 
or citadel. Baal-zephon— some marked site 
65 



on the opposite or Eastern coast, the wilder- 
ness hath shut them in— Pharaoh, who would 
eagerly watch their movements, was now 
satisfied that they were meditating flight, and 
he naturally thought from the error into 
which they appeared to have fallen by enter- 
ing that defile, he could intercept them. He 
believed them now entirely in his power, the 
mountain chain being on one side, the sea 
on the other, so that, if he pursued them in 
the rear, escape seemed impossible. 5-9. The 
heart of Pharaoh, <fec— Alas, how soon the 
obduracy of this reprobate king re-appears. 
He had been convinced, but not converted— 
overawed, but not sanctified by the appalling 
judgments of heaven. He bitterly repented 
of what he now thought a hasty concession. 
Pride and revenge, the honour of his king- 
dom, and the interests of his subjects, all 
prompted him to recall his permission to 
reclaim those runaway slaves, and force 
them to their wonted labour. Strange that 
he should yet allow such considerations to 
obliterate or outweigh all his painful expe- 
rience of the danger of oppressing that peo- 
ple. But those whom the Lord has doomed 
to destruction are first infatuated by sin. 
6. he made ready his chariot— His prepara- 
tions for an immediate and hot pursuit are 
here described: a difference is made between 
"the chosen chariots, and the chariots of 
Egypt." The first evidently composed the 
king's guard, amounting to six hundred, and 
they are called " chosen," lit. "third men;" 
three men being allotted to each chariot, the 
charioteer and two warriors. As to "the 
chariots of Egypt, the common cars con- 
tained only two persons, one for driving 
and the other for fighting;" sometimes only 
one person was in the chariot, the driver 
lashed the reins round his body and fought: 
infantry being totally unsuitable for a rapid 
pursuit, and the Egyptians having had 
no cavalry, the word "riders" is in the 
grammatical connection applied to war cha- 
riots employed, and these were of light 
construction, open behind, and hung on 
small wheels. When Pharaoh drew nigh— 
The great consternation of the Israelites is 
somewhat astonishing considering their vast 
superiority in numbers, tut their deep dis- 
may and absolute despair at the sight of 
this armed host receives a satisfactory ex- 
planation from the fact that the civilised 
state of Egyptian society required the ab- 
sence of all arms, except when they were on 
service. If the Israelites were entirely un- 
armed at their departure, they could not 
think of making any resistance. [Wilk,, 
Heng] 13, 14. Moses said, Fear ye not— Never, 
perhaps, was the fortitude of a man so se- 
verely tried as that of the Hebrew leader in 
this crisis, exposed as he was to various and 
inevitable dangers, the most formidable of 
which M r as the vengeance of a seditious and 
desperate multitude; but his meek, unruf- 
fled, magnanimous composure, presents one 
of the sublimest examples of moral courage 
to be found in history. And whence did liis 
courage arise? He saw the miraculous cloud 
still accompanying them, and his confidence 
arose solely from the hope of a divine inter- 
position, although, perhaps, he might have 
looked for the expected deliverance in every 
quarter, rather than in the direction of the 
sea. 15-18. The Lord said, &c— When in 
answer to his prayers, he received the divine 



Jolhro risiteth Moses. 



EXODUS, XVIII, XIX. 



77>*> people come to Sinai. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

1 Jethro bringeth to Mo*es his wife and two son?: 
7 Moses entertaincth him. 13 Jethro giveth 
Moses counsel; it is accepted. 27 Jethro de- 
parUth. 

WHEN Jethro, the priest of Midian, 
* T Moses' father-in-law, heard of all that 
God had done for Moses, and for Israel his 
people, and that the Lord had brought 
Israel out of Egypt ; 

2 Then Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, took 
Zipporah, Moses' wife, after he had sent 
her back, 

3 And her two sons; of which the name of 
the one was l Gershom; for he said, 1 have 
been an alien in a strange land: 

4 And the name of the other was 2 Eliezer ; 
for the God of my father, said he, was 
mine help, and delivered me from the 
sword of Pharaoh. 

5 And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, came 
with his sous and his wife unto Moses into 
the wilderness, where he encamped at the 
mount of God: 

6 And he said unto Moses, I thy father- 
in-law Jethro am come unto thee, and thy 
wife, and her two sons with her. 

7 And Moses went out to meet his father- 
in-law, and did obeisance, and kissed him ; 
and they asked each other of their 3 wel- 
fare ; ana they came into the tent. 

8 And Moses told his father-in-law all that 
the Lord had done unto Pharaoh and to 
the Egyptians for Israel's sake, and all the 
travail* that had * come upon them by the 
way, and how the Lord delivered them. 

9 And Jethro rejoiced for all the goodness 
which the Lord nad done to Israel, whom 
he had delivered out of the hand of the 
Egyptians. 

10 And Jethro said, Blessed he the Lord, 
who hath delivered you out of the hand of 
the Egvptians, ana out of the hand of 
Pharaoh, who hath delivered the people 
from under the hand of the Egyptians. 

11 Now I know that the Lord is a greater 
than all gods: b for in the thing wherein 
they dealt c proudly he was above them. 

12 And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, took 
a burnt offering and sacrifices for God: and 
Aaron came, and all the elders of Israel, to 
eat bread with Moses' father-in-law d before 
God. 

13 11 And it came to pass on the morrow, 
that Moses sat to judge the people: and the 
people stood by Moses from the morning 
unto the evening. 

14 And when Moses' father-in-law saw all 
that he did to the people, he said, What is 
this thing that thou doest to the people ? 
why sittest thou thyself alone, and all the 
people stand by thee from morning unto 
even? 

15 And Moses said unto his father-in-law, 
Because the people come unto me to en- 
quire of God: 

16 When they have e a matter, they come 
unto me; and I judge between 5 one and 
another, and I do / make them know the 
statutes of God, and his laws. 

17 And Moses' father-in-law said unto him, 
The thing that thou doest is not good. 

".8 c Thou wilt surely wear away, both thou 
and this people that is with thee: for this 
thing is too heavy for thee • 9 thou art not 
able to perform it thyself alone. 

19 Hearken now unto my voice, I will give 

thee counsel, and God shall be with thee: 

66 



B. C. 1491. 



CHAP. 18. 

1 That is, 

a stranger 
there. 

2 That is, 
my God 
is an help. 

3 peace. 
Ge. 43. 27. 
2 Sa. 11. 7. 

4 found 
them. 

a 2 Chr. 2. 6. 

Ps 95.3. 

Ps. 97. 9. 

Ps. 135. 5. 

Is. 37. 

16-20. 

Dan. 2. 47. 
6 ch. 1. 10. 
c Job 40. 11. 

Ps. 119. 21. 

Luke 1. 51. 
d Deu. 12. 7. 

1 Cor. 10. 
18. 21, 31. 

e 2 Sa. 15. 3. 
Job 31. 13. 

5 a man and 
his fellow. 

/ Nu. 36. 6. 

6 Fading 
thou win 
fade. 

gJsu. 11.14. 

Deu. 1. 9, 

12. 
h Deu. 5. 5. 
i Nu. 27. 5. 
j Deu. 4. 1,5. 
k Ps. 143. 8. 
I Deu. 1. 18. 
m Deut. 16. 

18. 

Acts 6. 3. 
« Gen. 42. 

18. 

2 S«. 23. 3. 

Etc. 18. 6. 
p Lev. 24.11. 

Nu. 15. 33. 
Deu. 17. 8. 

1 Deu. 1. 15. 
Acts 6. 5. 

r Job 29. 16. 
« Nu. 10. 29. 



CHAP. 19. 
o Acts 7. 38, 
6 Deu. 32. 11 

Is. 63. 9. 

Rev. 12.14. 
c Deu. 32. 8. 

1 Ki. 8. 53. 

Ps. 135. 4. 

Is. 43. 1. 

Tit. 2. 14. 
d Deu. 10.14. 

Job 41. 11. 

Ps. 50. 12. 

1 Cor. 10. 

26,28. 
e 1 Pet. 2. 

5.9. 

Rev. 20. 6. 
/Lev. 20. 24. 

Deut. 7. 6. 

Is. 02. 12. 

1 The. 5. 27. 
0ch.24.3,7. 

Deu. 26. 17. 

h Deu. 4. 11. 

Ps. 97. 2. 

Slat. 17.5. 

t Deu. 4. 12. 

John 12. 29. 



Be thou h for the people to God-ward, that 
thou mayest * bring the causes unto God: 

20 And thou shaft i teach them ordinances 
and laws, and shalt show them * the way 
wherein they must walk, and l the work 
that they must do. 

21 Moreover thou shalt provide out of all 
the people m able men, such as n fear God, 

men of truth, hating covetousuess ; and 
place such over them, to be rulers of thou- 
sands, and rulers of hundreds, rulers of 
fifties, and rulers of tens: 

22 And let them judge the people at all 
seasons: p and it shall De, that every great 
matter they shall bring unto thee, but every 
small matter they shall judge : so shall it be 
easier for thyself, and they shall bear the 
burden with thee. 

23 If thou shalt do this thing, and God 
command thee so, then thou shalt be able 
to endure, and all this people shall also go 
to their place in peace. 

24 So Moses hearkened to the voice of his 
father-in-law, and did all that he had said. 

25 And « Moses chose able men out of all 
Israel, and made them heads over the peo- 
ple, rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, 
rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. 

26 And they judged the people at all sea- 
sons: the r hard causes they brought unto 
Moses, but every small matter they judged 
themselves. 

27 <[ And Moses let his father-in-law de- 
part; and 8 he went his way into his own 
land. 

CHAPTER XIX. 

1 The people come to Sinai. 3 God's message to 
them. 8 I heir answer. 10 7 hey are prepared 
against the third day; 12 the mountain mutt not 
be touched. 16 The fearful presence of God upon 
the mount. 

TN the third month, when the children of 
x Israel were gone forth out of the land of 
Egypt, the same day came they into the 
wilderness of Sinai. 

2 For they were departed from Rephidirn. 
and were come to the desert of Sinai, and 
bad pitched in the wilderness: and there 
Israel camped before the mount. 

3 And a Moses went up unto God, and the 
Lord called unto him out of the mountain, 
sajing, Thus shalt thou say to the house or 
Jacob, and tell the children of Israel : 

4 Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyp- 
tians, and how b I bare you on eagles' wings, 
and brought you unto myself. 

5 Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice 
indeed, and keep my covenant, then c ye 
shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above 
all people: for d all the earth is mine. 

6 And ye shall be unto me a e kingdom of 
priests, and an /holy nation. These are the 
words which thou shalt speak unto the 
children of Israel. 

7 11 And Moses came and called for the 
elders of the people, and laid before their 
faces all these words which the Lord com- 
manded him. 

8 And g all the people answered together, 
and said, All that the Lord hath spoken we 
will do. And Moses returned the words of 
the people imto the Lord. 

9 And the Lord said unto Moses, Lo, I 
come unto thee h in a thick cloud, * that 
the people may hear when I speak with 
thee, and believe thee for ever. And 
Moses told the words of the people unto 
the Lord. 



Passage of the Israelites. 



EXODUS, XV. 



The Egyptians Drowned. 



command to go forward, he no longer doubt- 
ed by what kind of miracle the salvation of 
his mighty charge was to be effected. 19. The 
angel of God— i.e., the pillar of cloud. The 
slow and silent movement of that majestic 
column through the air, and occupying a 
position behind them must have excited the 
astonishment of the Israelites. (Is. 58. 8.) It 
was an effectual barrier between them and 
their pursuers, not only protecting them, 
but concealing their movements. Thus, the 
same cloud produced light (a symbol of 
favour) to the people of God, and darkness 
(a symbol of wrath) to their enemies, (cf. 2 Co. 
2. 16.) 21. Moses stretched out his hand, &c— 
The waving of the rod was of great import- 
ance on this occasion to give public attesta- 
tion in the presence of the assembled Israel- 
ites, both to the character of Moses and the 
divine mission with which he was charged. 
The Lord caused. ..a strong East wind all 
that night— Suppose a mere ebb-tide caused 
by the wind, raising the water to a great 
height on one dele, still as there was not 
only "dry land," but according to the 
tenor of the sacred narrative, a wall on 
the right hand and on the left, it would 
be impossible on the hypothesis of such a 
natural cause to rear the wall on the other. 
The idea of divine interposition, therefore, 
is imperative; and assuming the passage to 
have been made at Mount Attakah, or at 
the mouth of Wady-TaAvarik, an east wind 
would cut the sea in that line. The Hebrew 
word kedem, however, rendered in our trans- 
lation, East, means, in its primary significa- 
tion previous; so that this verse might, per- 
haps, be rendered, "the Lord caused the 
sea to go back by a strong previous wind 
all that night," a rendering, which would 
remove the difficulty of supposing the host 
of Israel marched over on the sand in the 
teeth of a rushing column of wind strong 
enough to heap up the waters as a wall on 
each side of a dry path, and give the intelli- 
gible narrative of Divine interference. 22. 
The children of Israel, &c— It is highly pro- 
bable that Moses, along with Aaron, first 
planted his footsteps on the untrodden sand, 
encouraging the people to follow him with- 
out fear of the treacherous walls ; and when 
we take into account the multitudes that 
followed him, the immense number who 
through infancy and old age were incapable 
of hastening their movements, together with 
all the appurtenances of the camp, the strong 
and steadfast character of the leaders' faith 
was strikingly manifested. (Jos. 2. 10; 4. 23; 
Ps. 66. 6 ; 74. 13 ; 106. 9 ; 136. 13 ; Is. 63. 11-13 ; 
1 Cor. 10. 1; He. 11. 29.) 23-30. The Egyptians 
pursued— From the darkness caused by the 
intercepting cloud, it is probable that they 
were not aware what ground they were 
driving: they heard the sound of the fugitives 
before them, and they pushed on with the 
fury of the avengers of blood, without dream- 
ing that they were on the bared bed of the 
sea. 24. Lord looked through the cloud and 
troubled them— We suppose the fact to have 
been that the side of the pillar of cloud 
toward the Egyptians was suddenly, and for 
a tew moments illuminated with a blaze of 
light, which, coming as it were in a refulgent 
flash upon the dense darkness which nad 
preceded, so frightened the horses of the 
pursuers that they rushed confusedly to- 
gether and became unmanageable. " Let us 
66 



flee," was the cry that resounded through 
the broken and trembling ranks, but it was 
too late, all attempts at flight were vain. 
[Bush.J 27. Moses stretched forth his hand, 
&c— What circumstances could more clearly 
demonstrate the miraculous character of this 
transaction than that at the waving of Moses' 
rod, the dividing waters left the channel 
dry, and on his making the same motion on 
the opposite side, they returned, commingling 
with instantaneous fury. Is such the char- 
acter of any ebb-tide? 28. there remained 
not so much as one of them— It is surprising 
that, with such a declaration, some mtelli- 
gentwriters can maintain there is no evidence 
of the destruction of Pharaoh himself, Ps. 105. 
11. 30. Israel saw the Egyptians, &c— The tide 
threw them up and left multitudes of corpses 
on the beach ; a result that brought greater 
infamy on the Egyptians, that tended 
on the other hand to enhance the tri- 
umph of the Israelites, and doubtless 
enriched them with arms, which they had 
not before. The locality of this famous pas- 
sage has not yet been,and probably never will 
be satisfactory fixed. Some place it in the 
immediate neighbourhood of Suez: where, 
they say, the part of the sea is most likely to 
be affected by "a strong East wind;" where the 
road from the defile of Migdol (now Muktala), 
leads directly to this point ; and where the sea, 
not above two miles broad, could be crossed 
in a short time. The vast majority, how- 
ever, who have examined the spot, reject 
this opinion, and fix the passage, as does 
local tradition, about ten or twelve miles 
farther down the shore at Wady-Tawarik. 
"The time of the miracle was the whole 
night, at the season of the year, too, when 
the night would be about its average length. 
The sea at that point extends from six-and- 
a-half to eight miles in breadth. There was 
thus ample time for the passage of the 
Israelites from any part of the valley, espe- 
ciaUy considering their excitement and ani- 
mation by the gracious and wonderful in- 
terposition of Providence in their behalf. 
[Wilson.] 

CHAPTEE XV. 
Ver. 1-2T. Song of Moses. 1. Then sang 
Moses and the children of Israel— The scene of 
this thanksgiving song is supposed to have 
been at the landing place on the eastern 
shore of the Red Sea, at Ayoun Musa, the 
fountains of Moses. They are situated 
somewhat farther northward along the shore 
than the opposite point from which the 
Israelites set out. But the line of the people 
would be extended during the passage, and 
one extremity of it would reach as far north 
as these fountains, which would supply them 
with water on landing. The time when it 
was sung is supposed to have been the 
morning after the passage. This song 
is by some hundred years the oldest poem 
in the world. There is a sublimity and 
beauty in the language that is unex- 
ampled. But its unrivalled superiority 
arises not solely from the splendour of the 
diction. Its poetical excellencies have 
often drawn forth the admiration of the 
best judges, while the character of the event 
commemorated, and its being prompted by 
Divine inspiration, contribute to give it an 
interest and sublimity peculiar to itself. I 
will sing unto the Lord— Considering the state 
of servitude in which they had been born 



God's presence on the mount. 



EXODUS, XX. 



The ten commandmsr:**, 



10 H And the Lord said unto Moses, Go 
unto the people, and i sanctity them to-day 
and to-morrow, and let them k wash their 
clothes, 

11 And be ready against the third day: 
for the third day the Lord *will come 
down in the sight of all the people upon 
mount Sinai. 

12 And thou shalt set bounds unto the 
people round about, saying, Take heed to 
yourselves that ye go not up into the 
mount, or touch the border of it: m who- 
soever toucheth the mount shall be surely 
put to death • 

' 13 There shall not an hand touch it, but 
he shall surely be stoned, or shot through ; 
whether it be beast or man, it shall not 
live: when the l trumpet soundeth long, 
they shall come up to the mount. 

14 1T And Moses went down from the 
mount unto the people, and sanctified the 
people ; and they washed then' clothes. 

15 And he said unto the people, Be ready 
against the third day: n come not at your 
wives. 

16 H And it came to pass on the third day, 
in the morning, that there were thunders 
and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the 
mount, and the voice of the tramp et ex- 
ceeding loud; so that all the people that 
was in the camp trembled. 

17 And ° Moses brought forth the people 
out of the camp to meet with God ; and they 
stood at the nether part of the mount. 

18 And p mount Sinai was altogether on a 
smoke, because the Lord descended upon 
it ' l in fire : r and the smoke thereof ascended 
as the smoke of a furnace, and the 8 whole 
mount quaked greatly. 

19 And when the voice of the trumpet 
sounded long, and waxed louder and 
louder, Moses spake, and * God answered 
him by a voice. 

20 And the Lord came down upon mount 
Sinai, on the top of the mount: and the 
Lord called Moses up to the top of the 
mount ; and Moses went up. 

21 And the Lord said unto Moses, Go 
down, 2 charge the people, lest they break 
through unto the Lord u to gaze, and many 
of them perish. 

22 And let the priests also, which come 
near to the Lord, * sanctify themselves, lest 
the Lord "'break forth upon them. 

23 And Moses said unto the Lord, The 
people cannot come up to mount Sinai: for 
thou chargedst us, saying, x Set bounds 
about the mount, and sanctify it. 

24 And the Lord said unto him, Away, 
get thee down, and thou shalt come up, 
thou, and Aaron with thee: but let not the 
priests and the people break through to 
come up unto the Lord, lest he break forth 
upon them. 

25 So Moses went down unto the people, 
aud spake unto them. 

CHAPTER XX. 
1 The ten commandments- 22 Idolatry forbidden, 

24 Directions concerning the altar 
A ND God spake a all these words, saving, 
x -»- 2 1 6 am the Lord thy God, which have 
brought thee out of the laud of Egypt, c out 
of the house of 1 bondage. 

3 Thou d shalt have no other gods before 
me. 

4 Thou e shalt not make unto thee any 
graven image, or any likeness of any thing 
that is in heaven above, or that is in the 

57 



CHAP. 19. 
j Heb. 1052, 
k Lev. 15. 5. 
I ch. 34. 5. 

Dcu. 33. 2. 
m He. 12. 20. 

1 Or, cornet. 
n 1 Cor. 7.5. 

Rev. 4. 5. 
Deu. 4. 10 
P Jurtg. 6. 5. 

Ps. 68. 7,8. 
9 2Chr. 7. 1. 
f Gen. 15. 17. 

Ps. 144. 5. 

Rev. 15. 8. 
8 Pa. 68. 8. 

Pa. 114. 7. 

Jer. 4. 24. 
t Neh. 9. 13. 

Pa. 81. 7. 

2 contest. 

u 1 Sa. 6. 19. 
v Lev. 10. 3. 
» 2 Sa. 6. 7. 
* Josh. 3. 4. 



CHAP. 20. 
a Deu. 6. 22. 
6 Lev. 26. 1. 
Deu. 5. 6. 
Ps. 81. 10. 
Hos. 13. 4. 
c ch. 13. 3. 
1 servants. 
d Deu. 6. 14. 
2 Kin. 17. 
35. 

Jer. 25. 6. 

e Lev. 26. 1. 

Deu. 4. 18. 

/Josh. 23. 7. 

2Ki.17.35. 

Is. 44. 15, 

19. 

?Joih. 24.19. 

Nah. 1. 2. 
h Nu. 14. 18, 
33. 

Job 5. 4. 

Ps. 79. 8. 

Is. 14. 20. 

Jer. 2. 9. 

Ezek.18.19. 

i Deu. 7. 9. 

Pa. 89. 34. 

Ro. 11. 28. 

j Ps. 15. 4. 

Mat. 5. 33. 

k Mic. 6. 11. 

1 ch. 31. 13. 
Deu. 5. 12. 

MEz. 20. 12. 

Lu. 13. 14. 
n Gen. 2. 2. 
o Neh. 13. 16. 
P Jer. 35 7, 

18. 

Mat. 15. 4. 

q Ro. 13. 9. 

r Mat. 5. 27. 

« Lev. 19. 11. 

Mat. 19. 18. 

lThes.4.6. 

t Mic. 2. 2. 

Eph. 5. 3. 

t* Pro. 6. 29. 

Mat. 5. 28. 
v Heb. 12. 18. 
w Gal. 3. 19. 
s Gen. 22. 1. 
V Pro. 3. 7. 
« 2 Chr. 6. 6. 
a Gen. 12. 2. 
b Josh. 8. 31. 

2 build them 
with hew- 
ing. 



earth beneath, or that is in the water under 
the earth: 

5 Thou / shalt not bow down thyself to 
them, nor serve them: for 1 the Lord thy 
God am ^ a jealous God, A visiting the ini- 
quity of the fathers upon the children unto 
the third and fourth generation of them 
that hate me ; 

6 And * showing mercy unto thousands of 
them that love me, and keep my command- 
ments. 

7 Thou / shalt not take the name of the 
Lord thy God in vain: for the Lord * will 
not hold him guiltless that taketh his name 
in vain. 

8 Remember * the sabbath day, to keep it 
holy. 

9 Six m days shalt thou labour and do all 
thy work: 

10 Rut the n seventh day is the sabbath of 
the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not 
do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy 
daughter, thy man-servant, nor thy maid- 
servant, nor thy cattle, °nor thy stranger 
that is within thy gates: 

11 For in six days the Lord made heaven 
and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, 
and rested the seventh day: wherefore 
the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and 
hallowed it. 

12 *H Honour* thy father and thy mother, 
that thy days may be long upon the land 
which the Lord thy God giveth thee. 

13 Thou* shalt not kill. 

14 Thou r shalt not commit adultery. 

15 Thou 8 shalt not steal. 

16 Thou shalt not bear false witness 
against thy neighbour. 

17 Thou ' shalt not covet thy neighbour's 
house, thou w shalt not covet thy neigh- 
bour's wife, nor his man-servant, nor his 
maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor 
any thing^ that is thy neighbour's. 

18 11 And v all the people saw the thunder- 
ings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the 
trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and 
when the people saw it, they removed, and 
stood afar off. 

19 And they said unto Moses, w Speak thou 
with us, and we will hear: but let not God 
speak with us, lest we die. 

20 And Moses said unto the people, Fear 
not: *for God is come to prove you, and 
v that his fear may be beiore your faces, 
that ye sin not. 

21 And the people stood afar off: and 
Moses drew near unto the thick darkness 
where God was. 

22 1T And the Lord said unto Moses, Thus 
thou shalt say unto the children of Israel, 
Ye have seen that I have talked with you 
from heaven. 

23 Ye shall not make with me gods of 
silver, neither shall ye make unto you gods 
of gold. 

24 An altar of earth thou shalt make unto 
me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt 
offerings, and thy peace offerings, thy sheep, 
and thine oxen. In all z places where 1 
record my name I will come unto thee, and 
I will a bless thee. 

25 And b if thou wilt make me an altar of 
stone, thou shalt not 2 build it of hewn 
stone: for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, 
thou hast polluted it. 

26 Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto 
mine altar, that thy nakedness be not dis. 
covered thereon. 



Song of Moses, 



EXODUS, XVI. Murmurs for Want of Bread, 



and bred, and the rude features of character 
which their subsequent history often dis- 
plays, it cannot be supposed that the children 
of Israel generally were qualified to commit 
to memory or to appreciate the beauties of 
this inimitable song. But they might per- 
fectly understand its pervading strain of 
sentiment; and, with the view of suitably 
improving the occasion, it was thought ne- 
cessary that all, old and young, should join 
their united voices in the rehearsal of its 
words. As every individual had cause, so 
every individual gave utterance, to his 
feelings of gratitude. 20, 21. Miriam the 
prophetess — so called from her receiving 
Divine revelations, (Nu. 12. 1; Mi. 6. 4,) but 
in this instance principally from her being 
eminently skilled in music, and in this sense 
the word " prophesy" is sometimes used in 
Scripture. (1 Chro. 25. 1; 1 Co. 11. 5.) took a 
timbrel— or tabret— a musical instrument in 
the form of a hoop, edged round with rings 
or pieces of brass to make a jingling noise, 
and covered over with tightened parchment 
like a drum. It was beat with the ringers, 
and corresponds to our tambourine, all the 
women, &c. — we shall understand this by 
attending to the modern customs of the East, 
where the dance— a slow, grave, and solemn 
gesture, generally accompanied with singing 
and the sound of the timbrel— is still led by 
the principal female of the company, the 
rest imitating her movements, and repeating 
the words of the song as they drop from her 
lips, answered them— " them" in the Hebrew 
is masculine, so that Moses probably led the 
men and Miriam the women— the two bands 
responding alternately, and singing the first 
verse as a chorus. 22. wilderness of Shur— com- 
prehending all the western part ol Arabia- 
Petrsea. The desert of Etham was a part of 
it, extending round the northern portion of 
the Ked Sea, and a considerable distance 
along its eastern shore; whereas the " wil- 
derness of Shur" (now Sudhr) was the desig- 
nation of all the desert region of Arabia- 
Petrsea, that lay next to Palestine. 23. 
came to Marah— Following the general route 
of all travellers southward, between the 
sea and the table-land of the Tih, (val- 
ley of wandering,) Marah is almost uni- 
versally believed to be what is now called 
Howarah, in Wady Amarah, about SO miles 
from the place where the Israelites landed 
on the eastern shore of the Eed Sea— a dis- 
tance quite sufficient for their march of 3 
days. There is no other perennial spring in 
the intermediate space. The water still retains 
its ancient character, and has a bad name 
among the Arabs, who seldom allow their 
camels to partake of it. 25. the Lord showed 
him a tree— Some travellers have pronounced 
this to be the Elvah of the Arabs— a shrub in 
form and flower resembling our hawthorn; 
, others, the berries of the Gnurkhfid— a bush 
'found growing around all brackish fountains. 
But neither of these shrubs are known by 
the natives to possess such natural virtues. 
It is far more likely that God miracu- 
lously endowed some tree with the pro- 
perty of purifying the bitter water— a tree 
employed as the medium, but the sweetening 
was not dependent upon the nature or quality 
of the tree, but the power of God. (cf . J. 9. 
6.) And hence the '• statute and ordinance" 
that followed, which would have been sin- 
gularly inopportune if there had no niir- 
67 



acle been wrought, proved them— God now 
brought the Israelites into circumstances 
which would put their faith and obedience 
to the test. (cf. Ge. 22. 1.) 27. came to Elim 
—supposed to be what is now called Wady 
Ghurandel, the most extensive water course 
in the western desert— an oasis, adorned with 
a great variety of trees, among which the 
palm is still conspicuous, and fertilized by a 
copious stream. It is estimated to be a mile 
in breadth, but stretching out far to the 
north-east. After the weary travel through 
the desert, this must have appeared a most 
delightful encampment from its shade and 
verdure, as well as from its abundant supply 
of sweet water for the thirsty multitude. The 
palm is called " the tree" of the desert, as 
its presence is always a sign of water. The 
palms in this spot are greatly increased in 
number, but the wells are diminished. 
CHAPTER XVI. 
Ver. 1--36. Murmurs for Want of 
Bread. 1. Took their journey from Elim— 
where they had remained several days, 
came into the wilderness of Sin— It appears 
from Num. 32. that several stations are 
omitted in this historical notice of the 
journey. This passage represents the Is- 
raelites as advanced into the great plain, 
which, beginning near el-Murkah, extends 
with a greater or less breadth to almost the 
extremity of the peninsula. In its broadest 
part northward of Tur it is called el-Kaa, 
which is probably the desert of Sin. [Rob- 
inson.] 2. Congregation murmured— Modern 
travellers through the desert of Sinai are 
accustomed to take as much as is sufficient 
for the sustenance of men and beasts during 
40 days. The Israelites having been rather 
more than a month on their journey, their 
store of corn or other provisions was alto- 
gether or nearly exhausted; and there being 
no prospect of procuring any means of sub- 
sistence in the desert, except some wild 
olives and wild honey, (Deu. 32. 13,) loud 
complaints were made against the leaders. 
3. would to God we had died— How unreason- 
able and absurd the charge against Moses 
and Aaron ! how ungrateful and impious 
against God ! After all their experience of 
the Divine wisdom, goodness, and power, 
we pause and wonder over the sacred narra- 
tive of their hardness and unbelief. But 
the expression of feeling is contagious in so 
vast a multitude, and there is a feeling of 
solitude and despondency in the desert 
which numbers cannot dispel; and besides, 
we must remember that they were men, 
engrossed with the %> resent— that the Com- 
forter was not then given, and that they 
were destitute oi all visible means of sus- 
tenance, and cut off from every visible com- 
fort, with only the promises of an unseen 
God to look to as the ground of their hope. 
And though we may lament they should 
tempt God in the wilderness, and freely 
admit their sin in so doing, we can be at no 
loss for a reason why those who had all 
their lives been accustomed to walk by sight 
should, in circumstances of unparalleled 
difficulty and perplexity, find it hard to 
walk by faith. Do not even we find it diffi- 
cult to walk by faith through the wilderness 
of this world, though in the light of a clearer 
revelation, and under a nobler leader than 
Moses? [Ftsk.] (Seel Co. 10. 11, 12.) 4. then 
said the Lord unto Moses— Though the out- 



Divers laws 



EXODUS, XXI, XXII. 



and ordinances. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

1 Laws for men-servants, 7 for ivomen-servants > 
12 for murder and manslaughter, 16 for men- 
stealers, 17 for cursers of parents, 18 fur smiters, 
etc. 

"NTOW these are the judgments which 
•^ thou shalt a set before them. 

2 If b thou buy an Hebrew servant, six 
years he shall serve ; and in the seventh he 
shall go out free for nothing. 

3 If he came in 1 by himself, he shall go 
out by himself: if he were married, then his 
wife shall go out with him. 

4 If his master have given him c a wife, 
and she have born him sons or daughters ; 
the wife and her children shall be her mas- 
ter's, and he shall go out by himself. 

5 And d if the servant 2 shall plainly say, I 
love my master, my wife, and my children; 
I will not go out free: 

6 Then his master shall bring him unto 
the e judges ; he shall also bringr him to the 
door, or unto the door post ; and his master 
shall /bore his ear through with an awl; 
and he shall serve him for ever. 

7 1T And if a man ° sell his daughter to be 
a maid-servant, she shall not go out as the 
men-servants do. 

8 If she 3 please not her master, who hath 
betrothed her to himself, then shall he let 
her be redeemed: to sell her unto a strange 
nation he shall have no power, seeing he 
hath dealt deceitfully with her. 

9 And if he hath betrothed her unto his 
son, he shall deal with her after the manner 
of daughters. 

10 If he take him another wife; her food, 
her raiment, h and her duty of marriage, 
shall he not dhninish. 

11 And if he do not these three unto her, 
then shall she go out free without money. 

12 1F He * that smiteth a man so that he die, 
shall be surely put to death. 

13 And i if a man lie not in wait, but God 
* deliver him into his hand; then 1 1 will 
appoint thee a place whither he shall 
flee. 

14 But if a man come m presumptuously 
upon his neighbour, to slay him with guile; 
thou " shalt take him from mine altar, that 
he may die. 

15 And he that smiteth his father or his 
mother shall be surely put to death. 

16 1T And ° he that stealeth a man, and 
selleth^ him, or if he be q found in his hand, 
he shall surely be put to death. 

17 IT And r he that 4 curseth his father or 
his mother shall surely be put to death. 

18 IF And if men strive together, and one 
smite 5 another with a stone, or with his 
fist, and he die not, but keepeth his bed; 

19 If he rise again, and walk abroad 8 upon 
his staff, then shall he that smote him be 
quit: only he shall pay for 6 the loss of his 
time, and shall cause him to be thoroughly 
healed. 

20 H And if a man smite his servant, or his 
maid, with a rod, and he die under his hand; 
he shall be surely 7 punished. 

21 .Notwithstanding, if he continue a day 
or two, he shall not be punished: for *he is 
his money. 

22 fi If men strive, and hurt a woman with 
child, so that her fruit depart from her, and 
yet no mischief follow: ne shall be surely 
punished, according as the woman's hus- 
band will lay upon him; and he shall **pay 
as the judges determine. 

68 



B. O. 1491. 



CHAP. 21. 
a ch. 24. 3,4. 

Deu. 4. 14. 

Deu. G. 1. 
6Lev.25.39. 

Deu. 15.12. 

Jer. 34. 14. 

1 with his 
body. 

c Lev. 25. 44. 
d Deu. 15.16. 

2 saying 
shall say. 

e ch. 12. 12. 

ch. 22.8,28. 

Deu. 16.18. 

Ps. 82. 1. 
/Ps. 40.6. 
ffNeh.b.b. 

3 be evil in 
the eyes of, 
etc. 

h 1 Cor. 7. 5. 

i Gen. 9. 6. 

Lev. 24. 17. 

Nu. 35. 30. 

Mat. 26. 52. 

j De. 19. 4, 5. 

k 1 Sam. 24. 

4, 10, 18. 
I Nu. 35. 11. 
Josh. 20. 2. 
fflNu. 15.30. 
De. 19.11. 
He. 10.26. 
n 1 Ki. 2. 
28-34. 
2 Ki. 11. 
15. 
Deu. 24. 7. 
P Ge. 37. 28. 
?ch.22.4. 
** Lev. 20. 9. 
Pro. 20. 20. 
Mat. 15. 4. 
Mark 7. 10. 

4 Or, revil- 
eth. 

5 Or, hia 
neighbour. 

S 2Sa.3.29. 

6 his 



Gen. 4. 15, 

24. 

Ro. 13. 4. 

* Lev. 25. 45. 
u Deut. 22. 

18, 19. 
"lSa.15.35. 
WLey. 24. 

20. 

Deut. 19. 

21. 

Mat. 5. 38. 

Mat. 7. 2. 

* Col. 4. 1. 
V Gen. 9. 5. 

* Nu. 35. 31. 
« Zech. 11. 

12,13. 
Mat. 26.15. 
Phil. 2. 7. 



CHAP. 22. 

1 Or, goat. 
»2Sa.l2.6. 

Lu. 19. 8. 

Pro. 6. 31. 
6 Mat. 24. 43. 
CNu.35.27. 
dch. 21.2. 

Mat.18.25. 

2 thing 
stolen. 

t ch. 21. 16. 
/Pro. 6. 31. 



23 And if any mischief follow, then thou 
shalt give v life for life. 

24 Eye ™for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for 
hand, foot for foot, 

25 Burning for burning, wound for wound, 
stripe for stripe. 

2(3 1T And * if a man smite the eye of his 
servant, or the eye of his maid, that it 
perish; he shall let him go free for his eye's 
sake. 

27 And if he smite out his man-servant '3 
tooth, or his maid-servant's tooth; he shall 
let him go free for his tooth's sake. 

28 1T If an ox gore a man or a woman, that 
they die: then v the ox shall be surely 
stoned, and his flesh shall not be eaten; 
but the owner of the ox shall be quit. 

29 But if the ox were wont to push with 
his horn in time past, and it hath been tes- 
tified to his owner, and he hath not kept 
him in, but that he hath killed a man or a 
woman; the ox shall be stoned, and his 
owner also shall be put to death. 

30 If there be laid on him a sum of money, 
then he shall give for 2 the ransom of his 
life whatsoever is laid upon him. 

31 Whether he have gored a son, or have 
gored a daughter, according to this judg- 
ment shall it be done unto Mm. 

32 If the ox shall push a man-servant or 
maid-servant ; he shall give unto their 
master ° thirty shekels of silver, and the 
ox shall be stoned. 

33 1T And if a man shall open a pit, or if a 
man shall dig a pit, and not cover it, and 
an ox or an ass fall therein; 

34 The owner of the pit shall make if good, 
and give money unto the owner of them; 
and the dead beast shall be his. 

35 H And if one man's ox hurt another's, 
that he die ; then they shall sell the live ox, 
and divide the money of it; and the dead 
ox also they shall divide. 

36 Or if it be known that the ox hath used 
to push in time past, and his owner hath 
not kept him in; he shall surely pay ox tor 
ox; and the dead shall be his own. 

CHAPTER XXIL 

1 Laws concerning theft; 5 damage; 7 trusts and 
trespasses; 14 borrowing; 16 fornication ; 18 
witchcraft; 19 bestiality; 20 idolatry; 21 stran- 
gers, xuidows, etc. 

TF a man shall steal an ox, or a i sheep, 
± and kill it, or sell it; he shall restore 
five oxen for an ox, and a four sheep for a 
sheep. 

2 If a thief be found & breaking up, and be 
smitten that he die, there shaiX c no blood 
be shed for him. 

3 If the sun be risen upon him, there shall 
be blood shed for him; for he should make 
full restitution: if he have nothing, then he 
shall be d sold for his theft. 

4 If the 2 theft be certainly e found in his 
hand alive, whether it be ox, or ass, or 
sheep, he shall /restore double. 

5 U If a man shall cause a field or vineyard 
to be eaten, and shall put in his beast, and 
shall feed in another man's field; ot the 
best of his own field, and of the best of his 
own vineyard, shall he make restitution. 

6 1F H' fire break out, and catch in thorns, 
so that the stacks of com, or the standing 
com, or the field, be consumed therewith; 
he that kindled the fire shall surely make 
restitution. 

7 % If a man shall deliver unto his neigh- 
bour money or stufTto keep, and it be stoiea 



Quails and Manna are sent. 



EXODUS, XVLT. TJie People Murmur for Water. 



break was immediately against the human 
leaders, it was indirectly against God : yet 
mark his patience, and how graciously he 
promised to redress the grievance. I will 
rain bread from heaven— Israel, a type of the 
Church which is from above, and being 
under the conduct, government, and laws of 
heaven, received their food from heaven 
also. (Ps. 78. 24.) that I may prove them— 
The grand object of their being led into the 
wilderness was that they might receive a 
religious training directly under the eye oi 
God; and the first lesson taught them was a 
constant dependence on God for their daily 
nourishment. 13. At even the quails came up 
—This bird is of the gallinaceous kind, re- 
sembling the red partridge, but not larger 
than the turtle dove. They are found in 
certain seasons in the places through which 
the Israelites passed, being migratory birds, 
and they were probably brought to the camp 
by " a wind from the Lord" as on another 
occasion. (JSTu. 11. 31.) 15-31. And in the 
morning ... a small round thing, manna- 
There is a gum of the same name distilled 
in this desert region from the tamarisk, 
which is much prized by the natives, and 

J reserved carefully by those who gather it. 
t is collected early in the morning, melts 
under the heat of the sun, and is congealed 
by the cold oi night. In taste it is as sweet 
as honey, and has been supposed by distin- 
guished travellers, from its whitish colour, 
time and place of its appearance, to be the 
manna on which the Israelites were fed: so 
that, according to the views of some, it was 
a production indigenous to the desert : ac- 
cording to others, there was a miracle, which 
consisted, however, only in the preternatural 
arrangements regarding its supply. But 
more recent and accurate examination has 
proved this gum of the tarfa-tree to be want- 
ing in all the principal characteristics of the 



quantities, and not every year; it does not 
admit of being baked (Nu. 11. 8.) or boiled {v, 



scenes memorable for their happy or painful 
interest in the history of the Israelites. A 
more detailed itinerary is given in the later 
books of Moses, and we find that here, two 
stations are omitted. (Nu. 33.) according to 
the commandment, &c— not given in oracular 
response, nor a vision of the night but 
indicated by the movement of the cloudy 
pillar. The same phraseology occurs else- 
where. (Nu. 9. 18, 19.) pitched in Rephidim. 
—now believed, on good grounds, to be Wady 
Feiran, which is exactly a day's march from 
Mount Sinai, and at the entrance of the 
Horeb district. It is a long circuitous defile 
about forty feet in breadth, with perpendicu- 
lar granite rocks on both sides. The wilder- 
ness of Sin through which they approached 
to this valley is very barren, has an ex- 
tremely dry and thirsty aspect, little or 
no water, scarcely even a dwarfish shrub 
to be seen, and the only shelter to the pant- 
ing pilgrims is under the shadow of the 
great overhanging cliffs. 2, 3. People did 
chide with Moses— The want of water was a 
privation, the severity of which we cannot 
estimate, and it was a great trial to the 
Israelites, but their conduct on this new 
occasion was outrageous: it amounted even 
to "a tempting of the Lord." It was an 
opposition to his minister, a distrust of his 
care, an indifference to his kindness, an 
unbelief in his providence, a trying of his 

Satience and fatherly forbearance. 4-6. 
Loses cried unto the Loid— His language, 
instead of betraying any signs of resentment 
or vindictive imprecation on a people who 
had given him a cruel and unmerited treat- 
ment, was the expression of an anxious wish 
to know what was the best to be done in the 
circumstances, (cf. M. 5. 44; Ko. 12. 21.) 5. 
The Lord said, &c— not to smite the rebels, 
but the rock; not to bring a stream of blood 
from the breast of the offenders, but 



Scripture manna. It exudes only in small stream of water from the granite cliffs. The 



cloud rested on a particular rock, just as 
the star rested on the house where the 



23.). Though it may be exhaled by the heat Infant Saviour was lodged. And from the 

and afterwards fall with the dew, it is a - 

medicine, not food— it is well known to the 

natives of the desert, while the Israelites 

were strangers to theirs; and in taste as 

well as in the appearance of double quantity 



rod-smitten rock there forthwith gushed a 
current of pure and refreshing water. It 
was perhaps the greatest miracle performed 
by Moses, and in many respects bore a 
resemblance to the greatest of Christ's: being 
on Friday, none on Sabbath, and in not j done without ostentation, and in the pre 



breeding worms, it is essentially different 
from the manna furnished to the Israelites. 
32-36. Fill the pot ... to be kept for your gener- 
ations—The mere fact of such a multitude 
being fed for 40 years in the wilderness, 
where no food of any kind is to be obtained, 
will show the utter impossibility of their 
subsisting on a natural production of the 
kind and quantity as this tarfa-gum; and as it 



sence of a few chosen witnesses, (lCor. 10. 4.) 
7. called the name of the place— Massah .temp- 
tation; Meribah— chiding,— strife:) the same 
word which is rendered r * provocation." (He. 
3.8.) 

8-16. Attack of Amalek. 8. Then came 
Amalek— Some time probably elapsed before 
they were exposed to this new evil: and the 
presumption of there being such an interval 



for the purpose of removing all such ground- j affords the only ground on which we can 
less speculations, Aaron was commanded to J satisfactorily account for the altered— the 



put a sample of it in a pot— a golden pot 
. (He. 9. 4,) to be laid before the Testimony 
to be kept for future generations, that they I of the manna and the water from 
might see the bread on which the Lord fed 
their fathers in the wilderness. But we 
have the bread of which that was merely 
typical. (1 Co. 10. 3; J. 6. 32.) 

CHAPTER XVn. 
Ver. 1-7. The People Murmur for 
Water. 1. Journeyed from the wilderness of 
Sin— In the succinct annals of this book, 
those places only are selected for particular 
notice by the inspired historian, which were 
63 



j better and firmer spirit that animated the 
! people in this sudden contest. The miracles 
ihe manna and the water from the rock 
had produced a deep impression and per- 
manent conviction that God was indeed 
among them; and with feelings elevated by 
the conscious experience of the divine 
Presence and aid, they remained calm, 
resolute, and courageous, under the attack 
of their unexpected foe. fought with Israel— 
The language implies that no occasion had 
been furnished for this attack; but, as de- 
scendants of Esau, the Amalekites enter- 



Divers laws 



EXODUS, XXIII. 



and ordinances. 



out of the man's house ; if the thief be found, 
let him pay double. 

8 If the thief be not found, then the master 
of the house shall be brought unto the 
judges, to see whether he have put his 
hand unto his neighbour's goods. 

9 For all manner of trespass, whether it 
be for ox, for ass, for sheep, for raiment, or 
for any manner of lost thing, which an- 
other challengeth to be his, the g cause 
of both parties shall come before the judges ; 
and whom the judges shall condemn, he 
shall pay double unto his neighbour. 

10 If a man deliver unto his neighbour an 
ass, or an ox, or a sheep, or any beast, to 
keep ; and it die, or be hurt, or driven away, 
no man seeing it: 

11 TJten shall an h oath of the Lord be 
between them both, that he hath not put 
his hand unto his neighbour's goods ; and 
the owner of it shall accept thereof, and 
he shall not make it good. 

12 And » if it be stolen from him, he shall 
make restitution unto the owner thereof. 

13 If it be torn in pieces, then let him 
bring it for witness, and he shall not make 
good that which was torn. 

14 IT And if a man borrow ought of his 
neighbour, and it be hurt, or die, the owner 
thereof being not with it; he shall surely 
make it good. 

15 Bat if the owner thereof be with it, he 
shall not make it good: if it be an hired 
thing, it came for his hire. 

16 fT And i if a man entice a maid that is 
not betrothed, and lie with her; he shall 
Burely endow her to be his wife. 

17 If her father utterly refuse to give her 
unto him, he shall 3 pay money according 



B. C. 1491. 



to the k dowry of virgins". 
live 



18 tf Thou * shalt not suffer a witch to 



18 1T Whosoever lieth with a beast shall 
surely be put to death. 

20 1f He m that sacrificeth unto any god, 
save unto the Lord only, he shall be utterly 
destroyed. 

21 1F Thou n shalt neither vex a stranger, 
nor oppress him: for ye were strangers in 
the land of Egypt. 

22 Ye ° shall not afflict any widow, or 
fatherless child. 

23 If thou afflict them in any wise, and 
they p cry at all unto me, I will surely 
hear q their cry; 

24 And my r wrath shall wax hot, and I 
will kill you with the sword ; and 8 your 
wives shall be widows, and your children 
fatherless. 

25 H If * thou lend money to any of my 
people that is poor by thee, thou shalt not 
be to him as an usurer, neither shalt thou 
lay upon him usury. 

26 If u thou at all take thy neighbour's 
raiment to pledge, thou shalt deliver it 
unto him by that the sun goeth down: 

27 For that is his covering onlv, it is his 
raiment for his skin : wherein shall he sleep ? 
and it shall come to pass, when he crieth 
unto me, that I will near; for I am gra- 
cious. 

28 H Thou v shalt not revile the 4 gods, nor 
curse the ruler of thy people. 

29 1f Thou shalt not delay to offer 5 the 
first w of thy ripe fruits, and of thy 6 liquors: 
the first-bom of thy sons shalt thou give 
unto me. 

30 Likewise * shalt thou do with thine 

59 



CHAP. 22. 
02Chr .19.10. 
h Heb. 6. 16. 
i Ge. 31. 39. 
j Deu. 22.28. 

3 weigh. 

k 1 Sa. 18.25. 

1 Deu. 18.10. 
mNu. 25.2. 

Hos. 8. 14. 

IKi. 18.40. 

lKi.10.25. 

n Zech. 7.10. 

o Deu. 10.18. 

Is. 1. 17. 

Ezek. 22. 7. 

P Deu. 15. 9. 

Job 35. 9. 

2 Job 34. 28. 
Jam. 5. 4. 

r Job 31. 23. 
« Ps. 109. 9. 
t Lev. 25. 35. 

Neh. 5. 7. 

Ezek. 18. 8. 
« Job 24. 3. 

Pro. 20.16. 

Amos 2. 8. 

V Ecc. 10. 20. 
2 Pet. 2.10. 

4 Or, judges. 
Ps. 82. 6. 

5 thy ful- 
ness. 

w Pro. 3. 9. 

6 tear. 

* Deu. 15.19. 

V Lev. 22. 27. 
« Lev. 19. 2. 
a Ezek. 4.14. 



CHAP. 23. 
a Pro. 10. 18. 

1 Or, receive. 
6 1 Kin. 21. 

10. 

Pro. 19. 5. 

Acts 6. 11. 
c 1 Ki. 19. 10. 

Job 31. 34. 

Luke 23. 

23. 
d Ps. 72. 2. 
e Lev. 19. 15. 

2 answer. 

/ Pro. 25. 21. 
1 Thes. 5. 
15. 

3 Or, wilt 
thou cease 
to help 
him? or, 
and would- 
est cease 
to leave 
thy busi- 
ness for 
him; thou 
shalt sure- 
ly leave it 
to join 
with him. 

g Job 31. 13. 
h Eph. 4. 25. 
i Ro. 1. 18. 
j Pro. 17. 8. 

4 the seeing. 
k Ps. 94. 6. 

5 soul. 

I Lev. 25. 3. 

6 Or, olive 
trees. 

wiLu.13.14. 
n Hos. 2. 17. 

Deu. 16.16. 
p Lev. 23.10. 

7 Or, feast. 

1 Cfeh. 10.35. 
Pro. 3. 9. 



oxen, and with thy sheep: v seven days it 
shall be with his dam; on the eighth day 
thou shalt give it me. 
31 H And ye shall be z holy men unto me: 
neither a shall ye eat any flesh thai is torn 
of beasts in the field; ye shall cast it to the 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

1 Laws concerning slander and false witness; 4 
charitableness; 3, 6 justice; 10 the year of rest f 
12 the sabbath; 13 idolatry; 14 the three feasts. 
20 An Angel promised, with a blessing, if they 
obey him. 

rPHOU a shalt not * raise a false report: 
x put not thine hand with the wicked to 
be an *> unrighteous witness. 

2 Thou c shalt not follow a multitude to 
do evil; d neither shalt thou 2 speak in a 
cause to decline after many to wrest judg- 
ment: 

3 Neither shalt thou e countenance a poor 
man hi his cause. 

4 IT If/ thou meet thine enemy's ox or his 
ass going astray, thou shalt surely bring it 
back to him again. 

5 If thou see the ass of him that hateth 
thee lying under his burden, 3 and woiddest 
forbear to help him ; thou shalt surely help 
with him. 

6 1F Thou 9 shalt not wrest the judgment 
of thy poor in his cause. 

7 Keep Mhee far from a false matter; and 
the innocent and righteous slay thou not: 
for » I will not justify the wicked. 

8 H And 3 thou shalt take no gift: for the 
gift blindeth 4 the wise, and perverteth the 
words of the righteous. 

9 IT Also * thou shalt not oppress a stranger: 
for ye know the 5 heart of a stranger, seemg 
ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. 

10 And l six years thou shalt sow thy land, 
and shalt gather in the fruits thereof: 

11 But the seventh year thou shalt let it 
rest and lie still : that the poor of thy people 
may eat: and what they leave the beasts of 
the field shall eat. In like manner thou 
shalt deal with thy vineyard, and with thy 
6 oliveyard. 

12 Six m days thou shalt do thy work, and 
on the seventh day thou shalt rest; that 
thine ox and thine ass may rest, and the 
son of thv handmaid and the stranger may 
be refreshed. 

13 And in all things that I have said unto 
you be circumspect: and n make no mention 
of the name of other gods, neither let it be 
heard out of thy mouth. 

14 IT Three ° times thou shalt keep a feast 
unto me in the year. 

15 Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened 
bread : (thou shalt eat unleavened bread 
seven days, as I commanded thee, in the 
time appointed of the month Abib ; for in 
it thou earnest out from Egypt; and none " 
shall appear before me empty:) 

16 AndHhe feast of harvest, the first-fruits 
of thy labours, which thou hast sown in thy 
field: and the feast of ingathering, which is 
in the end of the year, when thou hast ga- 
thered in thy labours out of the field. 

17 Three tunes in the year all thy males 
shall appear before the Lord God. 

18 Thou shalt not offer the blood of my 
sacrifice with leavened bread; neither shall 
the fat of my 7 sacrifice remain until the 
morning. 

19 The * first of the first-fruits of thy 
land thou shalt bring into the house of the 



Visit Oj Jethro. 



exodus, xvni, XIX. 



Arrival at Sinai. 



tained a deep-seated grudge against them, 
especially as the rapid prosperity and mar- 
vellous experience of Israel showed that the 
blessing contained in the birth-right was 
taking effect. It seems to have been a mean, 
dastardly, insidious surprise on the rear, 
(Nil. 24. 20; Deut. 25. 17,) and an impious 
defiance of God. 9-13. Moses said unto Jo- 
shua—or Jesus (A. 7. 45; He. 4. 8,), and this 
is the earliest notice of a young warrior 
destined to act a prominent part in the his- 
tory of Israel. He went with a number of 
picked men. There is not here a wide open 
plain on which the battle took place, as 
according to the rules of modern warfare. 
The Amalekites were a nomadic tribe, mak- 
ing an irregular attack on a multitude pro- 



ly not better trained than themselves, 
and for such a conflict the low hills and open 
country around this Wady would afford 
ample space." [Robinson.] 10-12. Moses 
went up the hill... held up his hand— with the 
wonder-working rod- he acted as the stand- 
ard-bearer of Israel, and also their in- 
tercessor, praying for success and victory 
to crown their arms, —the earnest of his 
friend being conspicuously evinced amid 
the feebleness of nature. 13. Joshua discom- 
fited—Victory at length decided in favour of 
Israel, and the glory of the victory, by an 
act of national piety ascribed to God. (cf. 
1 J. 5. 4.) 14-16. write this for a memorial— 
If the bloody character of this statute seems 
to be at variance with the mild and merciful 
character of God, the reasons are to be 
sought for in the deep and implacable ven- 
geance they meditated against Israel, (Ps. 
83. 4.) 

CHAPTER XVm. 
Ver. 1-27. Visit of Jethro. 1-5. Jethro... 
came unto Moses, &c— It is thought by many 
eminent commentators that this episode is 
inserted out of its chronological order, for 
it is described as occurring when the Is- 
raelites were encamped at the mount of 
God." And yet they did not reach it till the 
third month after their departure from 
Egypt, (ch. 19. 1, 2 ; cf. Deu. 1. 6, 9-15.) 6. thy 
wife and her two sons— See on ch. 4. 20. 7. 
Moses went out, &c— Their salutations would 
be marked by all the warm and social greet- 
ing of Oriental friends— (see on ch. 4. 27./— the 
one going out to "meet" the other, the 
" obeisance t " the " kiss" on each side of the 
head, the silent entrance into the tent for 
consultation, and their conversation ran in 
the strain that might have been expected of 
two pious men, rehearsing and listening to a 
narrative of the wonderful works and provi- 
dence of God. 12. Jethro took a burnt offering 
—This friendly interview was terminated by 
a solemn religious service— the burnt offer- 
ings were consumed on the altar, and the 
sacrifices were peace offerings, used in a feast 
of joy and gratitude at which Jethro, as 
priest of the true God, seems to have pre- 
sided, and to which the chiefs of Israel were 
invited. This incident is in beautiful keep- 
ing with the character of the parties, and is 
well worthy of the imitation of Christian 
friends when they meet in the present day. 
13-26. On the morrow Moses, &c— We are here 
presented with a specimen of his daily 
morning occupations ; and amongst the 
multifarious duties his Divine legation im- 
posed, it must be considered only a small 
portion of his official employments. He 



appears in this attitude as a type of Christ 
in his legislative and judicial characters, 
people stood, &c— governors in the East seat 
themselves at the most public gate of their 
palace or the city, and there, amid a crowd 
of applicants, hear causes, receive petitions, 
redress grievances, and adjust the claims of 
contending parties. 17. Moses' father-in-law 
... The thing is not good— not good either for 
Moses himself, for the maintenance of justice, 
or for the satisfaction and interests of the peo- 
ple. Jethro gave a prudent counsel as to the 
division of labour, and universal experience* 
in the Church and State has attested the 
soundness and advantages of the principle. 
23. If thou shalt, &c.— Jethro's counsel was 
given merely in the form of a suggestion— it 
was not to be adopted without the express 
sanction and approval of a better and higher 
Counsellor ; and although we are not in- 
formed of it, there can be no doubt that 
Moses, before appointing subordinate ma- 
gistrates, would ask the mind of God, as it 
is the duty and privilege of every Christian 
in like manner to supplicate the Divine 
direction in all his ways. 

CHAPTER XIX. 
Ver. 1-25. Arrival at Sinai. 1. In the 
third month— according to Jewish usage the 
first day of that month— "same day,"— it is 
added, to mark the time more explicitly, 
i.e., forty-five days after leaving Egypt— one 
day spent on the mount {v. 3. ) one returning 
peoples' answers {v. 7, 8,); three days of pre- 
paration, making the whole time fifty days 
from the first passover to the promulgation 
of the law. Hence the feast of Pentecost, 
i.e., the fiftieth day was the inauguration of 
the O. T. church, and the divine wisdom is 
apparent in the selection of the same season 
for the institution of the N. T. church. (J. I. 
17; A. 2. 1.) 2. were come to the desert of Sinai— 
The desert has its provinces, or divisions, dis- 
tinguished by a variety of names ; and the ' 'de- 
sert of Sinai" is that wild and desolate region 
which occupies +he very centre of the Penin- 
sula, comprising the lofty range to which the 
Mount of God belongs. It is a wilderness 
of shaggy rocks of porphyry and red granite, 
and of valleys for the most part bare of ver- 
dure, camped before the Mount— Sinai, so 
called from Seneh, or acacia bush. It is now 
called Jebel Musa. Their way into the in- 
terior of the gigantic cluster was by Wady 
Feiran, which would lead the bulk of the 
host with their flocks and herds into the 
high valleys of Jebel Musa, with their abun- 
dant springs, especially into the great tho- 
roughfare of the desert,— the longest, widest, 
and most continuous of all the valleys, the 
Wady-es-Sheykh, whilst many would be 
scattered among the adjacent valleys ; so 
that thus secluded from the world in a wild 
and sublime amphitheatre of rocks, they 
"camped before the mount." "In this val- 
ley—a long fiat valley— about a quarter of a 
mile in breadth, winding northwards, Israel 
wouldfind ample room for their encampment. 
Of all the Wadys in that region, it seems the 
most suitable for a prolonged sojourn. The 
" goodly tents" of Israel could spread them- 
selves without limit. [Bonar.] 3-6. Moses 
went up unto God — the Shechinah— within 
the cloud, (ch. 33. 20; J. 1. 18.) Thus shalt 
thou say, &c— The object for which Moses 
went up was to receive and convey to the 
people tne message contained in these verses, 



An Angel promised. 



EXODTTS, XXIY, XXV. Moses called up into the mount 



CHAP. 23. 

r Epb. 4. 30. 
8 Josh. 24. 

19. 

1 John 5.16. 
* Is. 9. 6. 

Jer. 23. 6. 

John 1' .38. 
u Gen. 12. 3. 

8 Or. I will 
ariiict them 
that afflict 
thee. 

v Josh. 24. 8. 
w ch. 20. 5. 
x Deu. 10.12. 

Josh. 22.5. 

1 Sa. 12. IX). 

Mat. 4. 10. 
y Deu. 28. 5. 
z Deu. 7. 15. 
a Job. 21.10. 
& Gen. 85. B, 
c Gen. 35 5. 

Deu. 2. 25. 

JosL 2.9, 

11. 

1 Sa. 14. 15. 

9 neck. 

Ps. 18. 40. 
d Deu.T. 20. 
e D-u. 7. 22. 
/ 1 Ki. 4. 21. 
g Josh.21.44. 
h Deu. 7. 2. 
i 1 Sa. 18. 21. 



Lord thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a 
kid iu his mother's milk. 
2u *' Behold. I send an Angel before thee, 
to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee 
into the place which 1 have prepared. 

21 Beware of him. and ohev his voice, 
provoke r him not ; for he will * not pardon 
your transgressions : for * my name is in 
him. 

22 But if thou shalt indeed obey his vcice. 
and do all that I speak; then u I will be an 
enemy unto thine enemies, and an 8 adver- 
sary unto thine adversaries. 

23 For mine Angel shall go before thee, 
and v brimr thee in unto the Amorites. and 
the Hittites. and the Perizzites. and the 
Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites ; 
and I will cut them off. 

24 Thou shalt not ■ bow down to their 
gods, nor serve them, nor do after their 
works; but thou shalt utterly overthrow 
them, and quite break down their images. 

25 And ve shall x serve the Lord your God. 
and he * shall bless thy bread," and thy 
water; and z I will take sickness away from 
the midst of thee. 

26 r There a shall nothing cast their young, 
nor be barren, in thv land; the number of 
thy days I will b fulfil. 

27 I wID send c my fear before thee, and 
will destroy all the people to whom thou 
shalt come • and I will make all thine ene- 
mies turn their 9 backs unto thee. 

28 And d I will send hornets before thee, 
which shall drive out the Hivite. the Ca- 
naanite. and the Hittite. from before thee. 

29 I e will not drive them out from before 
thee in one year: lest the land become de- 
solate, and the beast of the field multiply 
against thee. 

30 By little and little I will drive them out 
from before thee, until thou be increased, 
and inherit the land. 

31 And / 1 will set thy bounds from the 
Red sea even unto the sea. of the Philistines, 
and from the desert unto the river: for I 
will 3 deliver the inhabitants of the land 
into your hand ; and thou shalt drive them 
out before thee. 

32 Thou h shalt make no covenant with 
them, nor with their gods. 

33 They shall not dwell in thy land, lest 
they make thee sin against me: for if thou 
serve their gods, * it will surely be a snare 
unto thee. 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

1 3fo?es i; catUd up into the mountain. 3 The 

P'ople -premise obedience. 4 He builds an altar. 

9 The plcry of God appears. 4 Aaron and Mur 

have charge of the people, etc. 

A XD he said unto Moses, Come up unto 
xx the Lord, thou, and Aaron, a >adab, 
and Abihu, b and seventv of the elders of 
Israel ; and worship ye alar off. 

2 And Moses alone shall come near the 
Lord ; but they shall not come nigh, neither 
shaD the people go up with him. 

3 r And Moses came and told the people 
all the words of the Lord, and all the judg- 
ments: and all the people answered with 
one voice, and said. All the words which] 2Cor.9. i. 
the Lord hath said will we do. 3 or, silk. 

4 And Moses c wrote all the words of the ' . Gen - * 142 - 
Lord, and rose up early in the morning. c r h - w - 1 ( ?- 
and builded an altar under the hill, and ^Heb 3 6 
twelve i pillars, according to the twelve Rev^i.i 
tribes of Israel. e ch. 37?!. 

5 And he sent young men of the children , Deu. 10. 8. 



CHAP. 24. 
a Lev.10.1 ,2. 
6 Nu. 11. 16. 
c Deu. 31. 9. 
d Ge. 28. 18. 
c Heb. 9. 18. 
/I Pet. 1. 2. 
9 Gen. 32.30. 

Judg. 13, 

22. 

Is. 6. 1,5. 

John 1. 18. 

1 Tim. 6. 

16. 

1 John 4. 

12. 
h Ere. 1. 26. 

Rev. 4. 3. 
i Mat. 17. 2. 
j ch. 19. 21. 
A Gen. 16. 13. 

Deu. 4. 33. 
I Ge. 31. 54. 

1 Cor. 10. 

18. 
» ch. 32.15. 
De. 5. 22. 
n ch. 33. 11. 
Och.19. 9. 

Mat. 17. 5. 
P ch. 16. 10. 

Nu. 14. 10. 
? Heb. 12.18. 
T Deut. 9. 9. 



of Israel, which offered burnt offerings, and 
sacrificed peace offerings of oxen unto the 
Lord. 

6 And Moses e took half of the blood, and 
put i+ in basins; and half of the blood he 
sprinkled on the altar. 

7 And he took the book of the covenant, 
and read in the audience of the people: 
aid they said. All that the Lord hath said 
will we do. and be obedient. 

8 And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled 
it on the people, and said. Behold /the 
blood of the covenant, which the Lord 
hath made with you concerning all these 
words. 

& r Then went up Moses, and Aaron. Xa- 
dab. and Abihu, and seventy of tne elders 
of Israel ; 

10 And they » saw the God of Israel: and 
there was under his feet as it were a paved 
work of a h sapphire stone, and as it were 
the * body of heaven in his clearness. 

11 And upon the nobles of the children of 
Israel he o laid not his hand : also * they 
saw G-od. and did l eat and drink. 

12 r And the Lord said unto Moses, Come 
up to me into the mount, and be there: and 
I will give thee m tables of stone, and a 
law. and commandments which I have 
written; that thou mayest teach them. 

13 And Moses rose up. and n his minister 
Joshua; and Moses went up into the mount 
of God. 

14 And he said unto the elders, Tarry ye 
here for us, until we come again unto you; 
and, behold, Aaron andHur are with vou: 
it" any man have any matters to do, let him 
come unto them. 

15 1 And Moses went up into the mount, 
and ° a cloud covered the mount. 

16 And p the glory of the Lord abode up- 
on mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it 
six days: and the seventh day he called un- 
to Moses out of the midst of the cloud. 

17 And the sight of the glory of the Lord 
was like q devouring fire on the top of the 
mount in the eyes of the children of Israel. 

18 And Moses went into the midst of the 
cloud, and gat him up into the mount: and 
Moses r was in the mount forty days and 
forty nights. 

CHAPTER XXV. 

1 What the Israelites must offer for the making of 
the tabernacle, ]0 The form of the ark, etc. 

A ND the Lord spake unto Moses^ saying, 
- cx - 2 Speak unto the children ot Israel, 
that they i bring me an 2 offering: a of every 
man that eiveth it willingly with his heart 
ye shall take my offering. 

3 And this is the offering which ye shall 
take of them ; gold, and silver, and brass, 

4 And blue, and purple, and scarlet, and 
3 fine linen, and goats hair, 

5 And rams' skins dyed red, and badgers' 
skins, and shittim wood, 

6 Oil for the light, spices for anointing oil, 
and for sweet incense. 

7 Onyx stones, awl stones to be set in the 
ephod", and in the & breastplate. 

8 And let them make me a c sanctuary; 
that d I may dwell among them. 

9 According to all that I show thee, after 
the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pat- 
tern of all the instruments thereof, even so 

' shall ye make if. 

10 r And e they shall make an ark of 
shittim wood: two cubits and a half shall 

I be the length thereof, and a cubit and a 



God's Presence on the Mount. 



EXODUS, XX. 



The Ten Commandments. 



and the purport of which was a general 
announcement of the terms on which God 
was to take the Israelites into a close and 
peculiar relation to himself. In thus nego- 
tiating between God and his people, the 
high. est post of duty which any mortal man 
was ever called to occupy, Moses was still 
but a servant. The only Mediator is Jesus 
Christ,, kingdom of priests— as the priestly 
order was set apart from the common mass, 
so the Israelites, compared with other peo- 
ple, were to sustain the same near relation to 
God:— a community of spiritual sovereigns, 
a holy nation— set apart to preserve the know- 
ledge and worship of God. 7, 8. Moses came 
and called the elders— The message was con- 
veyed to the mighty multitude through their 
elders, who, doubtless, instructed them in 
the conditions required. Their unanimous 
acceptance was conveyed through the same 
channel to Moses, and by him reported to 
the Lord. Ah ! how much seli-confidence 
did their language betray!— how little did 
they know what spirit they were of ! 9-15. 
Lo, I come in a thick cloud, &c— The deepest 
impressions are made on the mind through 
the medium of the senses; and so He who 
knew what was in man signalised His de- 
scent at the inauguration of the ancient 
church, by all the sensible tokens of august 
Majesty that were fitted to produce the con- 
viction that He is the great and terrible God. 
The whole multitude must have anticipated 
the event with feelings of intense solemnity 
and awe. The extraordinary preparations 
enjoined, the ablutions and rigid abstinence 
they were required to observe, the barriers 
erected all round the base of the mount, and 
the stern penalties annexed to the breach of 
any of the conditions, all tended to create an 
earnest and solemn expectation which in- 
creased as the appointed day drew near. 16. 
On the third day, (fee— The descent of God was 
signalised by every object imagination can 
conceive connected with the ideas of gran- 
deur and of awe. But all was in keeping 
with the character of the law about to be 
proclaimed. As the mountain burned with 
fire, God was exhibited a consumingfire to the 
transgressors of His law. The thunder and 
lightning, more awful amid the deep stillness 
of the region, and reverberating with ter- 
rific peals among the mountains, would rouse 
the universal attention: a thick cloud was 
an apt emblem of the dark and shadowy 
dispensation, (cf. M. 17. 5.) The voice as of 
a trumpet— this gave the scene the character 
of a miraculous transaction, in which other 
elements than those of nature were at work, 
and some other than material trumpet was 
blown by other means than human breath. 
17. Moses brought forth the people— Wady- 
er-Baheh, where they stood as a spacious 
sandy plain, immediately in front of Es- 
Suksafeh, considered by Eobinson to be 
the mount from which the law was given. 
"We measured it, andgestimate the whole 
plains at two geographical miles long, 
and ranging in breadth from one-third to 
two-thirds of a mile, or as equivalent to a 
surface of one square mile. This space is 
nearly doubled by the recess on the west, 
and by the broad and level area of Wady-es- 
Sheikh on the east, which issues at right 
angles to the plain, and is equally in view 
of the front and summit of the mount. The 
examination convinced us that here was 
60 



I space enough to satisfy all the requisitions 
i of the scripture narrative, so far as it relates 
I to the assembling of the congregation to 
receive the law. Here, too, one can see the 
fitness of the injunction to set bounds 
1 around the mount, that neither man nor 
beast might approach too near, for it rises 
like a perpendicular wall." But Jebel 
Musa, the old traditional Sinai, and the 
highest peak has also a spacious valley, 
Wady Seba'iyeh, capable of holding the 
people. It is not certain on which of 
these two they stood. 21. Lord said unto 
M^ses, Go down— IS o sooner had Moses pro- 
ceeded a little up the Mount, than he was 
suddenly ordered to return, in order to keep 
the people from breaking through to gaze— 
a course adopted to heighten the impressive 
solemnity of the scene. The strict injunc- 
tions renewed to all, whatever their condi- 
tion, at a time and in circumstances when 
the whole multitude of Israel were stand- 
ing at the base of the mount, was calcu- 
lated in the highest degree to solemnise 
and awe every heart. 

CHAPTER XX. 
Ver. 1-26. The Ten Commandments. 1. 
God spake all these words— The Divine Being 
himself was the speaker, (Deu. 5. 12, 13, 32,) 
in tones so loud as to be heard— so distinct 
as to be intelligible by the whole multitude 
standing in the valleys below, amid the most 
appalling phenomena oi agitated nature. 
Had He been simply addressing rational and 
intelligent creatures, He would have spoken 
with the still small voice of persuasion and 
love. But He was speaking to those who 
were at the same time fallen and sinful 
creatures, and a corresponding change was 
required in the manner of God's procedure, 
in order to give a suitable impression of the 
character and sanctions of the law revealed 
from heaven. (Ko. 2. 5-9.) 2. I am the Lord 
thy God— This is a preface to the ten com- 
mandments — the latter clause being specially 
applicable to the case of the Israelites, while 
the former brings it home to all mankind; 
showing that the reasonableness of the law 
is founded in their eternal relation as creat- 
ures to their Creator, and their mutual 
relations to each other. 3. before me— in my 
presence, beside, or except me. 4, 5. make 
any graven image ...thou shalt not bow— i.e., 
"make in order to bow." Under the auspices 
of Moses himself, figures oi cherubim, brazen 
serpents, oxen, and many other things in the 
earth beneath, were made, and never con- 
demned. The mere making was no sin— it 
was the making with the intent to give 
idolatrous worship. 8. Remember the Sab- 
bath-day—implying it was already known, 
and recognized as a season of sacred rest. 
The first four commandments comprise 
our duties to God— the other six our du- 
ties to our fellow-men ; and as interpreted 
by Christ, they reach to the government of 
the heart as well as the lip. (M. 5. 17.) 
"If a man do them he shall live in them !" 
But, ah! what an if for frail and fallen man. 
Whoever rests his hope upon the law stands 
debtor to do it all; and in this view every 
one would be without hope, were not " the 
Lord our righteousness." (J. 1. 17.) 
18-21. All the people saw— They were eye and 
ear witnesses of the awful emblems of the 
Deity's descent. But they perceived not the 
Deity himself . 19. Let not God speak, (fee— 



The ark, mercyseat, 



EXODUS, XXVI. 



table, and candlestick. 



half the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a 
half the height thereof. 

11 And thou shalt overlay it with pure 
cold, within and without shalt thou over- 
lay it ; and shalt make upon it a crown of 
gold round about. 

12 And thou shalt cast four rings of gold 
for it, and put them in the four corners 
thereof; and two rings shali be in the one 
side of it, and two rings in the other side of 
it. 

13 And thou shalt make staves of shittim 
wood, and overlay them with gold. 

14 And thou shalt put the staves into the 
rings by the sides of the ark, that the ark 
may be borne with them. 

15 The /staves shall be in the rings of the 
ark ; they shall not he taken from it. 

16 And thou shalt put into the ark 9 the 
testimony which I shall give thee. 

17 1T And h thou shalt make a mercyseat 
o/pure gold: two cubits and a half shall be 
the length thereof, and a cubit and a half 
the breadth thereof. 

13 And thou shalt make two cherubim of 
gold, of beaten work shalt thou make them, 
in the two ends of the mercyseat. 

19 And make one cherub on the one end, 
and the other cherub on the other end; 
even i of the mercyseat shall ye make the 
cherubim on the two ends thereof. 

20 And « the cherubim shall stretch forth 
their wings on high, covering the mercy- 
Beat with their wings, and their faces shall 
look one to another; toward the mercyseat 
shall the faces of the cherubim be. 

21 And 3 thou shalt put the mercyseat 
above upon the ark; and in the ark thou 
shalt put the testimony that I shall give 
thee. 

22 And * there I will meet with thee, and 
1 will commune with thee from above the 
mercyseat, from l between the two cheru- 
bim which are upon the ark of the testi- 
mony, of all things which I will give thee 
in commandment unto the children of Is- 
rael. 

23 1T Thou m shalt also make a table of 
shittim wood : two cubits shall be the 
length thereof, and a cubit the breadth 
thereof, and a cubit and a half the height 
thereof. 

24 And thou shalt overlay it with pure 
gold, and make thereto a crown of gold 
round about. 

25 And thou shalt make unto it a border 
of an hand-breadth round about, and thou 
Bhalt make a golden crown to the border 
thereof round about. 

26 And thou shalt make for it four rings 
of gold, and put the rings in the four cor- 
ners that are on the four feet thereof. 

27 Over against the border shall the rings 
be for places of the staves to bear the table. 

28 And thou shalt make the staves of 
shittim wood, and overlay them with gold, 
that the table may be borne with them. 

29 And thou shalt make n the dishes 
thereof and spoons thereof, and covers 
thereof, and bowls thereof, 2 to cover 
withal: of pure gold shalt thou make them. 

o0 And thou shalt set upon the table 
dhowbread ° before me alway. 

31 1T And p thou shalt make a candlestick 
of pure gold: of "beaten work shall the 
candlestick be made: his shaft, and his 
branches, his bowls, his knops, and his 
flowers, shall be of the same. 
CI 



CHAP. 25. 

flKi. 8. 8. 

9 ch. 16. 34. 

Beu. 10. 2 

1 Ki. 8. 9. 

2 Kin. 11. 
12. 

h ch. 37. 6. 

Rom. 3. 25, 

Heb. 9. 5. 
1 Or, of the 

mattor of 

the mercy 

seat. 
i 1 Ki. 8. 7. 

1 Chr. 28. 

18. 
j ch. 26. 34. 
ft ch. 30. 6, 

36. 

Lev. 16. 2. 

Nu. 17. 4. 

Ezek. 9. 3. 

James 2. 

13. 

1 Nu. 7. 89. 

1 Sa. 4. 4. 

2 Sa. 6. 2. 
2 Ki. 19.15. 
Ps. 80. 1. 
Ps. 90. 1. 
Is. 37.16. 

TO 2 Chr. 4.8. 

Heb. 9. 2. 
n ch. 37. 16. 

Nu. 4. 7. 

2 Or, to 
pour out 
withal. 

o Lev. 24. 5. 
P 1 Ki. 7. 49. 

Zech. 4. 2. 

Rev. 1. 12, 

Rev. 4. 5. 
5 Nu. 8. 4. 

ch.37.18, 

19. 
r Rev. 1. 12. 
a ch. 27. 21. 

ch. 30. 8. 
Lev. 24. 

3,4. 

2 Chr. 13. 

11. 

3 Or, cause 
to ascend. 

t Nu. 8. 2. 

4 the face 
of it. 

u ch. 26. 30. 
Nu. 8. 4. 
1 Chr. 28. 
11, 19. 
Acts 7. 44. 
Heb. 8. 5. 
6 which thou 
wast caus- 
ed to see. 



b. c 1491. 32 And ? six branches shall come out of 
the sides of it; three branches of the caudle- 
stick out of the one side, and three branches 
of the candlestick out of the other side: 

33 Three bowls made like unto almonds, 
with a knop and a flower in one branch; 
and three bowls made like almonds in the 
other branch, with a knop and a flower: so 
in the six branches that come out of the 
candlestick. 

31 And in the candlestick shall be four 
bowls made like unto almonds, with their 
knops and their flowers. 

35 And there shall be a knop under two 
branches of the same, and a knop under 
two branches of the same, and a knop 
under two branches of the same, accord- 
ing to the six branches that proceed out 
of the candlestick. 

36 Their knops and their branches shall 
be of the same: all of it shall be one beaten 
work of pure gold. 

37 And thou shalt make the r seven lamps 
thereof: and 8 they shall 3 light the lamps 
thereof, that they may « give light over 
against 4 it. 

38 And the tongs thereof, and the snuff- 
dishes thereof, shall be of pure gold. 

39 Of a talent of pure gold shall he make 
it, with all these vessels. 

40 And u look that thou make them after 
their pattern, 5 which was showed thee in 
the mount. 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

I The ten curtains of the tabernacle. 7 The eleven 
curtains of goats' hair. 31 The veiljor the ark. 
36 The hanging for the door. 

TV/TOREOVER a thou shalt make the ta- 
x ■*- bernacle with ten curtains of tine 
twined linen, and blue, and purple, and 
scarlet: with b cherubim of 1 cunning work 
shalt thou make them. 

2 The length of one curtain shall be eight 
and twenty cubits, and the breadth of one 
curtain four cubits: and every one of the 
curtains shall have one measure. 

3 The five curtains shall be c coupled to- 
gether one to another; and other five cur- 
tains shall be coupled one to another. 

4 And thou shalt make d loops of blue upon 
the edge of the one curtain, from the sel- 
vage in the coupling; and likewise shalt 
thou make in the uttermost edge of another 
cm-tain, in the coupling of the second. 

5 Fifty loops shalt thou make in the one 
curtain, and fifty loops shalt thou make in 
the edge of the curtain that is in the 
coupling of the second, that the loops may 
take hold one of another. 

6 And thou shalt make fifty taches of gold, 
and couple the curtains together with the 
taches ; and it shall be one tabernacle. 

7 IT And e thou shalt make curtains of 

goats' hair to be a covering upon the ta- 
ernacle ; eleven curtains shalt thou make. 

8 The length of one curtain shall be thirty 
cubits, and the breadth of one cm-tain four 
cubits: and the eleven curtains shall be all 
of one measure. 

9 And thou shalt couple five curtains by 
themselves, and six curtains by themselves, 
and shalt double the sixth curtain in the 
lore front of the tabernacle. 

10 And thou shalt make fifty loops on the 
edge of the one curtain that is outmost in 
the coupling, and fifty loops in the edge of 
the curtain which eoupleth the second. 

II And thou shalt make fifty taches of 



CHAP. 26. 

a ch. 36. 8. 

Rov. 21. 3. 
6 1 Cor. 12. 

28. 

J5ph. 4. 11, 

12. 

Heb. 1. 14. 
1 the work of 



or, em- 
broiderer. 

C 1 Cor. 12. 
4, 5, 6, 12. 

dJEph. 4.13. 
Col. 2. 2,19. 

• ch. 36. 14. 



Laws for Men Servants. 



EXODUS, XXI, XXII. 



Laws Concerning Thefts. 



The phenomena of thunder and lightning 
had been one of the plagues so fatal to Egypt, 
and as they heard God speaking to them 
now, they were apprehensive of instant death 
also. Even Moses himself, the mediator of 
the old covenant, did " exceedingly quake 
and fear." (He. 12. 21.) But doubtless God 
spake what gave him relief— restored him to 
a frame of mind fit for the ministrations 
committed to him; and hence immediately 
after he was enabled to relieve and comfort 
them with the relief and comfort which 
he himself had received from God. (2 Co. l. 
4.) 22, 23. The Lord said unto Moses— It ap- 
pears from Deu. 4. 14-16, that this injunction 
was a conclusion drawn from the scene on 
Sinai— that as no similitude of God was dis- 
played then, they should not attempt to 
make any visible figure or form of Him. 
24. an altar of earth— a regulation applicable 
to special or temporary occasions. 25. not 
build, &c— i.e., carved with figures and orna 
ments that might lead to superstition. 26. 
by steps— a precaution taken for the sake of 
decency, in consequence of the loose, wide, 
flowing garments of the priests. 
CHAPTEE XXI. 

Ver. 1-6. Laws for Men Servants. 1. 
Judgments — Rules for regulating the pro- 
cedure of judges and magistrates in the 
decision of causes and the trial of criminals. 
The government of the Israelites being a 
Theocracy, those public authorities were 
the servants of the Divine Sovereign, and 
subject to His direction. Most of these laws 
here noticed were primitive usages, founded 
on principles of natural equity, and incor- 
porated with modifications and improve- 
ments: in the Mosaic code. 2-6. If thou buy 
an Hebrew — Every Israelite was freeborn; 
but slavery was* permitted under certain 
restrictions. An Hebrew might be made a 
slave through poverty, debt, or crime; but 
at the end of six years he was entitled to 
freedom, and his wife, if she had voluntarily 
shared his state oi bondage, also obtained 
release. Should he, however, have married 
a female slave, she and the children, after 
the husband's liberation, remained the 
master's property- and if, through attach- 
ment to his family, the Hebrew chose to 
forfeit his privilege and abide as he was, 
a formal process was gone through in a 
public court, and a brand of servitude 
stamped on his ear (Ps. 40. 6.) for life, or at 
least till the Jubilee. (Deu. 15. 17.) 

7-36. Laws for Maid Servants. 7. If a 
man sell his daughter— Hebrew girls might be 
redeemed for a reasonable sum. But in the 
event oi her parents or friends being unable 
to pay the redemption money, her owner 
was not at liberty to sell her elsewhere. 
Should she have been betrothed to him or 
his son, and either change their minds, a 
maintenance must be provided for her suit- 
able to her condition as his intended wife, or 
her freedom instantly granted. 23-25. an eye 
for an eye— The law which authorized retalia- 
tion—a principle acted upon by all primitive 
f)eople— was a civil one. It was given to regu- 
ate the procedure of the public magistrate in 
determining the amount of compensation in 
every case of iirury, but did not encourage 
feelings of private revenge. The later Jews, 
however, mistook it for a moral precept, and 
were corrected by our Lord. (M. 5. 38-42.) 
28-36. If an ox gore a man— For the purpose 
61 



of sanctifying human blood, and represent- 
ing all injuries affecting life in a serious 



ng a 
ight, 



an animal that occasioned death was 



to be killed or suffer punishment propor- 
tioned to the degree of damage it had caused. 
Punishments are still inflicted on this prin- 
ciple in Persia and other countries of the 
East; and among a rude people greater effect 
is produced in inspiring caution, and making 
them keep noxious animals under restraint, 
than a penalty imposed on the owners. 30. 
If there be laid, &c— Blood fines are common 
among the Arabs as they were once general 
throughout the East. This is the only case 
where a money compensation, instead of 
capital punishment, was expressly allowed in 
the Mosaic law. 

CHAPTEE XXII. 
Ver. 1—31. Laws concerning Theft. 

1. If a man shall steal— The law respects the 
theft of cattle which constituted the chief 
part of their property. The penalty for the 
theft of a sheep which was slain or sold, was 
fourfold ; for an ox fivefold, because of its 
greater utility in labour: but, should the 
stolen animal have been recovered alive, a 
double compensation was all that was re- 
quired, because it was presumable he (the 
thief) was not a practised adept in disho- 
nesty. A robber breaking into a house at 
midnight might, in self-defence, be slain with 
impunity; but if he was slain after sun-rise, 
it would be considered murder, for it was not 
thought likely an assault would then be made 
upon the lives of the inmates. In every case 
wnere a thief could not make restitution, he 
was sold as a slave for the usual term. 6. If 
a fire breaL out— This refers to the common 
practice in the East of setting fire to the 
dry grass before the fall of the autumnal 
rams, which prevents the ravages of vermin, 
and is considered a good preparation of the 
ground for the next crop. The very parched 
state ol the herbage and the long droughts 
of summer, make the kindling of a fire an 
operation often dangerous, and always re- 
quiring caution from its liability to spread 
rapidly, stack— or as it is rendered " shock" 
(Ju. 15, 5; Job,?5. 26,), means simply a bundle 
of loose sheaves. 26, 27. If thou at all, &c— 
From the nature of the case, this is the 
description of a poor man. No Orientals 
undress, but merely throwing off their tur- 
bans, and some of their heavy outer gar- 
ments, they sleep in the clothes which they 
wear during the day. The bed of the poor is 
usually nothing else than a mat; and, in 
winter, they cover themselves with a cloak— 
a practice which forms the ground or reason 
of the humane and merciful law respecting 
the pawned coat. 28. gods— a word which 
is several times in this chapter rendered 
"judges" or magistrates, the ruler of thy 
people— and the chief magistrate who was 
also the High priest, at least in the time of 
PauL (A. 23. 1-5.) 

CHAPTER XXHT. 
Ver. 1-33. Laws concerning Slander, 
&c. 1. put not thine hands— join not hands 

2. decline— depart, deviate from the straight 
path of rectitude. 3. ccuntenance — adorn, 
embellish— thou shalt not varnish the cause 
even of a poor man to give it a better colour- 

! ing than it merits. 10, 11. six years thou 

: shalt sow — intermitting the cultivation of 

the land every seventh year. But it appears 

I that even then there was a spontaneous 



JSpecial things belonging 



iSXODUS, XXVII. 



to the tabernacle. 



brass, and put the taches into the loops, 
and couple the 2 tent together, that it may 
be one. 

12 And the remnant that remaineth of the 
curtains of the tent, the half-curtain that 
remaineth shall hang over the back side of 
the tabernacle. 

13 And a cubit on the one side, and a cubit 
on the other side, 3 of that which remaineth 
in the length of the curtains of the tent, it 
shall hang over the sides of the tabernacle 
on this side and on that side, to cover it. 

14 And / thou shalt make a covering for 
the tent of rams' skins dyed red, and a 
covering above of badgers' skins. 

15 1T And thou shalt make boards for the 
tabernacle of shittim wood standing up. 

16 Ten cubits shall be the length of a 
board, and a cubit and a half slcall be the 
breadth of one board. 

17 Two 4 tenons shall there be in one board, 
set in order one against another: thus shalt 
thou make for all the boards of the taber- 
nacle. 

18 And thou shalt make the boards for the 
tabernacle, twenty boards on the south side 
southward. 

19 And thou shalt make forty * sockets of 
silver under the twenty boards ; two sockets 
under one board for his two tenons, and 
two sockets under another board for his 
two tenons. 

20 And for the second side of the taberna- 
cle, on the north side, there shall be twenty 
boards, 

21 And their forty sockets of silver; two 
sockets under one board, and two sockets 
under another board. 

22 And for the sides of the tabernacle 
* westward thou shalt make six boards. 

23 And tw r o boards shalt thou make for 
the corners of the tabernacle in the two 
sides. 

24 And they shall be & coupled together 
beneath, and they shall be coupled together 
above the head of it unto one ring: thus 
shall it be for them both; they shall be for 
the two corners. 

25 And they shall be eight boards, and 
their sockets of silver, sixteen sockets ; two 
sockets under one board, and two sockets 
under another board. 

26 M And thou shalt make * bars of shit- 
tim wood; five for the boards of the one 
side of the tabernacle, 

27 And five bars for the boards of the 
other side of the tabernacle, and five bars 
for the boards of the side of the tabernacle 
for the two sides wesuward. 

28 And the middle bar in the midst of the 
boards shall reach from end to end. 

2y And thou shalt overlay the boards with 
gold, and make their rings of gold for 
places for the bars: and thou shalt overlay 
tne bars with gold. 

30 And thou shalt rear up the tabernacle 
according J to the fashion thereof which 
was showed thee in the mount. 

31 IT And * tuou shalt make a veil of blue, 
and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined 
linen, of cunning work: with cherubim shall 
it be made: 

32 And thou shalt hang it upon four pil- 
lars of shittim wood overlaid with gold: 
their hooks shall be of gold, upon the four 
sockets of silver. 

33 And thou shalt hang up the veil under 
toe taches, that thou may est bring in thi- 

62 



B. C. 1491. 



CHAP. 26. 

2 Or, cover- 
ing. 

3 in the 
remainder, 
or sur- 
plusage. 

/ ch. 30. 19. 
Nu. 24. 5. 

4 bands. 

g ch. 38. 27. 
h eea-ward, 

Gen. 12. 8. 
6 twined. 

Pa. 133. 1. 

1 Cor. 1. 

10. 

Col. 3. 2, 

19. 
i ch. 3G. 31. 
Nu. 3. 36. 

Horn. 15. 1. 

1 Cor. 9. 
19. 

2 Cor. 13. 
11. 

Gal. 6. 2. 
j ch. 25. 9, 

40. 

ch. 27. 8. 

Acts 7. 44. 

Heb. 8. 5. 

k ch. 36. 35. 

Lev. 10. 2. 

2 Chr. 3. 

14. 

Mat. 27. 

51. 

Mark 15. 

88. 

Luke 23. 

45. 

Heb. 9. 3. 
I ch. 25. 16. 

ch. 40. 21. 

1 Ki. 8. 6. 
m, 2 Chro. 3. 

14. 
n Lev. 16. 2. 

Mat. 24. 

15. 

Heb. 9. 

2,3. 
o ch. 25. 21. 

ch. 40. 20. 

Lev. 16. 2. 

Heb. 9. 5. 
p ch. 40. 22. 

Heb. 9. 2. 
q ch. 40. 24. 
r ch. 36. 37. 
« ch. 36. 38. 



CHAP. 27. 

ch. 38. 1. 
Ezek. 43. 
13. 

6 1 Kin. 1. 

50. 

lKin.2. 

28. 

Ps.128.27. 
« Num. 16. 

38. 

1 Or, sieve. 
Amos 9. 9. 

d 1 Sam. 2. 

12-14. 
e Nu. 4. 15. 

Is. 52. 11. 
fch. 25. 40. 

ch. 26. 30. 

Heb. 8. 5. 

Acts 7. 44. 

2 he showed. 
9 ch. 38. 9. 

Ps. 100. 4. 
h Jer. 1. 18. 



ther within the veil l the ark of the testi- 
mony: and m the veil shall divide unto you 
between n the holy place and the most 
holy. 

34 And ° thou shalt put the mercyseat 
upon the ark of the testimony in the most 
holy place. 

35 And p thou shalt set the table without 
the veil, and the q candlestick over against 
the table on the side of the tabernacle to- 
ward the south: and thou shalt put the 
table on the north side. 

36 1T And r thou shalt make an hanging for 
the door of the tent, of blue, and purple, 
and scarlet, and fine twined linen, wrought 
with needle-work. 

37 And thou shalt make for the hanging 
five e pillars of shittim wood, and overlay 
them with gold, and their hooks shall be of 
gold : and thou shalt cast five sockets of 
brass for them. 

CHAPTER XXVII. 
1 The altar of burnt offering, with the vessels. 9 
The court of the taoernacle, with its hangings 
and pillars. 18 The measure of the court. 'At 
The oil for the lamp. 

A ND thou shalt make ° an altar of shit- 
■^ tim wood, five cubits long, and five 
cubits broad: the altar shall be foursquare; 
and the height thereof shall be three cubits, 

2 And thou shalt make the ° horns of it 
upon the four corners thereof: his horns 
shall be of the same: and c thou shalt over- 
lay it with brass. 

3 And thou shalt make his pans to receive 
his ashes, and his l shovels, and his~basiiis, 
and his ttesh-hooks, and his fire-pans: all 
the vessels thereof thou shalt make of 
brass. 

4 And thou shalt make for it a d grate of 
network of brass ; and upon the net shalt 
thou make^four brasen rings in the four 
corners thereof. 

5 And thou shalt put it under the compass 
of the altar beneath, that the net may be 
even to the midst of the altar. 

6 And thou shalt make staves for the 
altar, staves of shittim wood, and overlay 
them with brass. 

7 And the staves shall be put into the 
lings, and the staves shall be upon the two 
sides of the altar, to e bear it. 

8 Hollow with boards shalt thou make it: 
/ as 2 it was showed thee in the rnount, so 
shall they make it. 

9 IT And 9 thou shalt make the court of the 
tabernacle: for the south side southward 
there shall be hangings for the court of 
fine twined linen, of an hundred cubits long 
for one side. 

10 And the twenty ft pillars thereof, and 
then; twenty sockets, shall be of brass; the 
hooks of the pillars and their fillets slwll 
be of silver. 

11 And likewise for the north side in length 
there shall be hangings of an hundred cubits 
long,and his twenty pillars and their twenty 
sockets of brass ; the hooks of the pillars 
and their fillets of silver. 

12 And for the breadth of the court on the 
west side shall be hangings of fifty cubits: 
then pillars ten, and their sockets ten. 

13 And the breadth of the court on the 
east side eastward shall be fifty cubits. 

14 The hangings of one side of the gate 
shall be fifteen cubits: their pillars three, 
and their sockets three. 

15 And on the other side shall be hangings 



The Three Feasts. 



EXODUS, XXIV. 



Delivery of the Law, &c. 



produce which the poor were permitted 
freely to gather for their use, and the beasts 
driven out fed on the remainder, the own- 
ers of fields not being allowed to reap or 
collect the fruits of the vineyard or olive- 
yard during the course of this Sabbatical 
year. This was a regulation subservient to 
many excellent purposes: for, besides incul- 
cating the general lesson of dependence on 
Providence, and of confidence in his faith- 
fulness to his promise respecting the triple 
increase on the sixth year, (Lev. 25. 20, 21,) 
it gave the Israelites a practical proof that 
they held their properties of the Lord as his 
tenants, and must conform to his rules on 

Sain of forfeiting the lease of them. 12. Six 
ays shalt thou do thy work— This law is 
repeated lest any might suppose there was 
a relaxation of its observance during the 
Sabbatical year. 13. make no mention, &c— 
i.e., in common conversation, for a familiar 
use of them would tend to lessen horror 
of idolatry. 14-18. Three times keep a feast in 
a year— This was the institution of the great 
religious festivals— 4 ' The feast of unleavened 
bread" or the Passover— "The feast of har- 
vest" or Pentecost—" The feast of in-gather- 
ing" or the feast of Tabernacles, which was 
a memorial of the dwelling in booths in the 
wilderness, and which was observed " in the 
end of the year," or the seventh month, ch. 
12, 2.) All the males were enjoined to repair 
to the Tabernacle and afterwards the temple, 
and the women frequently went. The insti- 
tution of this national custom was of the 
greatest importance in many ways— by keep- 
ing up a national sense of religion and a 
public uniformity in worship, by creating a 
bond of unity, and also promoting internal 
commerce amongst the people. Though the 
absence of all the males at these three fes- 
tivals left the country deienceless, a spe- 
cial promise was given of divine protection, 
and no incursion of enemies was ever per- 
mitted to happen on those occasions. 19. 
Thou shalt not seethe a kid— a prohibition 
against imitating the superstitious rites oi 
the idolaters in Egypt, who, at the end of 
their harvest, seethed a kid in its mother's 
milk and sprinkled the broth as a magical 
charm on their gardens and fields, to render 
them more productive the following season. 
20-25. Behold I send an angel before thee— The 
communication of these laws made to Moses 
and by him rehearsed to the people, was 
concluded by the addition ot many animat- 
ing promises, intermingled with several 
solemn warnings, that lapses into sin and 
idolatry would not be tolerated or passed with 
impunity, my Name is in him— This angel 
is frequently called Jehovah and Elohim, 
i.e., God. 28. 1 will send hornets, &c.— (Jos. 24. 
12.) Some instrument of divine judgment, 
but variously interpreted, as hornets in a lit- 
eral sense, [Bo.] As a pestilential disease, 
[Eos.] As a terror of the Lord— an extraordi- 
nary dejection, [Jun.] 29, 30. 1 will not drive 
out in one year— Many reasons recommended 
a gradual extirpation of the former inhabit- 
ants of Caanan. . But only one is here speci- 
fied—the danger lest in the unoccupied 
grounds, wild beasts should inconveniently 
multiply; a clear proof that the promised 
land was more than sufficient to contain the 
actual population of the Israelites, 
CHAPTER XXIV. 
Ver. i-i8. Delivery of the Law and 
62 



Covenant. 3. Moses came and told the people 
—The rehearsal of the foregoing laws and 
the ten commandments, together with the 
promises of special blessings in the event of 
their obedience, having drawn forth from the 
people a unanimous declaration of their 
consent, it was forthwith recorded as the 
conditions of the national covenant. The 
next day preparations were made for having 
it solemnly ratified, by building an altar and 
twelve pillars ; the altar representing God, 
and the pillars the tribes of Israel— the two 
parties in this solemn compact— while Moses 
acted' as typical mediator. 5. young men — 
priests (ch. 19. 22,), probably the eldest sons 
of particular families, who acted under the 
direction of Moses, oxen— other animals, 
though not mentioned, were offered in sacri- 
fice (Heb. 9. 18-20.). 6. half of the blood . . . 
sprinkled— Preliminary to this, was the pub- 
lic reading of the law, and the renewed 
acceptance ot the terms by the people - } then 
the sprinkling ol the blood was the sign of 
solemn ratification— half on each party in 
the transaction. 8. sprinkled it on the people 
—probably on the twelve pillars, as repre- 
senting the people (also the book, Heb. 9. 19,), 
and the act was accompanied by a public 
proclamation of its import. It was setting 
their seal to the covenant, (cf. 1 Cor. 11. 25.) 
It must have been a deeply impressive, as 
well as instructive scene, for it taught the 
Israelites that the covenant was made with 
them only through the sprinkling of blood- 
that the Divine acceptance of themselves and 
services, was only by virtue of an atoning 
sacrifice and that even the blessings of the 
national covenant were promised and se- 
cured to them only through grace. The 
ceremonial, however, had a further and 
higher significance, as is shown by the apos- 
tle (see as above). 9. Then went up Moses and 
Aaron, &c— In obedience to a command given 
{v. 1, 2; also ch. 19. 24,), previous to the re- 
ligious engagement of the people, now 
described. Nadab and Abihu— the two eldest 
sons of Aaron, seventy oi the elders— a select 
number; what was the principle of selection 
is not said; but they were the chief representa- 
tives, the most conspicuous for official rank 
and station, as well as lor their probity and 
weight of character in their respective tribes. 
10. saw the God ol Israel— That there was no 
visible form or representation of the divine 
nature, we have express intimation (Deu. 4. 
15.). But a symbol or emblem oi His glory 
was distinctly, and at a distance, displayed 
before those chosen witnesses. Many think, 
however, that in this private scene, was dis- 
covered amid the luminous blaze, the laint 
adumbrated form ot the humanity of C'uist 
(Ez. 1. 26. cf. Gal. 3. 24.). sapphire— one ol the 
most valuable and lustrous ol the precious 
gems— of a sky-blue or light azure colour, and. 
frequently chosen to describe the throne of 
God (see Ez. l. 26 ; 10. 1.). 11. laid not his 
hand— The "nobles, " i.e. the elders, after the 
sprinkling of the blood, were not inspired 
with terror in presence of the calm, benign, 
radiant symbol of the divine majesty; so 
different from the terrific exhibitions at the 
giving ot the law. The report of so many 
competent witnesses would tend to confirm 
the peoples' laith in the divine mission of 
Moses, eat and drink— feasted on the peace- 
offering— on the remnants of the late sacri- 
fices and libations. This least had a prophetic 



Aaron and his sons set apart. 



EXODUS, xxvm. 



The breastplate of judgment. 



fifteen cubits: their pillars three, and their 
sockets three. 

16 And for the gate of the court shall be 
an hanging of twenty cubits, of blue, and 
purple, and scarlet, and line twined linen, 
wrought with needle-work: and then* pil- 
lars shall be four, and their sockets four. 

17 All the pillars round about the court 
shall be filleted with silver ; their hooks 
shall be of silver, and their sockets of 
brass. 

18 The length of the court shall be an 
hundred cubits, and the breadth 3 fifty 
every where, and the height five cubits of 
fine twined linen, and their sockets o/brass. 

19 All the vessels of the tabernacle in all 
the service thereof, and all the pins there- 
of, and all the * pins of the court, shall be 
of brass. 

20 tf And » thou shalt command the chil- 
dren of Israel, that they biing thee pure 
oil olive beaten for the light, to cause the 
lamp 6 to burn always. 

21 In the tabernacle of the congregation 
without J the veil, which is before the tes- 
timony, * Aaron and his sons shall order it 
from evening to morning before the Lord. 
It l shall be a statute for ever unto their 
generations on the behalf of the children 
of Israel. 

CHAPTER XXYin. 
1 Aaron and his sons separated for the priest's 
office. 6 The ephod. 30 The Urim and Thum- 
mim. 36 The plate of the mitre, etc. 

A ND take thou unto thee a Aaron thy 
-"- brother, and his sons with him, from 
among the children of Israel, that he may 
imnister unto me in the priest's office, even 
Aaron, IS'adab and Abihu, Eleazar and 
Ithamar. Aaron's sons. 

2 And ° thou 6halt make holy garments 
for Aaron thy brother for glory and for 
beauty. 

3 And c thou shalt speak unto all that are 
wise-hearted, d whom I have filled with the 
spirit of wisdom, that they may make 
Aaron's garments to consecrate him, that 
he may minister unto me in the priest's 
office. 

4 And these are the garments which they 
shall make; a breastplate, and an ephod, 
and a robe, and a broidered coat, a mitre, 
and a girdle : and they shall make holy 
garments for Aaron thy brother, and his 
sons, that he may minister unto me in the 
priest's office. 

5 And they shall take gold, and blue, and 
purple, and scarlet, and fine linen. 

6 1l And e they shall make the ephod of 
gold, of blue, and of purple, of scarlet, and 
fine twined linen, with cunning work. 

7 It shall have the two shoulder-pieces 
thereof joined at the two edges thereof; 
and so it shall be joined together. 

8 And the i curious girdle of the ephod, 
which is upon it, shall be of the same, ac- 
cording to the work thereof; even of gold, 
of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine 
twined linen. 

9 And thou shalt take two onvx stones, 
and grave on them the names of the chil- 
dren of Israel: 

1U Six of tneir names on one stone, and 
the, other six names of the rest on the other 
stone, according to their birth. 

11 "W ith the work of an engraver in stone, 

like the engravings of a signet, shalt thou 

engrave the two stones with the names of 

63 



CHAP. 27. 

3 fifty by 
fifty. 

4 Or, nails, 
or, stakes. 
Ezra 9. 8. 
Is. 33. 20. 
Zech. 10.4. 

i Lev. 24. 2. 

5 to ascend 
up. 

j ch. 26. 31, 

33. 
k 1 Sa, 3. 3. 

2 Chr. 13. 

11. 
I ch. 28. 43. 

ch. 29. 9, 

28. 

Lev. 3. 17. 

Lev. 16. 

34. 

Lev. 24. 9. 

Num.18. 

23. 

Num. 19. 

21. 

1 Sam. 30. 

25. 



CHAP. 28. 
a Nu. 18. 7. 

Heb. 6. 

1,4. 
6 ch. 29. 6, 

20. 

ch. 31. 10. 

ch.39.1,2. 

Lev. 8. 7, 

30. 

Num. 20. 

26,28. 
c ch. 31. 6. 

ch. 36. 1. 
d ch. 35. 30, 

31. 

Is. 28. 

24-26. 
e ch. 39. 2. 

1 Or, em- 
broidered. 

/ch. 39. 7. 
g Josh. 4. 7. 

Zech. 6. 

14. 

h ch. 39. 8. 
i ch. 30. 10. 

2 till it in 
fillings of 
stone. 

3 Or. ruby. 

4 fillings. 

j Num. 1. 5. 
Num. 2. 3. 
Num. 10. 
14. 

Num. 26. 5. 
Rev. 7. 
4-8. 

Rev. 21. 
12. 
h Song 8. 6. 
Is. 49. 
15,16. 
Heb. 9. 
24. 
I vsr. 12. 
«*- Lev. 8. 8. 
Num. 27. 
21. 

Deut. 33. 
8. 

1 Sam. 
23.6. 
Ezra 2. 
63. 

Neb.. 7. 
65. 



the children of Israel : thou shalt make 
them to be set in ouches of gold. 

12 And thou shalt put the two stones upon 
the shoulders of the ephod for stones of 
memorial unto the children of Israel: and 
/ Aaron shall bear their names before the 
Lord upon his two shoulders 9 for a me- 
morial. 

13 And thou shalt make ouches of gold; 

14 And two chains of pure gold at the 
ends ; of wreathen work shalt thou make 
them, and fasten the wreathen chains to 
the ouches. 

15 1F And h thou shalt make the breast- 
plate of judgment with cunning work ; after 
the work of the ephod thou shalt make it ; 
of gold, of blue, and of purple, and of 
scarlet, and of fine twined linen, shalt thou 
make it. 

16 Foursquare it shall be, being doubled; 
a span shall be the length thereof, and a 
span shad be the breadth thereof. 

17 And ■ thou shalt 2 set in it settings of 
stones, even four rows of stones: the jirxt 
row shall be a 3 sardius, a topaz, and a 
carbuncle: this shall be the first row. 

18 And the second row shall be an emerald, 
a sapphire, and a diamond. 

19 And the third row a figure, an agate, 
and an amethyst. 

20 And the fourth row a beryl, and an 
onyx, and a jasper; they shall be set in gold 
in their * inclosings. 

21 And the stones shall be with the names 
of the children of Israel, twelve, according 
to their names, like the engravings of a 
signet; every one with his uame shall they 
be * according to the twelve tribes. 

22 And thou shalt make upon the breast- 
plate chains at the ends of wreathen work 
of pure gold. 

23 And thou shalt make upon the breast- 
plate two rings of gold, and shalt put tiie 
two rings on the two ends of the oreast- 
plate. 

24 And thou shalt put the two wreathen 
chabis of gold in the two rings which are 
on the ends of the breastplate. 

25 And tlie other two ends of the two 
wreathen chains thou shalt fasten in the 
two ouches, and put them on the shoulder- 
pieces of the ephod before it. 

26 And thou shalt make two rings of gold, 
and thou shalt put them upon the two ends 
of the breastplate, in the border thereof, 
which is in the side of the ephod inward. 

27 And two other rings of gold thou shalt 
make, and shalt put them on the two sides of 
the ephod underneath, toward the fore part 
thereof, over against the other coupling 
thereof, above the curious girdle of the 
ephod. 

28 And they shall bind the breastplate by 
the rings thereof unto the rings of the 
ephod with a lace of blue, that it may be 
above the curious girdle of the ephod, and 
that the breastplate be not loosed from the 
ephod. 

29 And Aaron shall * bear the names of 
the children of Israel in the breastplate of 
judgment upon his heart, when he goeth in 
unto the holy place, <■ for a memorial before 
the Lord continually. 

30 If And m thou shalt put in the breast- 
plate of judgment the Urim and the 
Thummim ; and they shall be upon Aaron's 
heart when he goeth in before the Lord: 
and Aaron shall bear the judgment of the 



Concerning an Offering. 



EXODUS, XXV. 



The Form of the Arlc, 



bearing, intimating God's dwelling with men. 
12. 1 will give thee the tables of stone— The ten 
commandments, which had already been 
spoken, were to be given in a permanent 
form. Inscribed on stone, for greater dura- 
bility, by the hand of God himself, they 
were thus authenticated and honoured above 
the judicial or ceremonial parts of the law. 
13. Moses went up into the mount — He was 
called to receive the divine transcript. 
Joshua was taken a little higher, and it 
would be a great comfort to the leader to have 
his company during the six days he was in 
patient waiting for the call on the seventh or 
sabbath-day. 14. elders . . . tarry here— There 
is a circular valley or hollow a good way up 
on the brow of Jebel Musa, which was their 
halting place, while he alone was privileged 
to ascend the highest peak. The people 
stood below, as in the "outer court," the 
elders in the "holy place," Moses, as a type 
of Christ, in " the holy of holies." 18. Moses 
went into the midst of the cloud— the visible 
token of God's presence. Divine grace ani- 
mated and supported him to enter with holy 
boldness, forty days and forty nights — the 
six days spent in waiting are not included. 
During that protracted period he was mira- 
culously supported (Deu. 9. 9.), on a peak 
scarcely thirty paces in compass. 
CHAPTER XXV. 
Ver. 1-40. Concerning an Offering. 1. 
The Lord spake, &c— The business that chiefly 
occupied Moses on the Mount, whatever 
other disclosures were made to him there, 
was in receiving directions about the taber- 
nacle, and they are here recorded as given 
to him. 2. bring me an offering— Having de- 
clared allegiance to God as their sovereign, 
they were expected to contribute to his state, 
as other subjects to their kings; and the 
44 offering" required of ihem was not to oe 
imposed as a tax, but to come from their 
own loyal and liberal leelings. 3. this is the 
offering— The articles ot which the offering 
should consist, brass— rather copper, brass 
being a composite metal, goat's hair— or 
leather of goat's skin. 5. badgers' skin— The 
badger was an unclean animal, and is not a 
native oi the East— rather some kind oi fish, 
of the leather of which sandals are made in 
the East. Shitthnwood— or Sliittah, (Is. 41. 
19.) the acacia, a shrub which grows plenti- 
fully in the deserts of Arabia, yielding a 
light, strong, and beautiiui wood, in long 
planks. 7. Ephod— a square cloak, hanging 
down from the shoulders, and worn by i 
priests. 8. A sanctuary, &c— In one sense 
the tabernacle was to be a palace, the royal 
residence of the king of Israel, in which he i 
was to dwell amongst his people, receive 
their petitions, and issue his responses. 
But it was also to be a place of worship, in 
which God was to record His name and to 
enshrine the mystic symbols of His presence. 
9. according to all that I shall show thee ... 
pattern— The proposed erection could be in 
the circumstances oi the Israelites, not of a 
fixed and stable, but of a temporary and 
moveable description, capable of being car- j 
ried about with them in theirvarious sojourn- j 
ings. It was made after "the pattern" shown I 
to Moses, by which is now generally un- j 
der stood; not that it was an unheard of! 
novelty, or an entirely original structure, for j 
it is ascertained to have borne resemblance , 
in form and arrangements to the style of an | 
03 



Egyptian temple, but that it was so altered, 
modified, and purified from all idolatrous as- 
sociations, as to be appropriated to right ob- 
jects, and suggestive of ideas connected with 
the true God and His worship. 10. an ark— a 
coffer or chest, overlaid with gold, the di- 
mensions of which, taking the cubit at 18 
inches, are computed to be 3 feet 9 inches in 
length, 2 feet 3 inches in breadth. 11. a 
crown— a rim or cornice. 12. rings— staples 
for the poles, with which it was to be carried 
from place to place. 15. staves shall be— i.e. 
always remain in the rings, whether the 
ark be at rest or in motion. 16. the testimony 
—that is, the two tables of stone, containing 
the ten commandments, and called "the 
Testimony," because by it God did testify His 
sovereign authority over Israel as His peo- 
ple. His selection of them as the guardians 
of His will and worship, and His displeasure 
in the event of their transgressing His laws; 
while on their part, by receiving and de- 
positing this law in its appointed place, they 
testified their acknowledgment of God's 
right to rule over them, and their submis- 
sion to the authority of His law. The superb 
and elaborate style of the ark that contained 
"the Testimony" was emblematic of the 
great treasure it held; in other words, the in- 
comparable value and excellence of the 
Word of God, while its being placed in this 
chest further showed the great care which 
God has ever taken for preserving it. 17. 
mercyseat— to serve as a lid, covering it 
exactly. It was ' the propitiatory cover, as 
the term may be rendered, denoting that 
Christ, our great propitiation, has fully 
answered all the demands of the law, covers 
our transgressions, and comes between us 
and the curse of a "violated law. 18. two 
cherubims— The real meaning of these figures 
as well as the shape or form of them is not 
known with certainty— probably similar to 
what was afterwards introduced into the 
temple, and described (Ez. 10.). They 
stretched out their wings, and their faces 
were turned towards the mercyseat, prob- 
ably in a bowing attitude. The prevailing 
opinion now is, that those splendid figures 
were symbolical not of fmgelic but of earthly 
and human beings— the members of the 
church of God interested in the dispensation 
oi grace, the redeemed in every age, and that 
these hieroglyphic forms symbolised the 
qualities of the true people of God— courage, 
patience, intelligence, and activity. 22. 
there will I meet with thee— The Shechinah or 
symbol of the Divine presence rested on the 
mercyseat, and was indicated by a cloud 
from the midst of which responses were 
audibly given when God was consulted on 
behalf of His people. Hence God is de- 
scribed as "dwelling" or "sitting" between 
the cherubims. 23. table of shittimwood— of 
the same material and decorations as the 
ark, and like it too, furnished with rings for 
the poles on which it was carried. The 
staves, however, were taken out of it when 
stationary, in order not to encumber the 
priests while engaged in their services at the 
table. It was half a cubit less than the ark, 
but of the same height. 24. crown— the 
moulding or ornamental rim, which is 
thought to have been raised above the 
level of the table, to prevent anything 
from falling off. 29. dishes— broad platters. 
spoons— cups or concave vessels, used lor 



The plate of the mitre. 

children of Israel upon his heart hefore the 
Lord continually. 

31 11 And n thou shalt make the robe of 
the ephod all of blue. 

o2 And there shall be an hole in the top 
of it, in the midst thereof : it shall have a 
binding of woven w ork round about the 
hole of it, as it were the hole of an haber- 
geon, that it be not rent. 

33 And beneath upon the 5 hem of it, thou 
shalt make pomegranates of blue, and of 

Eurple. and of scarlet, round about the 
em thereof; and bells of gold between 
them round about: 

34 A golden bell and a pomegranate, a 
golden bell and a pomegranate, upon the 
hem of the robe round about. 

35 And it shall be upon Aaron to minister: 
and his sound shall be heard when he goeth 
in unto the holy place before the Lord, and 
when he cometh out, that he die not. 

36 1 And " thou shalt make a plate of 
pure gold, and grave upon it, like the en- 

E-avings of a signet, HOLINESS TO THE 
OKI). 

37 And thou shalt put it on a blue lace, 
that it may be upon the mitre j upon the 
tore front of the mitre it shall be. 

38 And it shall be upon Aaron's forehead, 
that Aaron may p bear the iniquity of the 
holy things, which the children of Israel 
shall hallow in all their holy gifts ; and it 
shall be always upon his forehead, that they 
may be q accepted before the Lord. 

39 U And thou shalt embroider the coat 
of fine linen, and thou shait make the 
mitre of fine linen, and thou shalt make 
the girdle of needle-work. 

40 11 And r for Aaron's sons thou shalt 
make coats, and thou shalt make for them 
girdles, and bonnets shalt thou make for 
them, for glory and for beauty. 

41 And thou shalt put them upon Aaron 
thy brother, and his sons with him • and 
shalt * anoint them, and 6 consecrate tnem, 
and sanctify them, that they may minist er 
unto me in the priest's office. 

42 And thou shalt make them ' linen 
breeches to cover ' their nakedness; from 
the loins even unto the thighs they shall 
8 reach. 

43 And they shall be upon Aaron, and 
upon his sons, when they come in unto the 
tabernacle of the congregation, or when 
they come near u unto the altar to minister 
in the holy place; that they ■ bear not ini- 
quity, and die. w It shall be a statute for 
ever unto him and his seed after him. 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

1 The sacrifice and ceremonies of consecrating the 
priests. 38 The continual burnt qfering. 43 
God's promise to dwell among the children of 
Israel. 

AND this is the thing that thou shalt do 
* L - V - unto them to hallow them, to minister 
unto me in the priest's office: a Take one 
young bullock, and two rams without 
blemish, 

2 And o unleavened bread, and cakes un- 
leavened tempered with oil, and wafers un- 
leavened anointed with oil: of wheaten 
flour shalt thou make them. 

3 And thou shalt put them into one basket, 
and bring them m the basket, with the 
bullock and the two rams. 

4 And Aaron and his sons thou shalt bring 
unto the uoor of the tabernacle of the con- 

64 



EXODCS. XXIX. 



The consecration of priests. 



CHAP. 28. 
n ch. 39. 22. 

Lev. 8. 7. 

2 Sam. 6. 

14. 

Hos. 3. 4. 

5 Or, skirts. 
ch. 39. 30. 

Lev. 8. 9. 
1 Chr. 16. 
29. 

Pa. 29. 2. 
Pa. 93. 5. 
Zee. 14.20. 
Heb. 4. 15. 
Heb. 7. 26. 
He. 12. 14. 
p Lev. 22. 9. 
Is. 53. 11. 
John 1.29. 
Heb. 9. 28. 
1 Pet. 2. 

q Lev. 23. 11. 

Is. 56. 7. 
rEiek.44. 

17, 13. 
a Lev. 10. 7. 

6 fill their 
hand. 
Lev. 8. 1. 
Heb. 7. 28. 

t Lev. 6. 10. 
Ezek. 44. 
18. 

7 flesh of 
their nak- 
edness. 

8 be. 

« ch. 20. 26. 
v Lev. 23. 19, 

20. 

Num. 18. 

22. 
w Lev. 17. 7. 



CHAP. 29. 
a Lev. 8. 2. 
6 Lev. 6. 20, 

21,22. 
e Heb. 10. 

22. 
d Lev. 8. 7. 
e ch. 28. 8. 
/Lev. 21. 

10. 

Ps. 133. 

1,2. 

Is. 61. 1. 

1 bind. 

g Xu. 18. 7. 

2 fill the 
hand of. 

h Lev. 8. 14. 
% Lev. 8. 15. 
j ch. 30. 2. 
* Lev. 3. 3. 

3 It seemeth 
by anato- 
my, and 
the He- 
brew doc- 
tors, to be 
the mid- 
riff. 

I Lev. 4. 11. 

He. la 1L 

m Lev. 8. 18. 

»Lev. 1. 4. 

Is. 53. 6. 

Gal. 4.3-5. 

4 Or, upon. 
o Gen. 8. 21. 
V Lev. 8. 22. 
q ch. 30. 25. 

Lev. 8. 30. 1 
rHeh. 9. 22. I 
« Ley. $.26.1 



gregation, and c shalt wash them with 
water. 

5 And d thou shalt take the garments, and 
put upon Aaron the coat, and the robe of 
the ephod, and the ephod, and the breast- 
plate, and gird him with * the curious 
girdle of the ephod: 

6 And thou shalt put the mitre upon his 
head, and put the holy crown upon the 
mitre. 

7 Then shalt thou take the anointing /oil, 
and pour it upon his head, and anoint 
him. 

8 And thou shalt bring his sons, and put 
coats upon them. 

9 And thou shalt gird them with girdles, 
Aaron and his sons, and l put the bonnets - 
on them: and g the priest's office shall be 
theirs for a perpetual statute : and thou 
shalt 2 consecrate Aaron and his sons. 

10 And thou shalt cause a bullock to be 
brought before the tabernacle of the con- 
gregation: and h Aaron and his sons shall 
put their hands upon the head of the bul- 
lock. 

11 And thou shalt kill the bullock before 
the Lord, by the door of the tabernacle of 
the congregation. 

12 And thou ' shalt take of the blood of 
the bullock, and put it upon i the horns of 
the altar with thy finger, and pour all the 
blood beside the bottom of the altar. 

13 And * thou shalt take all the fat that 
covereth the inwards, and 3 the caul that is 
above the liver, and the two kidneys, and 
the fat that is upon them, and burn tht.m 
upon the altar. 

14 But * the flesh of the bullock, and his 
skin, and his dung, shalt thou burn with 
fire without the camp: it is a sin onering. 

15 f Thou ■ shalt also take one ram ; and 
Aaron and his sons shall " put their hands 
upon the head of the. ram. 

16 And thou shalt slay the ram, and thou 
shalt take his blood, and sprinkle it round 
about upon the altar. 

17 And thou shalt cut the ram in pieces, 
and wash the inwards of him, and his legs, 
and put them unto his pieces, and * unto 
his head. • 

18 And thou shalt burn the whole ram 
upon the altar: it is a burnt offering unto 
the Lord: it is a ° sweet savour, an otic-r- 
ing made by fire unto the Lord. 

lb> And * thou shalt take the other ram; 
and Aaron and his sons shall put their 
hands upon the head of the ram. 

20 Then shalt thou kill the ram, and take 
of his blood, and put it upon the tip of the 
right ear of Aaron, and upon the tip of the 
right ear of his sons, and upon the thumb 
of their right hand, and upon the great toe 
of their right foot, and sprinkle the blood 
upon the altar round about. 

21 And thou shalt take of the blood that 
is upon the altar, and of q the anointing 
oil, and sprinkle it upon Aaron, and upon 
his garments, and upon his sons, and upon 
the garments of his sons with him: find '' ho 
shall be hallowed, and his garments, and 
his sons, and his sons' garments with lihn. 

22 Also thou shalt take of the ram the 
fat, and the rump, and the fat that covereth 
the inwards, and the caul above the liver, 
and the two kidneys, and the fat that is 
upon them, and the right shoulder; for it 
is a ram of consecration: 

23 And 8 one loai ol biead, and one cake of 



Tlw Ten Curtains. 



EXODUS, XXVI, XXVII. Altar for Bund-Offering. 



holding incense, covers— both for bread and for the protection of its precious furniture 



incense, bowls— cups, for though no mention 
is made of wine, libations were undoubt- 
edly made to God, according to Josephus 
and the rabbins, once a week, when the 
bread was changed. To cover withal— rather 
to pour out withal. 30. shewbread— lit. 
presence bread, so called because it was con- 
stantly exhibited before the Lord, or because 
the bread of His presence, like the angel of 
His presence, pointed symbolically to Christ. 
It consisted of twelve unleavened loaves, 
said traditionally to have been laid in piles 
of six each. This bread was designed to be 
a symbol of the full and never-failing pro- 
vision which is made in the church for the 
spiritual sustenance -and refreshment of 
God's people. 31. candlestick— 7i£. a lamp- 
bearer. It was so constructed as to be 
capable of being taken to pieces for facility 
in removal. The shaft or stock rested on a 
pedestal. It had seven branches, shaped 
like reeds or canes— three on each side, with 
one in the centre— and worked out into 
knobs, flowers, and bowls, placed alternately. 
The figure represented on the arch of Titus 

fives the best idea of this candlestick. 33. 
nops— old spelling for knobs — bosses. 37. 
light the lamps . . . that they may give light— 
the light was derived from pure olive-oil, 
and probably kept continually burning, 
(cf. ch. 30. 7; Lev. 24. 2.) 38. tongs— snuf- 
fers. 39. a talent of pure gold— in weight, 
equivalent to 125 lbs. troy. 40. look that thou 
make them after their pattern— This caution, 
which is repeated with no small frequency in 
other parts of the narrative, is an evidence 
of the deep interest taken by the Divine 
King in the erection of His palace or sanc- 
tuary ; and it is impossible to account for 
the circumstance of God's condescending to 
such minute details, except on the as- 
sumption that this tabernacle was to be of 
a typical character, and eminently subser- 
vient to the religious instruction and benefit 
of mankind, by shadowing forth in its lead- 
ing features, the grand truths of the Christian 
church. 

CHAPTEE XXVT. 
Ver.1-37. Ten Curtains. 1. cunning work— 
i.e., of elegant texture, richly embroidered— 
The word "cunning," in old English, is syno- 
nomous with skilful. 2. length— Each cur- 
tain was to be fifteen yards in length and a 
little exceeding two in breadth. 3. The live 
curtains, &c— so as to form two grand divi- 
sions, each eleven yards wide. 6. taches— 
clasps— supposed in shape, as well as in use, 
to be the same as hooks-and-eyes. 7-14. 
curtains of goats' hair— These coarse curtains 
were to be one more in number than the 
others, and to extend a yard lower on each 
side, the use of them being to protect and 
conceal the richer curtains. 14. a covering of 
rams' skins dyed red— i.e., of Turkey red 
leather. 15-30. Thou shalt make boards... 
rear the tabernacle— The tabernacle, from its 
name, as well as from its general appearance 
and arrangements, was a tent; but from the 
description given in these verses, the boards 
that formed its walls, the five (cross) bars 
that strengthen them, and the middle bar 
that " reached from end to end," and gave it 
solidity and compactness, it was evidently 
a more substantial fabric than the light and 
fragile tent, probably on account of the 



36. an hanging for the door of the tent— cur- 
tains of rich and elaborate embroidery made 
by the female inmates, are suspended over 
the doors or entrances of the tents occupied 
by Eastern chiefs and princes. In a similar 
style of elegance was the hanging finished 
which was to cover the door of this taber- 
nacle—the chosen habitation of the God 
and King of Israel. It appears from verses 
12, 22, 23, that the ark and mercy -seat 
were placed in the west end of the taber- 
nacle, and consequently the door or entrance 
fronted the East, so that the Israelites in 
worshipping Jehovah, turned their faces 
toward the west, that they might be thus? 
figuratively taught to turn from the worship 
of that luminary which was the great idol of 
the nations and to adore the God who made 
it and them. [Hewlett.] 

CHAPTEE XXVTI. 
Ver. 1-21. Altar for Burnt Offering. 
1. altar of Shittim wood— The dimensions of 
this altar which was placed at the entrance 
of the sanctuary were nearly three yards 
square, and a yard and a half in height. 
Under the wooden frame of this chest-like 
altar the inside was hollow, and each corner 
was to be terminated by " horns"— angular 
projections, perpendicular or oblique, in the 
form of horns. The animals to be sacrificed 
were bound to these, (Ps. 118. 27,) and part of 
the blood was applied to them. 3. shovels— fire 
shovels for scraping together any of the scat- 
tered ashes, basons— for receiving the blood 
of the sacrifice to be sprinkled on the people, 
flesh -hooks — curved, three-pronged forks, 
(1 Sam. 2. 13, 14.) fire-pans— A large sort of 
vessel, wherein the sacred fire which came 
down from heaven (Lev. 9. 24,) was kept 
burning, while they cleaned the altar and 
the grate from the coals and ashes, and 
while the altar was carried from one place 
to another in the wilderness. [Patrick, 
Spencer, Le Clerc] 4. a grate of net-work 
of brass— sunk lattice work to support the 
fire. 5. put it— i.e. , the grating in which they 
were carried to a clean place, (Lev. 4. 12.) 4. 
four brazen rings— by which the grating might 
be lifted and taken away as occasion re- 
quired from the body of the altar. 6, 7. 
rings. ..staves— those rings were placed at 
the side through which the poles were in- 
serted on occasions of removal. 9. The court 
of the tabernacle— The inclosure in which the 
edifice stood was a rectangular court, ex- 
tending rather more than fifty yards in 
length, and half that space in breadth, and 
the enclosing parapet was about three yards 
or half the height of the tabernacle. That 
parapet consisted of a connected series of 
curtains, made of fine twined linen yarn, 
woven into a kind of net work, so that the 
people could see through; but that large 
curtain which overhung the entrance was of 
a different texture, being embroidered and 
dyed with variegated colours, and it was 
furnished with cords for pulling it up or 
drawing it aside when the priests had occa- 
sion to enter. The curtains of this enclosure 
were supported on sixty brazen pillars which 
stood on pedestals of the same metal, but 
their capitals and fillets were of silver, and 
the hooks on which they were suspended 
were of silver also, jrins— were designed to 
hold down the curtains at the bottom, lest 



weight of its various coverings as well as the wind should waft them aside. 20. pure 
64 



The continual burnt offering. 



EXODUS, XXX. 



The altar of incense. 



oiled bread, and one wafer out of the basket 
of the unleavened bread that is before the 
Loud: 

24 And thou shalt put all in the hands of 
Aaron, and in the hands of his sons; and 
shalt 5 wave them for a wave oifering be- 
fore the Lord. 

25 And * thou shalt receive them of their 
hands, and burn them upon the altar for a 
burnt offering, for a sweet savour before 
the Lord: it is an offering made by lire un- 
to the Lord. 

26 And thou shalt take M the breast of the 
ram of Aaron's consecration, and wave it 
for a wave offering before the Lord: and 
it v shall be thy part. 

27 And thou shalt sanctify w the breast of 
the wave offering, and the shoulder of the 
heave offering, which is waved, and which 
is heaved up, of the ram of the consecra- 
tion, even of that which is for Aaron, and 
of that which is for his sons: 

28 And it shall be Aaron's and his sons' 
by * a statute for ever from the children of 
Israel: for it is an heave offering: and y it 
shall be an heave offering from the chil- 
dren of Israel of the sacrifice of their peace 
offerings, even their heave offering unto the 
Lord. 

29 1T And the holy garments of Aaron 
shall * be his sons' after him, ° to be 
anointed therein, and to be consecrated in 
them. 

30 And 6 that son that is priest in his 
stead shall put them on b seven days, when 
he cometh into the tabernacle of the con- 
gregation to minister in the holy place. 

31 IT And thou shalt take the ram of the 
consecration, and "seethe his flesh in the 
holy place. 

32 And Aaron and his sons shall eat the 
flesh of the ram, and the d bread that is in 
the basket, by the door of the tabernacle of 
the congregation. 

33 And e they shall eat those things where- 
with the atonement was made, to conse- 
crate and to sanctify them: but 7 a stranger 
shall not eat thereof, because they are 
holy. 

34 And if ought of the flesh of the conse- 
crations, or of the bread, remain unto the 
morning, then thou shalt burn the remain- 
der with fire: it shall not be eaten, because 
it is holy. 

35 Ana thus shalt thou do unto Aaron, 
and to his sons, according to all things 
which I have commanded thee: /seven 
days shalt thou consecrate them. 

36 And thou shalt 9 offer every day a bul- 
lock/or a sin offering for atonement: and 
thou shalt cleanse the altar, when thou 
hast made an atonement for it, h and thou 
shalt anoint it, to sanctify it. 

37 Seven days thou shalt make an atone- 
ment for the altar, and sanctify it ; * and it 
shall be an altar most holy: 3 whatsoever 
toucheth the altar shall be holy. 

38 H Now this is that which thou shalt offer 
upon the altar; *two lambs of the first year 
dav l by day continually. 

39 The one lamb thou shalt offer m in the 
morning, and the other lamb thou shalt 
offer at even: 

40 And with the one lamb a tenth deal of 
flour mingled with the fourth part of an hin 
of beaten oil ; and the fourth part of an hin 
of wine for a drink offering. 

41 And the other lamb thou shalt "offer 



CHAP. 29. 

5 Or, shake 
to and fro. 

• Lev. 8. 28. 
u Lev. 8. 29. 
"Ps. 99. 6. 
«>Dou.l8.3. 
x Lev. 10. 15. 
V Lev. 7. 34. 
» Nu. 20. 26. 
a Nu. 35. 25. 

6 he of his 
sons. 

6 Lev. 8. 35. 
c Lev. 8. 31. 
d Mat. 12. 4. 

• Lev. 10. 14. 

7 every one 
not a Le- 
vi te. 

Num. 16. 
40. 

/ Lev. 8. 33. 
g He. 10. 11. 
ft eh. 30. 26. 
i ch. 40. 10. 
/ Mat. 23. 

19. 
h 1 Chr. 16. 

40. 
I Dan. 9. 27. 

Dan. 12. 

11. 
m Erek. 46. 

13. 
n Ps. 141. 2. 
o Dan. 8. 11. 
P Nu. 17. 4. 

8 Or, Israel. 
q 1 Kin. 8. 

11. 

Hag. 2. 
7,9. 

Mai. 3. 1. 
r Lev. 21. 
16. 

• Zech.2.10. 
John 14. 
17. 

2 Cor. 6. 

16. 

Rev. 21. 3. 



CHAP. 30. 

a ch. 37. 25. 

ch. 40. 6. 

6 Rev. 8. 3. 

1 roof. 

2 walls. 

3 ribs. 

4 incense of 
spices. 

1 Sa. 2. 28. 
1 Chr. 23. 
13. 
6 causeth to 
ascend, 
or, setteth 
up. 

6 between 
the two 
evens. 

c Lev. 10.1. 

d Lev. 23.27. 

«Nu. 1.2,5. 

2 Sa. 24. 2. 

7 them that 
are to be 
numbered. 
Nu. 31. 50. 

/Job 33. 24. 

Mat. 20.28. 

1 Tim. 2. 6. 

1 Pet. 1. 

18. 
g 2 Sam. 24. 

15. 
ft Mat.17.24. 



at even, and shalt do thereto according to 
the meat offering of the morning, ana ac- 
cording to the drink offering thereof, for a 
sweet savour, an offering made by fire unto 
the Lord. 

42 This shall be ° a continual burnt offer- 
ing throughout your generations, at the 
door of the tabernacle of the congregation, 
before the Lord: p where I will meet you, 
to speak there unto thee. 

43 And there I will meet with the children 
of Israel, and 8 the tabernacle q shall be 
sanctified by my glory. 

44 And I will sanctify the tabernacle of the 
congregation, and the altar: I will r sanctify 
also both Aaron and his sons, to minister 
to me in the priest's office. 

45 And 8 1 will dwell among the children of 
Israel, and will be their God. 

46 And they shall know that I am the 
Lord their God, that brought them foith 
out of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell 
among them: 1 am the Lord their God. 

CHAPTER XXX. 

1 The altar of incense. 11 The ransom of souls. 

17 The brasen laver. 22 The holy anointing oil. 

34 The composition of the perfume. 

A ND thou shalt make a an altar Ho burn 

■"■ incense upon : of shittim wood shalt 

thou make it. 

2 A cubit shall be the length thereof, and 
a cubit the breadth thereof; foursquare 
shall it be; and two cubits shall be the 
height thereof: the horns thereof shall be 
of the same. 

3 And thou shalt overlay it with pure 
gold, the * top thereof, and the 2 sides there- 
of round about, and the horns thereof: and 
thou shalt make unto it a crown of gold 
round about. 

4 And two golden rings shalt thou make 
to it under the crown of it, by the two 
3 corners thereof, upon the two sides of it 
shalt thou make it; and they shall be for 
places for the staves to bear it withal. 

5 And thou shalt make the staves of shit- 
tim wood, and overlay them with gold. 

6 And thou shalt put it before the veil that 
is by the ark of the testimony, before the 
mercyseat that is over the testimony, where 
I will meet with thee. 

7 And Aaron shall burn thereon 4 sweet 
incense every morning: when he dresseth 
the lamps, he shall burn incense upon it. 

8 And when Aaron 5 lighteth the lamps 
6 at even, he shall burn incense upon it; a 
perpetual incense before the Lord through- 
out your generations. 

9 Ye shall offer no c strange incense 
thereon, nor burnt sacrifice, nor meat of- 
fering; neither shall ye pour drink ottering 
thereon. 

10 And d Aaron shall make an atonement 
upon the horns of it once in a year with the 
blood of the sin offering of atonements; 
once in the year shall he make atonement 
upon it throughout your generations: it is 
most holy unto the Lord. 

11 1F And the Lord spake unto Moses, 
saying, 

12 When e thou takest the sum of the chil- 
dren of Israel after 7 their number, then 
shall they give every man /a ransom for his 
soul unto the Lord, when thou numberest 
them; that there be no ° plague among 
them, when thou numberest them. 

13 This h they shall give, every one that 
passeth among them that are numbered 



Appointment to the Priesthood. EXODUS, XXVIH. 

oil olive beaten— i.e., such as runs from the 
olives when bruised and without the appli- 
cation of fire. 21. Aaron and his sons— were 
to take charge of lighting it in all time 
coming— shall order it from evening to morning 
—The tabernacle having no windows, the 
lamps required to be lighted during the day. 
Josephus says that in his time only three 
were lighted; but his were degenerate times, 
and there is no scripture authority for this 
limitation. But although the priests were 
obliged from necessity to light them by day. 
they might have let them go out at night 
had it not been for this express ordinance. 
CHAPTER XXVHL 
Ver. 1-43. Appointment to the Priest- 
hood. 1. take thou . . . Aaron thy brother- 
Moses had hitherto discharged the priestly 
functions (Ps. 99. 6,), and he evinced the piety 
as well as humility of his character, in readily 
complying with the command to invest his 
brother with the sacred office, though it in- 
volved the perpetual exclusion of his own 
family. The appointment was a special act 
of God's sovereignty, so that there could be 
no ground for popular umbrage by the selec- 
tion of Aaron's family, with whom the office 
was inalienably established and continued 
in unbroken succession till the introduction 
of the Christian era. 2-5. holy garments— No 
inherent holiness belonged either to the ma- 
terial or the workmanship. But they are 
called " holy" simply because they were not 
worn on ordinary occasions, but assumed in 
the discharge of the sacred functions. (Ez. 
44. 19. for glory and beauty— It was a grand 
and sumptuous attire. In material, elaborate 
embroidery, and colour, it had an imposing 
splendour. The tabernacle being adapted to 
the infantine age of the church, it was right 
and necessary that the priest's garments 
should be of such superb and dazzling appear- 
ance, that the people might be inspired with 
a due respect for the ministers as well as the 
rites of religion. But they had also a further 
meaning; for being all made of linen, they 
were symbolical of the truth, purity, and 
other qualities in Christ that rendered Him 
such a high priest as became us. 6-14. ephod 
—It was a very gorgeous robe, made of 
byssus, curiously embroidered, and dyed 
with variegated colours, and further en- 
riched with golden tissue, the threads of 
gold being either originally interwoven or 
afterwards inserted by the embroiderer. It 
was short— reaching from the breast to a 
little below the loins— and though destitute 
of sleeves, retained its position by the sup- 

5ort of straps thrown over each shoulder, 
hese straps or braces, connecting the one 
with the back, the other with the front piece 
of which the tunic was composed, were united 
on the shoulder by two onyx stones, serv- 
ing as buttons, and on which the names of 
the twelve tribes were engraved, and set 
in golden encasements. The symbolical de- 
sign of this was, that the high priest, who 
bore the names along with him in all his j 
ministrations before the Lord, might be 
kept in remembrance of his duty to plead 
their cause, and supplicate the accomplish- 
ment of the divine promises in their favour. 
The ephod was fastened by a girdle of the 
same costly materials, i.e., dyed, embroider- 
ed, and wrought with threads of gold. It j 
was about a hand-breadth wide, and wound 
twice round the upper part of the waist; it i 



The Urim and Thummim. 



fastened in front, the ends hanging down 
at great length. (Eev. 1. 13.) 15-30. breast- 
plate of judgment— a very splendid and richly 
embroidered piece of brocade, a span square, 
and doubled, to enable it the better to bear 
the weight of the precious stones in it. There 
were twelve different stones, containing each 
the name of a tribe, and arranged in four 
rows, three in each. The Israelites had 
acquired a knowledge of the lapidary's art 
in Egypt, and the amount of their skill 
in cutting, polishing, and setting precious 
stones may be judged of by the diamond 
forming one of the engraved ornaments 
on this breastplate. A ring was attached 
to each corner, through which the golden 
chains were passed to fasten this brilliant 
piece of jewellery at the top and bottom 
tightly on the breast oi the ephod. 30. 
Urim and Thummim — The words signify 
'lights' and 'perfections;' and nothing more 
is meant than the precious stones of the 
breastplate already described, (cf. ch. 39. 
8-21, Lev. 8. 8.) They received the name be- 
cause the bearing of them qualified the high 
priest to consult the divine oracle on all 
public or national emergencies, by going into 
the holy place— standing close before the veil 
and putting his hand upon the Urim and 
Thummim, conveyed a petition from the peo- 
ple and asked counsel of God, who, as the 
Sovereign of Israel, gave response from the 
midst of His glory. Little, however, is 
known about them. But it maybe remarked 
that Egyptian judges wore on the breast of 
their official robes a representation of Jus- 
tice, and the High Priest in Israel long offi- 
ciated also as a Judge; so that some think 
the Urim and Thummim had a reference to 
his judicial functions. 31. the robe of the ephod 
—it was the middle garment, under the ephod 
and above the coat. It had a hole through 
which the head was thrust, and was formed 
carefully of one piece^such as was the coat 
of Christ (J. 19. 23.). The high priest's was of 
a sky-blue colour. The binding at the neck 
was strongly woven, and it terminated be- 
low in a fringe, made of blue, purple, and 
scarlet tassels, in the form of a pome- 
granate, interspersed with small bells of 
gold, which tinkled as the wearer was in 
motion. 34. a golden bell and a pomegranate— 
The bells were hung between the pome- 
granates, which are said to have amounted 
to 72, and the use of them seems to have 
been to announce to the people when the 
high priest entered the most holy place, that 
they might accompany him with their 
prayers, and also to remind himself to be 
attired in his official dress, to minister with- 
out which was death. 36-39. mitre— crown- 
bike cap for the head, not covering the entire 
head, but adhering closely to it, composed of 
fine linen. The Scripture has not described 
its form, but from Josephus we may gather 
that it was conical in shape, as he dis- 
tinguishes the mitres of the common priests 
by saying that they were not conical— that it 
was encircled with swathes of blue em- 
broidered, and that it was covered by one 
piece of fine linen to hide the seams, 
plate— lit. petal of a flower, which seems 
to have been the figure of this golden plate, 
which was tied with a ribbon of blue on 
the front of the mitre, so that every one 
facing him could read the inscription. 39. 
coat of fine linen— a garment fastened at 



The holy anointing oiL 



EXODUS, XXXI. 



Bezaleel and Aholiab called. 



half a shekel alter the shekel of the sanc- 
tuary: (a » shekel is twenty gerahs:) an half 
shekel shall bt the oiiering of the Lord. 

14 Every one that pusseih among them 
that are numbered, from twenty years old 
and above, shall give an oficrLug unto the 
Lord. 

15 The 3 rich shall not 8 give more, and 
the poor shall not '-' give less, than half a 
shekel, when they give an offering unto the 
Lord, to make' an atonement for your 
souls. 

10 And thou shalt take the atonement 
money of the children of Israel, and shalt 
appoint it for the service of the tabernacle 
of the con negation; that it may be k a me- 
morial unto the children of Israel before 
the Lord, to make an atonement lor your 

Souls. 

17 V And the Lord spake unto Moses, 
saying, 

18 Thou l shalt also make a laver of brass, 
and his foot also of brass, to wash ivithal: 
and thou shalt put it between the taberna- 
cle of the congregation and the altar, and 
thou shalt put water therein. 

19 For Aaron and his sons m shall wash 
their hands and their feet thereat. 

20 When they go into the tabernacle of 
the congregation, they shall wash with 
water, that they die not; or when they 
come near to the altar to minister, to burn 
otr'cring made by fire unto the Lord: 

'21 So they shall wash their hands and 
their feet, that they die not: and n it shall 
be a statute for ever to them, even to him 
and to his seed throughout their genera- 
tions. 

22 r Moreover the Lord spake unto Moses, 
saying. 

23 1 ake thou also unto thee ° principal 
spices, of pure^ myrrh five hundred shekels, 
and of sweet cinnamon half so much, even 
two hunched and fifty shekels, and of sweet 
2 calamus two hundred and fifty shekels, 

24 And of r cassia five hundred shekels, 
after the shekel of the sanctuary, and of oil 
olive an 8 Inn: 

25 And thou shalt make it an oil of holy 
ointment, an ointment compound after the 
art of the i (J apothecary: it shall be * an 
holy anointing oil. 

2G And u thuu shalt anoint the tabernacle 
of the congregation therewith, and the ark 
of the testimony, 

27 And the table and all his vessels, and 
the candlestick and his vessels, and the 
altar of incense, 

28 And the altar of burnt offering with all 
his vessels, and the laver and his foot. 

29 And thou shalt sanctify them, that thev 
may be most holy: v whatsoever toucheth 
them shall be holy. 

30 And ■ thou shalt-anoint Aaron and his 
sons, and consecrate them, that they may 
minister unto me in the priest's office. 

31 And thou shalt speak unto the children 
of Israel, saying, This shall be an holy an- 
ointing oil unto me throughout your gene- 
rations. 

52 Upon man's flesh shall it not be poured; 
neither shall ye make any other like it, 
after the composition of it: it is holy, and 
it shall be holy unto you. 

33 Whosoever compoundeth any like it, 
or whosoever putteth any of it upon z a 
stranger, v shall even be cut off from his 
Deopie. 

66 



B. C. 1491. 



CHAP. 30. 
i Lev. 1:7. 25. 

Ezek. 45. 

12. 
; Job 34. 19. 

Epl.. 6. 0. 

Col. 3.25. 
8 multiply. 

diminish. 
k Nam. 26. 

•t.. 

1 1 Kin. 7. 
S8. 

m la. 52. 11. 
Heb. 10. 

22. 
n C h. 28. 43. 
o Song 4. 

14. 

Ezek. 27. 

22. 
p Ps. 45. 8. 
O Jer. G. 20. 
r Ps 45. 8. 
3 ch. 29. 40. 

10 Or, per- 
fumer. 

t Num. 35. 

25. 

Ps. 89. 20. 

Ps. 133. 2. 
U Lev. 8. 10. 

Xu. 7. 1. 
v ch. 29. 37. 
u> ch. 29. 7. 

Lev. 8. 12, 

30. 
x One not a 

priest. 

Lev. 22. 

10.12.13. 

Nu.1.51. 

Xu. 3. 10. 
V Gen. 17. 

14. 

Lev. 7. 20, 

21. 
Z ch. 25. 6. 

ch. 37. 29. 

11 salted. 
Lev. 2. 
13. 

a ch. 29. 42. 

Lev. 16. 2. 
6 ch. 29. 37. 

Lev. 2. 3. 



CHAP. 3L 
a eh. 35. SO. 

b 1 Chr. 2. 

20. 
c 1 Kin. 7. 

14. 

Is. 28. 26. 

1 Cor. 12. 

4-8. 
d ch. 35. 34. 
e ch. 28. 3. 
/ch. 36.8. 
1 vessels. 
g Lev. 19. 3. 

Ezek. 20. 

12. 

Ezek. 44. 

24. 
ftNeh. 9. 

14. 

Deu. 5. 12. 

Is. 53. l. 

Is. 58. 13. 

Ezek. 20. 

12. 
i ch. 35. 2. 

Nu. 15. 35. 
j Gen. 2. 2. 
| ch. 16. 23. 
I 2 holiness. 
i eo.S8.36. 



34 r And the Lord said unto Moses, 
Take z unto thee sweet spices, btaete, and 
onyeha, and galbanum ; these sueet spices 
with pure frankincense: of each shall there 
be a ukeiceight. 

35 And thou shalt make it a perfume, a 
confection after the art of the apothecary, 
11 tempered together, pure and holy. 

36 And thou shalt beat some of "it very 
small, and put of it before the testimony in 
the tabernacle of the congregation, tZ w here 
I will meet with thee: * it shall be unto you 
most holy. 

37 And as for the perfume which thou 
shalt make, ye shall not make to yourselves 
according to the composition thereof: it 
shall be unto thee holy for the Lord. 

38 Whosoever shall make like unto that, 
to smell thereto, shall even be cut off from 
his people. 

CHAPTER XXXI. 
1 Bezaleel and Aholiab are called and qualified 
for the work of the tabernacle. 12 Of the Sab- 
bath. 18 Moses rtceiveth the two tabi.es. 

A ND the Lord spake unto Moses, saying. 
■"- 2 See, a lhave called by name Bezak-el 
the b son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the 
tribe of Judah: 

3 And I have c filled him with the spirit of 
God. in wisdom, and in understanding, and 
in knowledge, and in all manner of work- 
manship, 

4 To uevise cunning works, to work in 
gold, and in silver, and in brass, 

5 And in cutting of stones, to set them. 
and in carving of timber, to work in all 
manner of workmanship. 

6 And I, behold, 1 have given with him 
Aholiab d the son of Ahisamach, of the 
tribe of Dan: and in the hearts of all that 
are e wise-hearted 1 have put wisdom, that 
they may make all that I have commanded 
thee- 

7 The / tabernacle of the congregation, 
and the ark of the testimony, and the 
mercyseat that is thereupon, and all the 
1 furniture of the tabernacle, 

8 And the table and his iumiture, and the 
pure candlestick with all his furniture, and 
the altar of incense, 

y And the altar of burnt offering with all 
his furniture, and the laver and his foot, 

10 And the cioths of service, and the holy 
garments for Aaron the priest, and the 
garments of his sons, to minister in the 
priest's office, 

11 And the anointing oil, and sweet in- 
cense for the holy place: according to all 
that I have commanded thee shall they do. 

12 r And the Lord spake unto Moses, 
saying, 

13 ?>peak thou also unto the children of 
Israel, saying, g Verily my sabbaths ye 
shall keep: for it is a sign between me and 
you throughout your generations ; that ye 
may know that I am the Lord that doth 
sanctify you. 

14 Ye h shall keep the sabbath therefore; 
for it is holy unto you: every one that de- 
fileth it shall surely be put to death: for 
whosoever « doeth any work therein, that 
soul shall be cut off from among his people. 

15 Six days may work be done ; but in the 
seventh i is the sabbath of rest, - holy to 
the Lord: whosoever doeth any work in 
the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to 
death. 

lti Wherefore the children of Israel shall 



Consecration of the Priests, &c. EXODUS, XXIX, XXX. Institution oj Daily Service. 



the neck, and reaching far down the per- 
son, with the sleeves terminating at the 
elbow, girdle of needle-work— a piece of fine 
twined linen, richly embroidered, and va- 
riously dyed. It is said to have been very 
long, and being many times wound round 
the body, it was fastened in front, and the 
ends hung down,which,being an impediment 
to a priest in active duty, were usually tnrown 
across the shoulders. This was the outer 
garment of the common priests. 40. bonnets 
—turbans. 42. linen breeches— drawers, which 
encompassed the loins and reached half way 
down the thighs. They are seen very fre- 
quently represented in Egyptian figures. 
CHAPTER XXIX. 
Ver. 1-35. Consecrating the Priests 
and the Altar. 1. hallow them— The act of 
inaugurating the priests was accompanied 
by ceremonial solemnities well calculated 
not only to lead the people to entertain ex- 
alted views of the office, but to impress those 
functionaries themselves with a profound 
sense of its magnitude and importance. In 
short, they were taught to know that the ser- 
vice was lor them as well as for the people; 
and every time they engaged in a new per- 
formance of their duties, they were reminded 
of their personal interest in the worship, by 
being obliged to offer for themselves, before 
they were qualified to offer as the representa- 
tives of the people, this is the thing; thou 
shalt do— Steps are taken at the beginning of 
a society, which would not be repeated, when 
the social machine was in full motion; and 
Moses, at the opening of the tabernacle, was 
employed to discharge functions, which in 
later periods would have been regarded as 
sacrilege, laying an unhallowed hand on the 
ark, and punished with instant death. But 
he acted under the special directions of God. 
4. door of the tabernacle— As occupying the in- 
termediate space between the court where the 
people stood,andthe dwelling-place oflsrael's 
king, and therefore the fittest spot for the 
priests being duly prepared for entrance, and 
the people witnessing the ceremony of inau- 
guration. 4-10.wash them with water, and take 
the garments— The manner in which these 
parts of the ceremonial was performed is 
minutely described, and in discovering their 
symbolical import, which, indeed, is suffi- 
ciently plain and obvious, we have inspired 
authority to guide us. It signified the neces- 
sity and importance of moral purity or holi- 
ness. (Is. 52. 11; Jo. 13. 10; 2 Cor. 7. 1; 1 Pet. 
3. 21.) In like manner, the investiture with 
the holy garments signified their being 
clothed with righteousness, (Rev. 19. 8,) and 
equipped as men active and well prepared 
for the service of God; the anointing the 
high priest with oil, denoted that he was to 
be filled with the influences of the Spirit, for 
the edification and delight of the church. 
(Lev. 10. 7; Ps. 45. 7; Is. 61. 1; U. 2. 27.), and 
as he was officially a type of Christ. (Heb. 7. 
26; J. 3. 34; also Matt. 3. 16; 11. 29.) Thou shalt 
cause a bullock— This part of the ceremonial 
consisted of three sacrifices— (1.) The sacrifice 
of a bullock, as a sin offering; and in render- 
ing it, the priest was directed to put his hand 
upon the head of his sacrifice, expressing by 
that act a consciousness of personal guilt, 
and a wish that it might be accepted as a 
vicarious satisfaction. (2.) The sacrifice of a 
ram as a burnt offering— (r 15-is)— the ram 



priest's dedication of himself to God and his 
service. The sin offering was first to be pre- 
sented, and then the burnt-offering; for until 
guilt be removed, no acceptable service can 
be performed. (3.) There was to be a peace 
offering, called the ram of consecration, (v. 
19-22.) And there was a marked peculiarity 
in the manner in which this other ram was 
to be disposed of. The former was for the 
glory of God— this was for the comfort of the 
priest himself; and as a sign of a mutual 
covenant being ratified, the blood of the 
sacrifice was divided,— part sprinkled on the 
altar round about, and part upon the persons 
and garments of the priests. Nay, the blood 
was, by a singular act, directed to be put 
upon the extremities of the body, thereby 
signifying that the benefits of the atonement 
would be applied to the whole nature of man. 
Moreover, the flesh of this sacrifice was to be 
divided, as it were, between God and the 
priest,— part of it to be put into his hand to 
be waived up and down, in token of its being 
offered to God, and then it was to be burnt 
upon the altar; the other part was to be eaten 
by the priests at the door of the tabernacle- 
that feast being a symbol of communion or 
fellowship with God. These ceremonies, per- 
formed in the order described, shewed the 
qualifications necessary for the priests. (See 
He. 7. 26, 27; 10. 14.) 35. seven days— The re- 
newal of these ceremonies on the return of 
every day in the seven, with the intervention 
of a Sabbath, was a wise preparatory ar- 
rangement, in order to afford a sufficient in- 
terval for calm and devout reflection. (He. 
9. 1; 10. 1.) 

36, 37. Consecration of the Altar. 36. 
thou shalt cleanse the altar— The phrase "when 
thou hast made an atonement for it," should 
be, upon it; and the purport of the direction 
is, that during all the time they were engaged 
as above from day to day, in offering the ap- 
pointed sacrifices, the greatest care was to be 
taken to keep the altar properly cleansed,— 
to remove the ashes, and sprinkle it with the 
prescribed unction, that at the conclusion of 
the whole ceremonial, the altar itself should 
be consecrated as much as the ministers who 
were to officiate at it. (Matt. 23. 19.) It was 
thenceforth associated with the services of 
religion. 

38-46. Institution of Daily Service. 
38. two lambs— The sacred preliminaries be- 
ing completed, Moses was instructed in the 
end or design to which these preparations 
were subservient, viz.— the worship of God; 
and hence the institution of the morning and 
evening sacrifice. The institution was so 
imperative, that in no circumstances was this 
daily oblation to be dispensed with; and the 
due observance of it would secure the oft pro- 
mised grace and blessing of their heavenly 
King. 

CHAPTER XXX. 

Ver. 1-10. The Altar of Incense. 1. 
Thou shalt make an altar, &c— Its material 
was to be like that of the ark of the testi- 
mony, but its dimensions very small, four 
square— the meaning of which is not that it 
was to be entirely of a cubical form, but that 
upon its upper and under surface, it showed 
four equal sides. It was twice as high as it 
was broad, being 21 inches broad and 3 feet 
6 inches high. It had "horns;" its top or 
flat surface was surmounted by an ornain en- 



was to be wholly burnt, in token of thecal ledge or rim, called a crown, and it was 



The people make a golden calf. 



EXODUS, XXXII. 



TJie idolaters slain. 



keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath 
throughout their generations, for a per- 
petual covenant. 

17 It is k a sign between me and the chil- 
dren of Israel lor ever: for l in six days the 
Loud made heaven and earth, and on the 
seventh day he rested, and was refreshed. 

18 IF And he gave mito Moses, when he 
had made an end of communing with him 
upon mount Sinai, m two tables of testi- 
mony, tables of stone, written with the 
finger of God. 

CHAPTER XXXII. 

1 The people in Moses' absence cav.se Aarrn to 
make a calf. 19 Moses breaketh the tables. 25 
The idolaters slain. SO Moses prayeth for the 
people. 

A JSD when the people saw that Moses 
-°- a delayed to come down out of the 
mount, the people gathered themselves to- 
gether unto Aaron, and said unto him, 
Up, ^make us gods, which shall go before 
us; for as for this Moses, the man that 
brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we 
wot not what is become of him. 

2 And Aaron said unto them, Break off 
tlie c golden earrings which are in the ears 
or' your wives, of your sons, and of your 
daughters, and bring them mito me. 

And all the people brake off the golden 
earrings which were in their ears, and 
brought them unto Aaron. 

1 And d he received them at their hand, 
and fashioned it with a graying tool, after 
lie had made it a molten calf: and they 
said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which 
brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. 

5 And when Aaron saw it, he built an 
altar before it; and Aaron made e procla- 
mation, and said, To-morrow is a feast to 
the Lord. 

G And they rose up early on the morrow, 
and offered burnt offerings, and brought 
peace offerings; and the /people sat down 
to cat and to drink, and rose up to play. 

7 If And the Lord said unto Moses, 9 Go, 
get thee down; for thy people, which thou 
bioughtest out of the land of Egypt, /4 have 
corrupted themselves: 

8 They have turned aside quickly out of 
the way which i * commanded them: they 
have made them a molten calf, and have 
worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereun- 
to, and said, J These be thy gods, O Israel, 
which have brought thee up out of the land 
of Egypt. 

9 And the Lord said mito Moses, * I have 
seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiff- 
necked people: 

10 Now therefore J let me alone, that my 
wrath may wax hot against them, and that 
1 may consume them, and m I will make of 
thee a great nation. 

11 And n Moses besought the i Lord his 
God, and said, Lord, why doth thy wrath 
wax hot against thy people, which thou 
hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt 
with great power, and with a mighty 
hand? 

12 Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, 
and say. For mischief did lie brine: them 
out, to slav them In the mountains, and to 
consume them from the face of the earth? 
Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of 
tliis evil against thy people. 

13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, 
thy servants, to whom thou ° swarest by 
thine own self, and saidst unto them, p I 

07 



B. C. 1491. 



CHAP. 31. 
k Ezek. 20. 

12. 
I Gen. 1. 31. 
»" ch. 32. 16. 

Deu. 4.13. 

2 Cor. 3.3. 



CHAP. 32. 

Deu. 9. 9. 
6 Is. 41. 6, 7. 

Acts 7. 40. 
c Judg. 8. 24. 
d 1 Kin. 12. 

28. 

Neh. 9. 18. 

Ps. 106.19. 

Is. 40. 6. 

Acts 7. 41. 

Ro. 1. 23. 
e Lev. 23. 2. 
2 Ki. 10.20. 
/I Cor. 10.7. 
V Dan. 9. 24. 
h Gen. 6. 11. 

Deu. 4. 1(3. 

JuuV.2.19. 

Hos! 9. 9. 
i Deu. 9. 16. 
j 1 Kin. 12. 

28. 
k 2 Chr.30.8. 

Is. 48. 4. 

Acts 7. 51. 

1 Deu. 9. 14. 
m Nu. 14.12. 
n Ps. 74. 1. 

1 the fate 
of the 
LORD. 

° Heb. 6. 13. 
P Ge. 12. 7. 
5 Nu. 23. 19. 

Deu. 32.36. 

2 Sa.24.16. 

1 Chr. 21. 

15. 

Jer. 18. 8. 

Hos. 11. 8. 

Joel 2. 13. 

Jon. 3. 10. 
r Deu. 9. 15. 
Sen. 31. 18. 

2 weakness. 
t Gen. 20. 9. 
w ch. 15. 24. 
f ch. 33.4,5. 
w 2 Chr. 28. 

19. 

3 those that 
rose up 
against 
them. 

x Deu. 33. 9. 

4 Or. And 
Moses said, 
Consecrate 
yourselves 
to-day to 
the LOUD, 
because 
every man 
hath been 
against his 
son. and 
against his 
brother, 
etc. 

Num. 25. 
11. 
Zech.13.3. 

5 Fill your 
hands. 

V 1 Sam. 12. 

20. 
2 2 Sam. 16. 

12. 

Amos 5. 15. 



will multiply your seed as the stars of 
heaven, and all this land that I have 
spoken of will I give unto your seed, and 
they shall inherit it for ever. 

14 And the Lord q repented of the evil 
which he thought to do mito his people. 

15 IF And r Moses turned, and went down 
from the mount, and the two tables of the 
testimony were in his hand : the tables 
were written on both their sides; on the 
one side and on the other were they writ- 
ten. 

16 And the 8 tables were the work of God, 
and the writing was the writing of God, 
graven upon the tables. 

17 And when Joshua heard the noise of the 
people as they shouted, he said mito Moses, 
There is a noise of war in the camp. 

18 And he said, It is not the voice of them 
that shout for mastery, neither is it the voice 
of them that cry for 2 being overcome ; but 
the noise of them that sing do I hear. 

19 1F And it came to pass, as soon as he 
came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the 
calf, and the dancing : and Moses' anger 
waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of 
his hands, and brake them beneath the 
mount. 

20 And he took the calf which they had 
made, and burnt it in the fire, and ground 
it to powder, and strawed it upon the 
water, and made the children of Israel 
chink of it. 

21 And Moses said unto Aaron, * What did 
this people unto thee, that thou hast 
brought so great a sin upon them? 

22 And Aaron said, Let not the anger of 
my lord wax hot: u thou knowest the peo- 
ple, that they are set on mischief. 

23 For they said unto me, Make us gods 
which shall go before us: for as for this 
Moses, the man that brought us up out of 
the land of Egypt, we wot not what is be- 
come of him. 

21 And I said unto them, Whosoever hath 
any gold, let them break it off. So they 
gave it me: then I cast it into the fire, and 
there came out this calf. 

25 1F And when Moses saw that the peo- 
ple were v naked, (for Aaron ""had made 
them naked unto their shame among 3 their 
enemies,) 

26 Then Moses stood in the gate of the 
camp, and said, Who is on the Lord's 
side ? let him come mito me. And all 
the sons of Levi gathered themselves to- 
gether unto him. 

27 And he said unto them, Thus saith the 
Lord God of Israel, Put every man his 
sword by his side, and go in and out from 
gate to gate throughout the camp, and 
*slay every man his brother, and every 
man his companion, and every man Ins 
neighbour. 

28 And the children of Levi did accord- 
ing to the word of Moses: and there fell of 
the people that day about three thousand 
men. 

29 * For Moses had said, 5 Consecrate 
yourselves to-day to the Lord, even every 
man upon his son, and upon his brother; 
that he may bestow upon you a blessing 
this day. 

30 IT And it came to pass on the morrow, 
that Moses said mito the people, y Ye have 
sinned a great sin: and now I will go up 
unto the Lord ; * peradventure I shall make 
an atonement for j our sin. 



The Altar of Incense. 



EXODUS, XXX. 



The Brazen Larer. 



iarnished at the sides with rings for carriage. 
Its only accompanying piece of furniture was 
a golden censer or pan, in which the incense 
was set fire to upon the altar. Hence it was 
called the altar of incense, or the " golden 
altar," from the profuse degree in which it 
was gilded or overlaid with the precious 
metal. This splendour was adapted to the 
early age of the church, but in later times 
when the worship was to be more spiritual, 
the altar of incense is prophetically described 
asnotofgoldbutofwood, and double the size 
of that in the tabernacle, because the church 
should be vastly extended, (Mai. 1. 11.) 6. 
Thou shalt put it before the veil— which separ- 
ated the holy from the most holy place. 
The tabernacle was in the middle, between 
the table of show-bread and the candlestick 
next the holy of holies, at equal distances 
from the north and south walls; in other 
words, it occupied a spot on the outside of 
the great partition veil, but directly in front 
of the mercyseat, which was within that 
sacred enclosure so that although the priest 
who ministered at this altar could not be- 
hold the mercy seat, he was to look towards 
it, and present his incense in that direction. 
This was a special arrangement, and it was 
designed to teach the important lesson- 
that though we cannot with the eye of sense, 
see the throne of grace, we must " direct our 
prayer to it and look up." (cf. 2 Cor. 3. 14; 
Re. 4. 1; He. 10. 20.) 7. sweet incense— lit. 
incense of spices— strong aromatic substan- 
ces were burnt upon this altar to counteract 
by their odoriferous fragrance the offensive 
fumes of the sacrifices: or the incense was 
employed in an offering of tributary homage 
which the Orientals used to make as a 
mark of honour to kings; and as God was 
Theocratic Kuler of Israel, His palace was 
not to be wanting in a usage of such sig- 
nificancy. Both these ends were served 
by this altar,— that of fumigating the apart- 
ments of the sacred edifice, while the 
pure lambent flame, according to Orien- 
tal notions, was an honorary tribute to the 
majesty of Israel's King. But there was a far 
higher meaning in it still: for as the taber- 
nacle was not only a palace for Israel's King, 
but a place of worship for Israel's God, this 
altar was immediately connected with a 
religious purpose. In the style of the sacred 
writers, incense was a symbol or emblem of 
prayer, (Ps. 141. 2; Re. 5. 8; 8. 3.) From the uni- 
form combination of the two services, it is 
evident that the incense was an emblem 
of the prayers of sincere worshippers as- 
cending to heaven in the cloud of perfume; 
and accordingly the priest who officiated at 
this altar typified the intercessory office of 
Christ. (Lu. 1. 10; He. 7. 25.) 8. Aaron 
shall burn incense— seemingly limiting the 
privilege of officiating at the altar of incense 
to the High Priest alone, and there is no 
doubt that he and his successors exclusively 
attended this altar on the great religious 
festivals. But "Aaron" is frequently used 
for the whole priestly order; and in later 
times, any of the priests might have offici- 
ated at this altar in rotation. (Lu. 1. 9.) 
Every morning... at even— In every period Of 
the national history, this daily worship was 
scrupulously observed. 9. Ye shall offer no 
strange incense— i.e., of a different composi- 
tion from that of which the ingredients are 
described so minutely. 11-16. When thou 
67 



takest, &c— Moses did so twice, and doubt- 
less observed the law here prescribed. The 
tax was not levied from women, minors, old 
men (Nu. 1. 42, 45,) and the Levites, (Nu. 1. 
47,) they being not numbered. Assuming 
the shekel of the sanctuary to be about half- 
an-ounce troy, though nothing certain is 
known about it, the sum payable by each 
individual was two - and - fourpence. This 
was not a voluntary contribution, but a 
ransom for the soul, or lives of the people. 
It was required from all classes alike, and a 
refusal to pay implied a wilful exclusion 
from the privileges of the sanctuary, as well 
as exposure to divine judgments. It was 
probably the same impost that was exacted 
from our Lord, (Mat. 17. 24-27,) and it was 
usually devoted to repairs and other pur- 
poses connected with the services of the 
sanctuary. 17-21. Thou shalt makealaverof 
brass— Though not actually forming a com- 
ponent part of the furniture of the taber- 
nacle, this vase was closely connected with 
it; and though from standing at the entrance 
it would be a familiar object, it possessed 
great interest and importance from the bap- 
tismal purposes to which it was applied. 
No data are given by which its form and 
size can be ascertained; but it was probably 
a miniature pattern of Solomon's — a circular 
basin. 18. his foot — supposed not to be the 
pedestal on which it rested, but a trough 
or shallow receptacle below, into which 
the water, let out from a cock or spout, 
flowed; for the way in which all eastern 
people wash their hands or feet is by pouring 
upon them the water which falls into a 
bason. This laver was provided for the 
priests alone. But in the Christian dispen- 
sation, all believers are priests, and hence 
the apostle exhorts them how to draw near 
to God. (He. 10. 22; Jo. 13. 10.) 22, 33. Take 
thou also, <fec— Oil is frequently mentioned 
in scripture as an emblem of sanctification, 
and anointing with it a means of designating 
objects as well as persons to the service of 
God. Here it is prescribed by divine autho- 
rity, and the various ingredients in their 
several proportions described which were 
to compose the oil used in consecrating the 
furniture of the tabernacle, myrrh— a fra- 
grant and medicinal gum from a little known 
tree in Arabia, sweet cinnamon— produced 
from a species of laurel or sweet bay, found 
chiefly in Ceylon, growing to a height of 
twenty feet: this spice is extracted from the 
inner bark, but it is not certain whether 
that mentioned by Moses is the same as that 
with which we are familiar, sweet calamus— 
or sweet cane, a product of Arabia and India, 
of a tawny colour in appearance; it is like 
the common cane, and strongly odoriferous, 
cassia— from the same species of tree as the 
cinnamon— some think the outer bark of 
that tree. All these together would amount 
to 120 lbs. troy weight. Hin— a word of 
Egyptian origin, equal to ten pints. Being 
mixed with the oil olive— no doubt of the 
purest kind— this composition probably re- 
mained always in a liquid state, and the 
strictest prohibition issued against using it 
for any other purpose than anointing the 
tabernacle and its furniture. 34-38. Take 
unto thee sweet spices— These were: stacte, 
the finest myrrh; onycha, supposed to be an 
odoriferous shell; galbanum, a gum -resin 
from an umbelliferous plant, frankincense— 



The tabernacle removed. 



31 And Moses returned unto the Lord, 
and said, Oh, this people have sinned a 
great sin, and have made them gods of 
gold! 

32 Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin— r 
and if not, a blot me, 1 pray thee, b out of 
thy book which thou hast written. 

33 And the Lord said unto Moses, c Who- 
soever hath sinned against me, him will I 
blot out of my book. 

34 Therefore now go, lead the people unto 
the place of which I have spoken unto thee: 
behold, d mine Angel shall go before thee: 
nevertheless e in the day when I visit I will 
visit their sin upon them. 

35 And the Lord plagued the people, be- 
cause / they made the calf which Aaron 
made. 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 

1 The Lord refuseth to go with the -people. 7 The 

tabernacle removed out of the camp. 9 He 

talketh ivith Moses. 12 Moses prayeih for God's 

presence: 18 desireth to see his glory. 

A ND the Lord said unto Moses, Depart, 
- £X and go up hence, thou and the people 
which thou hast brought up out of the land 
of Egypt, unto the land which I sware unto 
Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, 
Unto a thy seed will I give it: 

2 And I will send an Angel before thee; 
and b I will drive out the Canaanite, the 
Amoiite, and the Hittite, and the Berizzite, 
the Hivite, and the Jebusite: 

3 Unto a land flowing with milk and 
honey: for I will not go up in the midst of 
thee; for thou art a c stin-necked people; 
lest I consume thee in the way. 

4 IT And when the people heard these evil 
tidings, they mourned: d and no man did 
put on him his ornaments. 

5 For the Lord had said unto Moses, Say 
unto the children of Israel, Ye are a stin- 
necked people: I will come up into the 
midst of thee in a moment, and consume 
thee: therefore now put oft" thy ornaments 
from thee, that I may e know what to do 
unto thee. 

6 And the children of Israel stripped them- 
selves of their ornaments by the mount 
Horeb. 

7 And Moses took the tabernacle, and 
pitched it without the camp, afar oft from 
the camp, and called it The Tabernacle of 
the Congregation. And it came to pass, 
that every one which / sought the Lord 
went out unto the tabernacle of the con- 
gregation, which was without the camp. 

8 And it came to pass, when Moses went 
out unto the tabernacle, tliat all the people 
rose up, and stood every man y at his tent 
door, and looked after Moses, until he was 
gone into the tabernacle. 

y And it came to pass, as Moses entered 
into the tabernacle, the cloudy pillar de- 
scended, and stood at the door of the ta- 
bernacle, and the LOUD * talked with 
Moses. 

10 And all the people saw the cloudy pil- 
lar stand at the tabernacle door: and all 
the people rose up and worshipped, every 
man in his tent door. 

11 And • the Lord spake unto Moses face 
to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. 
And he turned again into the camp: but 
/his servant Joshua, the son of !Nun, a 
young man, departed not out of the taber- 
nacle. 

12 H And Moses said unto the Lord, See, 



CHAP. 32. 
a Deu.9.14. 

Ps. GO. 28. 

Rom. 9. 3. 
o Phil. 4. 3. 

Rev. 22.19. 
c Lev. 23. 30. 

Ezek. 18. 4. 
dNu. 20.16. 
e Amos 3. 14. 

Ro. 2. 5, 6. 
/ 2 Sa. 12. 9. 



CHAP. 33. 

a Gen. 12. 7. 
6 Deut 7- 22. 

Josh. 24. 

11. 
c ch. 32. 9. 

Deu. 9. 6. 
d 2 Sam. 19. 

24. 
ePs. 139.23. 
/2Sa. 21. 1. 
g Nu. 16. 27. 
h Ps. 9'J. 7. 
i Gen. 32. 30. 
Deut. 34. 
10. 

Deu. 5. 24. 
j ch. 24. 13. 
k Jer. 1. 5. 

John 10. 

14. 

2 Tim. 2. 

19. 
I ch. 34. 9. 
mPs. 27.11. 

Ps.119.33. 
MDeu. 9.20. 

Joel 2. 17. 

ch. 40. 
34-33. 
Is. 63. 9. 

p Deu. 3. 20. 
Josh. 23.1. 
Ps. 95. 11. 

1 ch. 34. 9. 
fXu 14.14. 
8 2 Sam. 7. 

23. 

Ps. 147. 

20. 

Titus 2.14. 
tGen.19.2L. 
Jam. 5. 16. 
U 1 Tim. 6. 

16. 

V Jer. 31. 14. 
w Rom. 9. 

15. 
Z Rom. 4. 4. 

V Gen. 32.30. 
Judg. 13. 
22. 

Is. 6. 5. 
* Is. 2. 21. 
a Ps. 91. 1, 4. 
6 Jolm 1. 18. 

1 Tim.6.16, 

1 John 1. 

12. 



EXODUS. XXXIII, XXXIV. The Lord's name pr oclaimed. 

thou sa3'est unto me, Bring up this people: 
and thou hast not let me know whom tnou 
wilt send with me: yet thou hast said, k l 
know thee by name, and thou hast also 
found grace in my sight. 

13 Mow therefore, I pray thee, l if I have 
found grace in thy sight, m show me now 
thy way, that 1 ir»ay know thee, that I may 
find grace in thy sight ; and consider that 
this nation is n thy people. 

14 And he said, ° My presence shall go 
with thee, and I will give thee p rest. 

15 And he said unto him, q If thy presence 
go not with me, carry us not up hence. 

16 Eor wherein shall it be known here that 
I and thy people have found grace hi thy 
sight? r Is it not v< that thou goest with 
us? so 8 shall we 1 i eparated, I and thy 
people, from all the people that are upon 
the face of the earth. 

17 And the Lord said unto Moses, * I will 
do this thing also that thou hast spoken: 
for thou hast found grace in my sight, and 
1 know thee by name. 

18 And he said, I beseech thee, show me 
thy u glory. 

ly And he said, v I will make all my good- 
ness pass beiore thee, and I will proclaim 
the name of the Lord before thee; w and 
will be x gracious to whom I will be gra- 
cious, and will show mercy on whom I will 
show mercy. 

20 And he said, Thou canst not see my 
face: for y there shall no man see me, and 
Eve. 

21 And the Lord said, Behold, tliere is a 
place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a 
rock: 

22 And it shall come to pass, while my 
glory passeth by, that I will put thee z in a 
clift of the rock, and will a cover thee with 
mv hand while I pass by: 

23 And I will take away mine hand, and 
thou shalt see my back parts ; but my face 
shall b not be seen. 

CHAETER XXXIV. 

1 The tables are renewed. 5 The name of the 
L OR1) proclaimed. 10 God maketh a covenant 
with the people. 29 Moses' face shineth. 

AXI) the Lord said unto Moses, °IIew 
-^ thee two tables of stone like unto the 
first; and & I will write upon these tables 
the words that were in the first tables, 
which thou brakest. 

2 And be ready in the morning, and come 
up in the morning unto mount Sinai, and 
present thyself there to me in the top or 
the mount. 

3 And no man shall come up with thee, 
neither let any man be seen throughout all 
the mount; neither let the flocks nor herds 
feed before that mount. 

4 % And he hewed two tables of stone like 
unto the first: and Moses rose up early in 
the morning, and went up unto mount 
Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, 
and took in his hand the two tables of 
stone. 

5 And the Lord descended in the cloud, 
and stood with him there, and proclaimed 
the name of the Lord. 

6 And the Lord passed by before him, and 
proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord c God. 
merciful and gracious, long-sunering, and 
abundant in d goodness and e truth, 

7 Keeping/ mercy foi thousands, g lorgiv- 
ing iniquity and transgression and sin and 
that h will by no means clear the guilty; 



CHAP. 34. 
a Deu. 10. 1. 
6 Deut. 10. 

2,4. 
e Neh. 9. 17. 

Joel 2. 13. 
d Rom. 2. 4. 
e Ps. 108. 4. 
/Jer. 32.18. 

Dan. 9. 4. 
g Ep. 4. 32. 

1 John 1.9. 
h Jos. 24. 19. 

Job 10. 14. 



Bezaleel and Aholiab. 



EXODUS, XXXI, XXXIL 



The Golden Calf. 



a dry, resinous, aromatic gum, of a yellow 
colour, which comes from a tree in Arabia, 
and is obtained by incision of the bark. 
This incense was placed within the sanctu- 
ary, to be at hand when the priest required 
to burn on the altar. The art of compound- 
ing unguents and perfumes was well-known 
in Egypt, where sweet scented spices were 
extensively used not only in common life, 
but in the ritual of the temples. Most of 
the ingredients here mentioned have been 
found on minute examination of mummies 
and other Egyptian relics; and the Israelites, 
therefore, would have the best opportuni- 
ties of acquiring in. that country the skill in 
pounding and mixing them which they were 
called to exercise in the service of the taber- 
nacle. But the receipe for the incense as well 
as for the oil in the tabernacle, though it 
receives illustration from the customs of 
Egypt, was peculiar, and being prescribed by 
divine authority, was to be applied to no 
common or inferior purpose. 

CHAPTER XXXI. 
Ver. 1-18. Bezaleel and Aholiab. 2. 
See I have called— Though the instructions 
about the tabernacle were privately commu- 
nicated to Moses, it was plainly impossible 
that he could superintend the work in person, 
amid the multiplicity of his other duties. A 
head director or builder was selected by God 
himself; and the nomination by such high 
authority removed all ground of jealousy or 
discontent on the part of any who might have 
thought their merits overlooked, (cf. Matt. 
18. 1.) "by name Bezaleel— Signifying "in the 
shadow or protection of God;" and, as called 
to discharge a duty of great magnitude— to 
execute a confidential trust in the ancient 
church of God, has his family and lineage 
recorded with marked distinction. He be- 
longed to the tribe of Judah, which, doubt- 
less for wise and weighty reasons, God all 
along delighted to honour; and he was the 
grandson of Hur, a pious patriot, (17. 12,) who 
was associated, by a special commission, with 
Aaron in the government of the people during 
the absence of Moses. Moreover, it may be 
noticed that a Jewish tradition affirms Hur to 
be the husband of Miriam; and if this tradi- 
tion may be relied on, it affords an additional 
reason for the appointment of Bezaleel ema- 
nating from the direct authority of God. 
3-5. I have filled him with the spirit of God— It 
is probable that he was naturally endowed 
with a mechanical genius, and had acquired 
in Egypt great knowledge and skill in the 
useful, as well as literal arts, so as to 
be a first-class artisan, competent to take 
charge of both the plain and ornamental 
work, which the building of the sacred edifice 
required. When God has any special work 
to be accomplished, He always raises up in- 
struments capable of doingit; and it islikely 
that He had given to the son of Uri that 
strong natural aptitude, and those oppor- 
tunities of gaining mechanical skill, with an 
ultimate view to this responsible office. Not- 
withstanding his grand duty was to conform 
with scrupulous fidelity to the pattern fur- 
nished, there was still plenty of room for in- 
ventive talent and tasteful exactness in the 
execution ; and hi s natural and acquired gifts 
were enlarged and invigorated for the impor- 
tant work. 6. I have given with him Aholiab 
—He belonged to the tribe of Dan, one of the 
least influential and honourable in Israel; 
68 



and here, too, we can trace the evidence of 
wise and paternal design, in choosing the 
colleague or assistant of Bezaleel from an in- 
ferior tribe, (cf. 1 Cor. 12. 14-25: also Mk. 6. 
7.) all that are wise-hearted— At that period, 
when one spirit pervaded all Israel, it was 
not the man full of heavenly genius who pre- 
sided over the work, but all who contributed 
their skill, experience, and labour, in render- 
ing the smallest assistance, that showed their 
piety and devotedness to the divine service. 
In like manner, it was at the commencement 
of the Christian church. (A. 6. 5; 18. 2.) 12-17. 
Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep— The reason 
for the fresh inculcation of the fourth com- 
mandment at this particular period was, that 
the great ardour and eagerness with which 
all classes betook themselves to the construc- 
tion of the tabernacle, exposed them to the 
temptation of encroaching on the sanctity of 
the appointed day of rest. They might sup- 
pose that the erection of the tabernacle was 
a sacred work, and that it would be a high 
merit, an acceptable tribute, to prosecute the 
undertaking without the interruption of a 
day's repose; and therefore the caution here 
given, at the commencement of the under- 
taking, was a seasonable admonition. 18. 
tables of stone— Containing the ten command- 
ments, (ch. 24. 12,) called "tables of testi- 
mony," because God testified His will in 
them. 

CHAPTEK XXXn. 
Ver. 1-35. The Golden Calf. 1. when 
the . . . saw that Moses delayed— they supposed 
that he had lost his way in the darkness or 
perished in the fire, they gathered themselves 
together unto— rather ' against' Aaron in a tu- 
multuous manner, to compel him to do what 
they wished. The incidents related in this 
chapter disclose a state of popular sentiment 
and feeling among the Israelites that stands in 
singular contrast to the tone of profound and 
humble reverence they displayed at the giv- 
ing of the law. Within a space of little more 
than thirty days, their impressions were dis- 
sipated; and although they were still en- 
camped upon ground, which they had every 
reason to regard as holy; although the cloud 
of glory that capped the summit of Sinai was 
still before their eyes, affording a visible de- 
monstration of their being in close contact, 
or rather in the immediate presence, of God, 
they acted as if they had entirely forgotten 
the impressive scenes of which they had been 
so recently the witnesses, they said unto him. 
Up, make us gods— The Hebrew word rendered 
gods is simply the name of God in its plural 
form The image made was single, and there- 
fore it would be imputing to the Israelites a 
greater sin than they were guilty of, to charge 
them with renouncing the worship of the 
true God for idols. The fact is, that they 
required, like children, to have something to 
strike their senses, andas the Shechinah, "the 
glory of God," of which they had hitherto 
enjoyed the sight, was now veiled, they 
wished for some visible material object as 
the symbol of the divine presence, which 
should go before them as the pillar of fire 
had done. 2. Aaron said, Break off your ear- 
rings—It was not an Egyptian custom for 
young men to wear earrings, and the circum- 
stance, therefore, seems to point out 'the 
mixed rabble,' who were chiefly foreign 
slaves, as the ringleaders in this insurrec- 
tion. In giving direction to break their ear- 



God's covenant with Israel* 



nxours, xxxv. 



Moses descends from Finni. 



visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the 
children, and upon the children's children, 
unto the third and to the fourth qene ration. 

8 And Moses made haste, and bo"wed his 
head toward the earth, and worshipped. 

9 And he said. If now I have found grace 
in thy sight, O Lord, let ray Lord. I pray 
thee, go among as ; for it is a stiff-necked 
people; and pardon our iniquity arid our 
sin, and take as for • thine inheritance. 

I i r And he said. Behold, J I make a cov- 
enant : before all thy people I will k do 
marvels, such as have not been done in all 
the earth, nor in any nation: and all the 
people among which thou art shall see the 
work of the Loud: for it is l a terrible thing 
that I will do with thee. 

II Observe m thou that which I com- 
mand thee this day: behold. I drive out 
before thee the Amorite, and the Canaan- 
ite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and 
the Hivite, and the Jebusite. 

12 Take n heed to thyself, lest thou make 
a covenant with the inhabitants of the land 
whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in 
the midst of thee: 

13 But ye shall destroy their altars, break 
their l images, and ° cut down their groves: 

14 For thou shall worship no other god: 
for the Lord, whose p name is Jealous, is 
a q jealous God: 

15 Lest thou make a covenant with the 
inhabitants of the land, and they r go a- 
whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice 
unto their gods, and one s call thee, and 
thou < eat of his sacrifice; 

16 And thou take of their u daughters unto 
thy sons, and their daughters v go a whor- 
ing after their gods, and make thy sons go 
a whoring after their gods. 

17 Thou "' shalt make thee no molten gods. 
13 If The feast of x unleavened bread shalt 

thou keep. Seven days thou shalt eat un- 
leavened bread, as I commanded thee, in 
the time of the month Abib : for in the 
month Abib thou earnest out from Egypt. 

19 All v that openeth the matrix is mine ; 
and every firstling among thy cattle, 
whether ox or sheep, that is male. 

20 But z the firstling of an ass thou shalt 
redeem with a 2 lamb: and if thou redeem 
him not. then shalt thou break his neck. 
Ail the first-born of thv sons thou shalt re- 
deem. And none shall appear before me 
a empty. 

21 1 Six 6 days thou shalt work; but on 
the seventh day thou sh*ak rest: in earing 
time and in harvest thou shalt rest. 

22 r c And thou shalt observe the feast of 
weeks, of the first-fruits of wheat harvest, 
and the feast of ingathering at the 3 year's 
end. 

23 fi Thrice d in the year shall all your 
men-children appear before the Lord God, 
the G-od of Israel. 

24 For I will e cast out the nations before 
thee, and /enlarge thv borders : g neither 
shall any man desire thv land, when thou 
shalt go up to appear before the Lord thy 
Cxod thrice in the year. 

25 Thou * shalt not offer the blood of my 
sacrifice with leaven; » neither shall the 
sacrifice of the feast of the passover be left 
un:«) the morning. 

26 The 1 first of the first-fruits of thy land 
thou shalt bring unto the house of the 
Lord thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a 
kid in his mother's milk. 

8) 



15. C. 1401. 



CHAP. 34. 
i Pa. 94. 14. 
| Zech. 2. 12. 
/ Deu. 29. 12. 
k 2 Sam. 7. 
23. 

Ps. 147.20. 

I Is. 64. 3. 

; "• Deut. 12. 

28. 

•» Jud 5 . 2. 2. 

1 statues. 

2 Ki. IS. 4. 
P Is. 57. 15. 

1 eh. 20. 6. 

r Ezek. 6. 9. 

1 Cor. 10. 
27. 

t 1 Cor. 8. 4. 
w. Ezra 9. 2. 
vNu.25.1.2. 
W Lev. 19. 4. 
z eh. 23. 15. 
V ch. 22. 29. 

Ezek. 44. 

30. 

Lu 2. 23. 
z Nu. 18.15. 

2 Or, kid. 
a Deut. 16. 

16. ' 

2 Sam. 24. 
24. 

b Deu. 5. 12. 
Lu. 13. 14. 
c ch. 23. 16. 

3 revolution 
of the year. 

d Deut." 16. 

10. 
e Lev. IS. 24. 
Deu. 7. 1. 
Josh. 24. 
8-13. 

Ps 73. 55. 
Ps. 80. 8. 
/ Deu. 19. 8. 
g Gen. 35. 5. 
2 Chr. 17. 
10. 

Pro. 16. 7. 

h ch. 23. 18. 

t ch. 12. 10. 

j Deu. 26. 2, 

10. 

Neh. 10. 35. 

Pro. 3. 9. 

k Deu. 31.9. 

Is. 30. 8. 
I De. 9. 9. 18. 
m ch. 31. 18. 
ch. 32. 16. 
Deut. 10. 
2,4. 

4 words. 

n ch. 32. 15. 
oMat. 17.2. 
P ch. 24. a 
q 2 Cor. 3. 
18. 



CHAP 35. 
a ch. 34. 32. 
6 ch. 31. 14, 

15. 

Lev. 23. 3. 

Nu. 15.32. 

Deu. 5. 12. 

Lu. 13. 14. 
1 holiness, 
c ch. 16. 23. 
tich.25.1,2. 
« ch. 25. 2. 

2 Cor. 9. 7. 
/ch. 31. 6. 
* 1 Ki. 7. 14. 

Is. 28. 26. 
9 ch. 26. 1. 2. 



27 And the Lord said unto Moses, Write 
thou * these words: for after the tenor of 
these words 1 have made a covenant with 
thee and with Israel. 

28 And l he was there with the Lord forty 
days and forty nights; he did neither eat 
bread, nor drink water And " l He wrote 
upon the tables the words of the covenant, 
the ten 4 commandments. 

29 *~ And it came to pass, when Moses 
came down from mount Sinai with the two 
tables n of testimony in .Moses' hand, when 
he came down from the mount, that Muses 
wist not that ° the skin of his face shone 
while he talked with him. 

30 And when Aaron and all the children 
of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his 
face shone ; and they were afraid to come 
nigh him. 

31 And Moses called unto them ; and 
Aaron and all the rulers of the congrega- 
tion returned unto him: and Moses talked 
with them. 

32 And afterward all the chi'dren of Israel 
came nigh^and he gave them hi command- 
ment all that the Lord had spoken with 
him in mount Sinai. 

33 And till Moses had done speakm.r with 
them, he put ^a veil on his face. 

34 But when Moses went in before the 
Lord to speak with him, he took the veil 
off. tmtil he came out. And he came out, 
and spake unto the children of Israel thai 
which he was commanded. 

35 And the children of Israel saw the face 
of Moses, that the skin of Moses' face 
shone: and Moses put the veil upon his 
face again, until he went in to speak with 
him. 

CHAPTER XXXT. 

2 The sabbath. 4 The free gifts for the tabernacle. 
20 The readiness of the pe'ople to ojfer. 30 £eza~ 
Uel and Aholiab called to the work. 

A XD Moses gathered all the congregation 
of the children of Israel together, and 
said unto them, a These are the words 
which the Lord hath commanded, that ue 
should do them. 

2 Six b days shall work be done, but on 
the seventh day there shall be to you l an 
holy day, a sabbath of rest to the Lord : 
whosoever doeth work therein shall be put 
to death. 

3 Ye c shall kindle no fire throughout your 
habitations upon the sabbath day. 

4 r And Moses spake unto all the congre- 
gation of the children of Israel, saying, 
This d is the thing which the Lord com- 
manded, saying, 

5 Take ve'froni among you an offering 
unto the Lord: e whosoever is of a, willing 
bean, let him bring it, an offering of the 
Lord ; gold, and silver, and brass, 

6 And blue, and purple, and scarlet, and 
fine linen, and goats' hair, 

7 And rams' skins dyed red, and badgers* 
skins, and sliittim wood, 

8 And oil for the li^ht, and spices for 
anointing oil, and for the sweet incense, 

9 And onyx stones, and stones to be set 
for the ephod, and for the breastplate. 

10 And / every wise-hearted anions you 
shall come, and make all that the Lord 
hath commanded; 

11 The ,J tabernacle, his tent, and his co- 
vering, his taches, and his boards, bis bars, 
his pillars, and his sockets, 



Idolatry of the Peopte. 



EXODUS, XXXH. 



Moses Breakdh the Tables. 



rings, Aaron probably calculated on gaining 
time or, perhaps, on their covetousness and 
love oi finery proving stronger than their 
idolatrous propensity. If such were his 
expectations, they were doomed to signal 
disappointment. Better to have calmly and 
earnestly remonstrated with them, or to 
have preferred duty to expediency, leaving 
the issue in the hands of Providence. 3. all the 
people brake off their golden earrings — The 
Egyptian rings, as seen on the monuments, 
were round massy plates of metal; and as it 
was rings of this sort the Israelites wore, 
their size and number must, in the general 
collection, have produced a large store of the 
precious material. 4. he fashioned . . . after he 
made it a molten calf— the words are trans- 
posed, and the rendering should be, 'he 
framed with a graving tool the image to be 
made, and having poured the liquid gold 
into the mould, he made it a molten calf.' 
It is not said whether it was of life size, 
whether it was of solid gold or merely a 
wooden frame covered with plates of gold. 
This idol seems to have been the god Apis, 
the chief deity of the Egyptians, worshipped 
at Memphis under the form of a live ox, 
three years old. It was distinguished by a 
triangular white spot on its forehead and 
other peculiar marks. Images of it in the 
form of a whole ox, or of a call's head on the 
end of a pole were very common; and it makes 
a great figure on the monuments, where it is 
represented in the van of all processions, as 
borne aloft on men's shoulders, they said, 
These be thy Gods, Israel— It is inconceiv- 
able, that they who but a few weeks before 
had witnessed such amazing demonstrations 
of the true God, could have suddenly sunk 
to such a pitch of infatuation and brutish 
stupidity, as to imagine that human art or 
hands could make a god that should go 
before them. But it must be borne in mind 
that though by election and in name they 
were the people of God, they were as yet, in 
feelings and associations, in habits and taste, 
little, if at all different, from Egyptians. 
They meant the calf to be an image, a visible 
sign or symbol of Jehovah, so that their sin 
consisted not in a breach of the first but of 
the second commandment. 5, 6. Aaron made 
proclamation. ..To-morrow is a feast to the Lord 
—a remarkable circumstance, strongly con- 
firmatory of the view that they had not 
renounced the worship of Jehovah, but in 
accordance with Egyptian notions, had 
formed an image with which they had been 
familiar, to be the visible symbol of the 
Divine presence. But there seems to have 
been much of the revelry that marked the 
feasts of the heathen. 7-14. Go, get thee 
down— Intelligence of the idolatrous scene 
enacted at the foot of the mount was commu- 
nicated to Moses in language borrowed from 
human passions and feelings, and the judg- 
ment of a justly offended God pronounced in 
terms of just indignation against the gross 
violation of the so recently promulgated 
laws, make of thee a great nation— care must 
be taken not to suppose this language as be- 
tokening any change or vacillation in the 
Divine purpose. The covenant made with 
the patriarchs had been ratified in the most 
solemn manner; it could not and never was 
intended that it should be broken. But the 
manner in which God spoke to Moses served 
two important purposes— it tended to de- 
69 



velope the faith and intercessory patriotism 
of the Hebrew leader, and to excite the serious 
alarm of the people, that God would reject 
them and deprive them of the privileges they 
had fondly fancied were so secure. 15-18. 
Moses turned and went down from the mount— 
The plain, Er-Raheh, is not visible from the 
top of Jebel Musa, nor can the mount be 
descended on the side towards that valley; 
hence Moses and his companion who on duty 
had patiently waited his return in the hol- 
low of the mountain's brow, heard the shout- 
ing sometime before they actually saw the 
camp. 19-24. Moses' anger waxed hot— The 
arrival of the leader like the appearance of 
a spectre arrested the revellers in the midst 
of their carnival, and his act of righteous 
indignation, when he dashed on the ground 
the tables of the law, in token that as they 
had so soon departed from their covenant 
relation, God would withdraw the peculiar 
privileges that He had promised them— that 
act together with the rigorous measures 
that followed, forms one of the most striking 
scenes recorded in sacred history. 20. he 
took the calf, fee. — It has been supposed that 
the gold was dissolved by natron, or some 
chemical substance. But there is no men- 
tion of solubility here (or in Deut. 9. 21,) it 
was " burned in the fire," to cast it into in- 
gots of suitable size for the operations which 
follow— " grounded to powder:" the pow- 
der of malleable metals can be ground so 
fine as to resemble dust from the wings of a 
moth or butterfly; and these dust particles 
will float in water for hours, and in a run- 
ning stream for days. These operations of 
grinding were intended to show contempt 
for such worthless gods, and the Israelites 
would be made to remember the humiliating 
lesson by the state of the water they had 
drank for a time. [Napier.] Others think 
that as the idolatrous festivals were usually 
ended with great use of sweet wine, the 
nauseous draught of the gold dust would 
be a severe punishment, icf. 2 Ki. 23. 
6, 15; 2 Chr. 15. 16; 34. 7.) 22. Let not the 
anger of my lord wax hot— Aaron cuts a poor 
figure, making a shuffling excuse and be- 
traying more dread of the anger of Moses 
than of the Lord. (cf. Deut. 9. 20.) 25. naked— 
Either unarmed and defenceless, or ashamed 
from a sense of guilt. Some think they were 
literally naked, as the Egyptians performed 
some of their rites in that indecent manner. 
26-28. Moses stood in the gate— the camp is 
supposed to have been protected by a ram- 
part after the attack of the Amalekites. who 
is on the Lord's side ?— The zeal and courage 
of Moses were astonishing, considering he 
opposed himself to an intoxicated mob. 
The people were separated into two divi- 
sions, and those who were the boldest and 
most obstinate in vindicating their idolatry 
were put to death, whilst the rest, who with- 
drew in shame or sorrow, was spared. 29. 
consecrate — or ye have consecrated your- 
selves to-day. The Levites, notwithstanding 
the dejection of Aaron, distinguished them- 
selves by their zeal for the honour of God and 
their conduct in doing the office of execution- 
ers on this occasion; and this was one reason 
of their being appointed to a high and 
honourable office in the service of the sanc- 
tuary. 30-33. said unto the people, Ye have 
sinned— Moses laboured to show the people 
the heinous nature of their sin, and bring 



The peofte'sfree-wlU 



EXODCS, XXXVI. 



offerings for the tabernacle. 



12 The h ark, and the staves thereof, with 
the mercyseat, and the veil of the cover- 
ing, 

13 The » tahle, and his staves, and all his 
vessels, and the J showbread, 

14 The * candlestick also for the light, and 
his furniture, and his lamps, with the oil 
for the light, 

15 And 'the incense altar, and his staves, 
and m the anointing oil, and n the sweet 
incense, and the hanging for the door at 
the entering in of the tabernacle, 

16 The ° altar of burnt offering, with his 
brasen grate, his staves, and all his vessels, 
the laver and his foot, 

17 The p hangings of the court, his pillars, 
and their sockets, and the hanging lor the 
door of the court, 

18 The pins of the tabernacle, and the 
pins of the court, and their cords, 

19 The q cloths of sendee, to do service in 
the holy place, the holy garments for Aaron 
the priest, and the garments of his sons, to 
minister in the priest's office. 

20 H And all the congregation of the chil- 
dren of Israel departed from the presence 
of Moses. 

21 And they came, every one r whose heart 
stirred him up, and every one whom his 
spirit made willing, and they brought the 
Lord's offering to the work of the taberna- 
cle of the congregation, and for all his ser- 
vice, and for the holy garments. 

22 And they came, both nun and women, 
as many as were willing-hearted, and 
brought bracelets, and earrings, and rings, 
and tablets, all jewels of gold: and every 
man that offered offered an offering of gold 
unto the Lord. 

23 And 8 every man with whom was found 
blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine 
linen, and goats' hair, and red skins of 
rams, and badgers' skins, brought them. 

24 Every one that did offer an offering of 
silver and brass brought the Lord's offer- 
ing: and every man with whom was found 
shittim wood, for any work of the service, 
brought it. 

25 And all the women that were * wise- 
hearted did spin with their hands, and 
brought that which they had spun, both of 
blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, and of 
fine linen. 

26 And all the women whose heart stirred 
them up in wisdom spun goats' hair. 

27 And u the rulers brought onyx stones, 
and stones to be set, for the ephod, and for 
the breastplate ; 

28 And v spice, and oil for the light, and 
for the anointing oil, and for the sweet in- 
cense. 

> 29 The children of Israel brought a "'will- 
ing offering unto the Lord, every man and 
woman, whose heart made them willing to 
bring, for all manner of work which the 
Lord had commanded to be made by the 
hand of Moses. 

30 H And Moses said unto the children of 
Israel, See, * the Lord hath called by name 
Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of 
the tribe of Judah: 

31 And he hath filled him with ^the spirit 
of God, in wisdom, in understanding, and 
in knowledge, and in all manner of work- 
manship; 

< 32 And to devise curious works, to work 
in gold, and in silver, and in brass, 
33 And in the cutting of stones, to set 
70 



B. C. 1491. 

CHAP. 35. 

h ch. 25. 10. 
t ch. 25. 23. 
j ch 25. 30. 

Lov. 24. 

5,6. 
k ch. 25. 31. 
I ch. 30. 1. 
m ch. 30. 

23. 
n ch. 30. 34. 

ch. 27. 1. 
P ch. 27. 9. 

1 ch. 31. 10. 
ch. 39. 1, 
41. 

Num. 4. 
5,6. 

r ch. 25. 2. 
ch. 36. 2. 

1 Chr. 28. 
2,9. 

IChr. 29.9. 
Ezra 7. 
27. 

2 Cor. 8. 
12. 

2 Cor. 9. 7. 
a 1 Chr. 29.8. 
t ch. 28. 3. 

ch. 31. 6. 

ch. 36. 1. 

2 Kin. 23.7. 

Prov. 31. 

19,22, 

24. 
u 1 Chr.29.6. 

Ezra 2. 

68. 
v ch. 30. 23. 
w 1 Chr. 
29.9. 
x ch. 31. 2. 
V Gen. 41. 

38. 

Job 32. 8. 

Prov. 2. 6. 
«ch.31. 6. 
a ver. 31. 

ch. 31. 

3,6. 

ch. 36. 

1,2. 

1 Kin. 7. 
14. 

2 Chr. 2. 
14. 

Is. 28. 26. 
James 1.5. 



CHAP. 36. 

« ch. 28. 3. 

ch. 31. 6. 

ch. 35. 10, 

35. 

Job 32. 8. 

Is. 28. 26. 

Prov. 2. 6. 
b ch. 25. 8. 
c ch. 35. 2, 

26. 

1 Chr. 29.5. 
d ch. 35. 27. 
e 2 Cor. 8. 

2,3. 
/ch. 26. 1. 
Job 32. 8. 
9 Gen. 3. 

24. 

1 Kin. 6. 
23. 

2 Chr. 3. 
10. 

Ezek. 1. 
5-28. 
Eze. 10. 1. 

h ch. 26. 5. 
i ch. 26. 7- 



them, and in caning of wood, to make any 
manner of cunning work. 

34 And he hath put in his heart that lv 
may teach, both he, and z Aholiab the son 
of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. 

35 Them hath he a filled with wisdom of 
heart, to work all manner of work of the 
engraver, and of the cunning workman, and 
of the embroiderer, in blue, and in purple, 
in scarlet, and in fine linen, and of the 
weaver, even of them that do any work, 
and of those that devise cunning work. 

CHAPTER XXXVI. 

I The offerings delivered to the workmen. 4 Th4 
liberality of the people restrained. 8 The cur- 
tains. 19 The covering . 35 The veil, etc. 

rPHEN wrought Bezaleel and Aholiab, 
x and every a wise-hearted man, in w hum 
the Lord put wisdom and understanding to 
know how to work all manner of work for 
the service of the b sanctuary, according to 
all that the Lord had commanded. 

2 And Moses called Bezaleel and Aholiab, 
and every wise-hearted man, in whose heart 
the Lord had put wisdom, even every one 
whose c heart stirred him up to come unto 
the work to do it: 

3 And they received of Moses all the offer- 
ing which the children of Israel d had 
brought for the work of the service of the 
sanctuary, to make it withal. And they 
brought yet unto him free offerings every 
morning. 

4 IT And all the wise men, that wrought 
all the work of the sanctuary, came every 
man from his work which they made ; 

5 And they spake unto Moses, saying, 
e The people bring much more than enough 
for the sendee of the work which the Lord 
commanded to make. 

6 And Moses gave commandment, and 
they caused it to be proclaimed through- 
out the camp, saying, Let neither man nor 
woman make any more work for the offer- 
ing of the sanctuary. So the people were 
restrained from bringing. 

7 For the stuff they had was sufficient for 
all the work to make it, and too much. 

8 IT And / every wise-hearted man among 
them that wrought the work of the taber- 
nacle made ten curtains 0/ fine twined linen, 
and blue, and purple, and scarlet : with 
cherubim a of cunning work made he 
them. 

9 The length of one curtain was twenty 
and eight cubits, and the breadth of one 
curtain four cubits: the curtains were all of 
one size. 

10 And he coupled the five curtains one 
unto another; and the other five curtains he 
coupled one unto another. 

II And he made loops of blue on the edge 
of one curtain from the selvage in the 
coupling: likewise he made in the uttermost 
side of another curtain, in the coupling of 
the second. 

12 Fifty * loops made he in one curtain, 
and fifty loops made he in the edge of the 
curtain which was in the coupling of (he 
second: the loops held one curtain to an- 
other. 

13 And he made fifty taches of gold, and 
coupled the curtains one unto another with 
the taches: so it became one tabernacle. 

14 11 And » he made curtains of goats' 
hair for the tent over the tabernacle: 
eleven curtains he made them. 

15 The length of one curtain was thirty 



The Tabernacle Removed. EXODUS, XXXHI, XXXTV. The Tables are Renewed. 



them to repentance. But not content with 
that he hastened more earnestly to intercede 
for them. 32. Blot me out cf thy book— an 
allusion to the registering of the living, and 
erasing the names of those who die. What 
warmth of affection did he evince for his 
brethren; how fully was he animated with 
the true spirit of a patriot, when he pro- 
fessed his willingness to die for them. But 
Christ actually died for his people. (Ro. 5. 8.) 
35. The Lord plagued the people— No imme- 
diate judgments were inflicted, but this 
early lapse into idolatry was always men- 
tioned as an aggravation of their subsequent 
apostacies. 

CHAPTEE XXXin. 
Ver. 1-3. The Lord Refuseth to Go with 
the People. 1. The Lord said— Rather "had" 
said unto Moses. The conference detailed 
in this chapter must be considered as having 
occurred prior to the pathetic intercession of 
Moses, recorded at the close of the preceding 
chapter; and the historian, having mentioned 
the fact of his earnest and painful anxiety, 
under the overwhelming pressure of which 
he poured forth that intercessory prayer for 
his apostate countrymen, now enters on a 
detailed account of the circumstances. 3. 
I will not go up, lest I consume thee— Here the 
Lord is represented as determined to do what 
he afterwards did not. (See on ch. 32. 10.; 

4. When the people heard these evil tidings— 
From Moses on nis descent from the mount. 

5. put off thy ornaments— In seasons of mourn- 
ing, it is customary with Eastern people to 
lay aside all gewgaws, and divest themselves 
of their jewels, their gold, and everything 
rich and splendid in their dress. This token 
of their sorrow, the Lord required of his 
offending people, that I may know what to 
do unto thee— The language is accommodated 
to the feeble apprehensions of men. God 
judges the state of the heart by the tenor of 
the conduct. In the case of the Israelites, he 
cherished a design of mercy ; and the moment 
he discerned the first symptoms of contrition, 
by their stripping off their ornaments, as 
penitents conscious of their error, and sin- 
cerely sorrowful, this fact added its weight 
to the fervency of Moses' prayers, and gave 
them prevalence with God in behalf of the 
people. 7. Moses took the tabernacle— Not the 
tabernacle, of which a pattern had been given 
him, for it was not yet erected, but his own 
tent— conspicuous as that of the leader— in a 
part of which he heard causes, and communed 
with God about the people's interests; hence 
called " the tabernacle of the congregation," 
and the withdrawal of which, in abhorrence 
from a polluted camp, was regarded as the 
first step in the total abandonment with 
which God had threatened them. 8. all the 
people, rose up and stood— Its removal produced 
deep and universal consternation; and it is 
easy to conceive how anxiously all eyes would 
be directed towards it; how rapidly the happy 
intelligence would spread, when a phenome- 
non was witnessed from which an encourag- 
ing hope could be founded. 9-11. The cloudy 
pillar descended— How would the downcast 
hearts of the people revive— how would the 
tide of joy swell in every bosom, when the 
symbolic cloud was seen slowly and majes- 
tically to descend, and stand at the entrance 
of the tabernacle, as Moses entered— It was 
when he appeared as their mediator— when 
he repaired from day to day to intercede for 



! them, that welcome token of assurance was 
given that his advocacy prevailed, that Is- 
rael's sin was forgiven, and that God would 
again be gracious. 18-23. 1 beseech thee shew 
me thy glory— This is one of the most mysteri- 
ous scenes described in the Bible, he had, for 
his comfort and encouragement, a splendid 
and full display of the divine majesty, not in 
its unveiled effulgence, but as far as the weak- 
ness of humanity would admit. The face, 
hand, back parts, are to be understood figur- 
atively. 

CHAPTER XXXIV. 
Ver. 1-35. The Tables are Renewed. 
1. Hew thee two tables of stone— God having 
been reconciled to repentant Israel, through 
the earnest intercession, the successful me- 
diation of Moses, means were to be taken for 
the restoration of the broken covenant. In- 
timation was given, however, in a most in- 
telligible and expressive manner, that the 
favour was to be restored with some me- 
mento of the rupture: for at the former time 
God himself had provided the materials, as 
well as written upon them. Now, Moses was 
to prepare the stone tables, and God was only 
to retrace the characters originally inscribed 
for the use and guidance of the people. 2. 
in the top of the mount— Not absolutely the 
highest peak; for as the cloud of the Shechi- 
naii usually abode on the summit, and yet {v. 
5) it "descended:" the plain inference is, that 
Moses was to station himself at a point not 
far distant, but still below the loftiest pin- 
nacle. 3. no man, neither flocks nor herds— All 
these enactments were made in order that 
the law might be a second time renewed with 
the solemnity and sanctity that marked its 
first delivery. The whole transaction was 
ordered so as to impress the people with an 
awful sense of the holiness of God; and that 
it was a matter of no trifling moment to have 
subjected him, so to speak, to the necessity 
of redelivering the law of the ten command- 
ments. 4. Moses took in his hands the two 
tables of stone— As he had no attendant to 
divide the labour of carrying them, it is evi- 
dent that they must have been light, and of 
no great dimensions,— probably flat slabs of 
shale or slate, such as abound in the moun- 
tainous region of Horeb. An additional proof 
of their comparatively small size appears in 
the circumstance of their being deposited in 
the ark of the most holy place, (ch. 25. 10.) 
5. The Lord descended in a cloud— After gra- 
ciously hovering over the tabernacle, it seems 
to have resumed its usual position on the 
summit of the mount. It was the shadow of 
God manifest to the outward senses- and, at 
the same time, of God manifest in the flesh. 
The emblem of a cloud seems to have been 
chosen to signify that, although He was 
pleased to make known much about himself, 
there was more veiled from mortal view. It 
was to check presumption, and engender awe, 
and give a humble sense of human attain- 
ments in divine knowledge, as now man sees 
—but darkly. 6. The Lord passed by— In this 
remarkable scene, God performed what He 
had promised to Moses tne day before, pro- 
claimed the Lord, merciful and gracious— At an 
earlier period He had announced himself to 
Moses, in the glory of His self-existent and 
eternal majesty, as "I am;" now He makes 
himself known in the glory of His grace and 
goodness,— attributes that were to be illus- 
triously displayed in the future history and 



Construction of the taber>iacle. 



EXODUS, XXXVII. 



The ark and mercyseat. 



cubits, and four cubits was the breadth of 
one curtain : ihe eleven curtains were of 
one size. 

16 And he coupled five curtains by them- 
selves, ar:d six curtains by themselves. 

17 And he made fifty loops upon the utter- 
most edge of the curtain in the coupling, 
and fifty loops made he upon the edge of 
the curtain which eoupleth the second. 

IS And he made fiftv taches of brass to 
couple the tent together, that it might be 
one. 

19 H And i he made a covering for the tent 
of rams' skins dyed red, and a covering of 
b'adgers' skins above that. 

20 IT And * he made boards for the taber- 
nacle of l shittim wood, standing up. 

21 The length of a board was ten cubits, 
and the breadth of a board one cubit and 
a half. 

22 One board had two l tenons, equally 
distant one from another: thus did he make 
for all the boards of the tabernacle. 

23 And he made boards for the tabernacle ; 
twenty boards for the south side south- 
ward. 

24 And forty sockets of silver he made 
under the twenty boards ; two sockets under 
one board for his two tenons, and two 
sockets under another board for his two 
tenons. 

25 And for the other side of the taberna- 
cle, which is toward the north corner, he 
made twenty boards, 

26 And their forty sockets of silver; two 
sockets under one board, and two sockets 
under another board. 

27 And for the sides of the tabernacle 
2 westward he made six boards. 

28 And two boards made he for the comers 
of the tabernacle in the two sides. 

20 And they were 3 coupled beneath, and 
coupled together at the head thereof, to 
one ring: tnus he did to both of them in 
both the corners. 

30 And there were eight boards ; and their 
sockets were sixteen sockets of silver, 4 un- 
der every board two sockets. 

31 H And he made m bars of shittim wood; 
five for the boards of the one side of the 
tabernacle, 

32 And five bars for the boards of the other 
side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the 
boards of the tabernacle for the sides west- 
ward. 

33 And he made the middle bar to shoot 
through the boards from the one end to the 
other. 

34 And he overlaid the boards with gold, 
and made their rings of gold to be places 
for the bars, and overlaid the bars with 
gold. 

35 11 And he made n a veil of blue, and 
purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen : ! 
with cherubim made he it of cunning 
work. 

36 And he made thereunto four pillars of 
shittim tvood y and overlaid them with gold : 
their hooks were of gold; and he cast for 
them four sockets of silver. 

37 IF And he made an ° hanging for the 
tabernacle door of blue, and purple, 
and scarlet, and fine twined linen, 5 of 
needlework; 

38 And the five pillars of it with their 
hooks : and he overlaid their p chapiters 
and their fillets with gold: but their five 
sockets were of brass. 

71 



CHAP. 36. 
j eh. 26. 14. 
k oh. 26. 15. 
I ch. 25. 5, 

10. 

Nu. 25. 1. 

Deu. 10. 3. 

Josh. 2. 1. 

1 hands. 

2 sea-ward, 
ch. 26. 22. 

3 twined, 
ch. 26. 24. 
2 Sa. 5. 6. 
Ps. 133. 1. 
Acts 2. 4C. 

1 Cor. 1.10. 
4twosoekets, 

two sockets 
under one 
board. 

w* ch. 26. 26. 

n ch. 26. 31. 
Mat. 27.51. 
Heb. 6. 19. 
Heb. 10.2). 

o ch. 20. 36. 

5 the work 
of a needle- 
worker, or, 
embroid- 
erer. 

p 1 Ki. 7. 16. 

2 Chr. 4. 
12. 

Jer. 52. 22. 



CHAP. 37. 
a ch. 35. 30. 
b ch. 25. 10. 
c Nu. 4. 6. 
d Nu. 1. 50. 
2 Sa. 6. 3. 
« ch. 25. 17. 

1 Or, out 
of, etc. 

2 Or, out 
of, etc. 

/ Gen. 3. 24. 
ch. 25. 22. 

1 Kings 6. 
23. 

2 Chr. 3. 10. 
Ps. 80. 1. 
Ezek. 1. 
5-28. 

Ezek. 10. 1. 
John 1. 

51. 

Phil. 2. 

10. 

1 Tim. 3. 

16. 

Heb. 1. 14. 

1 Pet. 1. 

12. 
g ch. 25. 23. 

Mai. 1. 7, 

12. 
h ch. 25. 29. 

3 Or, to 
pour out 
withal. 

i ch. 25. 31. 
Lev. 24. 4. 
1 Chr. 23. 
15. 

Zech. 4. 2. 
Mat. 5. 15, 
16. 

John 5. 
35. 

Philip. 2. 
15. 

1 Peter 
2.9. 
Be?. 1. 20. 



CHAPTER XXXVII. 
1 The ark. 6 The mercyseat with cherubim. 10 
The table. 17 The eand tsick. ^ Trie altar of 
incense. 29 The anointing oil and sw^et in- 
cense. 

A XD a Bezaleel made b the ark of shittim 
x *- wood: two cubits and a halt ivas the 
length of it, and a cubit and a half the 
breadth of it, and a cubit and a half the 
height of it: 

2 And he overlaid it with pure gold within 
and without, and made a crown of gold to 
it roimd about. 

3 And he cast for it four rings of gold, to 
be set by the four corners of it ; even two 
rings upbn the one side of it, and two rings 
upon the other side of it. 

4 And he made c staves of shittim wood, 
and overlaid them with gold. 

5 And he d put the staves into the rings 
by the sides of the ark, to bear the ark. 

6 IT And he made the e mercyseat of pure 
gold: two cubits and a hall" was the length 
thereof, and one cubit and a half ihe 
breadth thereof. 

7 And he made two cherubim of gold, 
beaten out of one piece made he them, on 
the two ends of the mercyseat; 

8 One cherub 1 on the end on this side, 
and another cherub ' 2 on the other end on 
that side: out of the mercyseat made he the 
cherubim on the two ends thereof. 

And the /cherubim spread out their 
wings on high, and covered with their 
wings over the mercyseat, with their faces 
one to another; even to the mercyseat-ward 
were the faces of the cherubim. 

10 IF And he made 9 the table of shittim 
wood: two cubits was the length thereof, 
and a cubit the breadth thereof, and a cubit 
and a half the height thereof: 

11 And he overlaid it with pure gold, and 
made thereunto a crown of gold round 
about. 

12 Also he made thereunto a border of an 
handbreadth round about ; and made a 
crown of gold for the border thereof round 
about. 

13 And he cast for it four rings of gold, 
and put the rings upon the four comers 
that xoere in the four feet thereof. 

14 Over against the border were the 
rings, the places for the staves to bear the 
table. 

15 And he made the staves of shittim 
wood, and overlaid them with gold, to bear 
the table. 

16 And he made the vessels which were 
upon the table, his h dishes, and his spoons, 
and his bowls, and his covers 3 to cover 
withal, of pure gold. 

17 1F And he made the » candlestick of 
pure gold: of beaten work made he the 
candlestick; his shaft, and his branch, his 
bowls, his knops, and his flowers, were of 
the same: 

18 And six branches going out of the sides 
thereof; three branches of the candlestick 
out of the one side thereof, and three 
branches of the candlestick out of the 
other side thereof: 

19 Three bowls made after the fashion 
of almonds in one branch, a knop and a 
flower; and three bowls made like almonds 
in another branch, a knop and a flower: 
so throughout the six branches going out of 
the candlestick. 

20 And in the candlestick were four bowls 



The Free Gifts 



EXODUS, XXXV, XXXVI. 



for the Tabernacle. 



experience of the church. Being about to 
republish His law,— the sin of the Israelites 
being forgiven, and the deed of pardon about 
to be signed and sealed, by renewing the 
terms of the former covenant,— it was the 
most fitting time to proclaim the extent ol 
the divine mercy which was to be displayed, 
not in the case of Israel only, but of all who 
offend. 8-26. Moses bowed and worshipped— In 
the East, people bow the head to royalty, and 
are silent, wnen it passes by, while in the 
west, they take off their hats and shout. 9. 
Moses said, If now I have found grace— On this 

f>roclamation, he, in the overflowing benevo- 
ence of his heart, founded an earnest petition 
for the divine presence being continued with 
the people; and God was pleased to give His 
favourable answer to his intercession by a 
renewal of His promise under the form of a 
covenant, repeating the leading points that 
formed the conditions of the former national 
compact. 27, 28. Write thou these words— i.e., 
the ceremonial and judicial injunctions com- 
prehended above, [v. 11-26;) while the re-writ- 
ing of the ten commandments on the newly 
prepared slabs was done by God himself, 
(cf. Deu. 10. 1-4.) was with the Lord— As long 
as formerly, being sustained for the execution 
of his special duties by the miraculous power 
of God. A special cause is assigned for his 
protracted fast on this second occasion, (Deu. 
9. 18.; 29-35. Moses wist not that the skin of 
his face shone— It was an intimation of the 
exalted presence into which he had been ad- 
mitted, and of the glory he had witnessed, 
(2 Cor. 3. 18;) and in that view, it was a badge 
of his high office as the ambassador of God. 
No testimonial needed to be produced. He 
bore his credentials on his very face; and 
whether this extraordinary effulgence was a 
permament or merely temporary distinction, 
it cannot be doubted that this reflected glory, 
was given him as an honour before all the 
people. 30. afraid to come nigh him— Their 
fear arose from a sense of guilt,— the beaming 
radiance of his countenance made him ap- 
pear to their awe-struck consciences a flaming 
minister of heaven. 33. put a veil upon his 
face— That veil was with the greatest pro- 
priety removed when speaking with the Lord, 
for every one appears unveiled to the eye of 
omniscience; but it was removed on return- 
ing to the people,— and this was emblematic 
of the dark and shadowy character of that 
dispensation, (2 Cor. 3. 13, 14.) 

CHAPTER XXXV. 
Ver. 1-35. Contributions to the Ta- 
bernacle. 1. Moses gathered, &c— On the 
occasion referred to in the opening of this 
chapter, the Israelites were specially re- 
minded of the design to erect a magnificent 
tabernacle for the regular worship of God, 
as well as of the leading articles that were 
required to furnish that sacred edifice. (See 
on chaps. 25. 27. 30. 31.) 20, 21. All the congre- 
gation of Israel, &c— Ko exciting harangues 
were made, nor had the people bibles at 
home in which they could compare the re 



hearted liberality, was the remembrance 
of their recent transgression, which made 
them M zealous of good works." (cf. 2 Cor. 
7. 11.) But along with this motive, there 
were others of a higher and nobler kind— a 
principle of love to God and devotedness 
to His service, an anxious desire to secure 
the benefit of His presence, and gratitude 
for the tokens of His divine favour,— it was 
under the combined influence of these con- 
siderations that the people were so willing 
and ready to pour their contributions into 
that exchequer of the sanctuary, every one 
whom his spirit made willing— Human nature 
is always the same, and it is implied that 
while an extraordinary spirit of pious libe- 
rality reigned in the bosoms of the peo- 
ple at large, there were exceptions— some 
who were too fond of the world, who loved 
their possessions more than their God, and 
who could not part with these; no, not for 
the service of the tabernacle. 22. They came, 
he— lit. "the men over and above the 
women:" a phraseology which implies that 
the women acted a prominent part, pre- 
sented their offerings first, and then were 
followed by as many of their male com- 
panions as were similarly disposed, brought 
bracelets, &c— Money in the form of coins or 
bullion there was none in that early age. 
What money passed current with the merch- 
ant consisted of rings which were weighed, 
and principally of ornaments for personal 
decoration. Astonishment at the abundance 
of their ornaments is at an end when we learn 
that costly and elegant ornaments abounded 
in proportion as clothing was simple and 
scarce among the Egyptians, and some, en- 
tirely divested of clothing, yet wore rich 
necklaces. [Heng.] Amongst people with 
Oriental sentiments and tastes, scarcely any 
stronger proof could have been given of the 
power of religion than their willingness not 
only to lay aside, but to devote those much- 
valued trinkets to the house of God: and 
thus all, like the Eastern sages, laid the best 
they had at the service of God. 30. See the 
Lord hath, &c— Moses had made this com- 
munication before. But now that the collec- 
tion had been made, the materials were 
contributed, and the operations of building 
about to be commenced, it was with the 
greatest propriety he reminded the people 
that the individuals entrusted with the 
application of their gold and silver had been 
nominated to the work by authority to 
which all would bow. 35. Them hath He 
filled— A statement which not only testifies 
that skill in art and science is a direct gift 
from God, but that weaving was especially 
the business of men in Egypt, (see ch. 38. 22; 
39. 22, 27,) and in perfect harmony with the 
testimony of the monuments is the account 
given by Moses to the artists who were di- 
vinely taught the arts necessary for the em- 
bellishment of the tabernacle. Others, whose 
limited means did not admit of these expen- 
, sive contributions, offered their gratuitous 
quirements of their leader and see if these I services in fabricating such articles of tapes- 
things were so. But they had no doubt as try as were needed; arts which the Israelit- 
to his bearing to them the will of God, and ish females learned as bondswomen, in the 
they were impressed with so strong a sense houses of Egyptian princes 
of its being their duty, that they made a CHAPTER XXXVI 



spontaneous offer of the best and most 
valuable treasures they possessed, every one 



Ver. 1-4. Offerings Delivered to the 
"Workmen. 1. Then wrought Bezaleel, &c. 



whose heart stirred him— One powerful ele- —Here is an illustrious example of zeal and 
ment doubtless of this extraordinary open- . activity in the work of the Lord. JSo un- 

•71 ' 



71 



The altar of "burnt offering. EXODUS, XXX VIU. Sum of the people' s offering. 



made like 3 almonds, his knops and his 
flowers: 

21 And a knop under two branches of the 
same, and a knop under two branches of 
the same, and a knop under two branches 
of tbe same, according to the six branches 
going out of it. 

'12 1 heir knops and their branches were of 
the same: all of it was one beaten work of 
pure gold. 

23 And he made his k seven lamps, and 
his snuffers, and his snulf-dishes, of pure 
gold. 

24 Of a talent of pure gold made he it, 
and all the vessels thereof. 

25 1f And l he made the incense altar of 
shittim wood: the length of it was a cubit, 
and the breadth of it a cubit; it was four- 
square ; and two cubits was the height of 
it; the horns thereof were of the same. 

20 And he overlaid it with pure gold, both 
the top of it, and the sides thereof round 
about, and the horns of it: also he made 
unto it a crown of gold round about. 

27 And he made two rings of gold for it 
under the crown thereof, by the two corners 
of it, upon the two sides thereof, to be 
places for the staves to bear it withal. 

28 And he made the staves of shittim 
wood, and overlaid them with gold. 

29 if And he made 4 the holy anointing 
oil, and the pure m incense of sweet spices, 
according to the work of the apothecary. 

CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

1 The altar of burnt offering. 8 The Luver of brass. 
9 The court. 21 The sum of that which the peo- 
ple offered. 

i ND a he made the altar of burnt ofter- 
xx ing of shittim wood : five cubits was 
the length thereof, and five cubits the 
breadth thereof; it was foursquare; and 
three cubits the height thereof. 

2 And he made the horns thereof on the 
four corners of it; the horns thereof were 
of the same: and he overlaid it with brass. 

3 And he made all the vessels of the altar, 
the pots, and the shovels, and the basins, 
and the flesh-hooks, and the fire-pans : all 
the vessels thereof made he of b brass. 

4 And he made for the altar a brasen 
grate of network under the compass there- 
of beneath unto the midst of it. 

5 And he cast four rings for the four ends 
of the grate of brass, to be places for the 
staves. 

6 And he made the staves of shittim wood, 
and overlaid them with brass. 

7 And he put the staves intc the rings on 
the sides of the altar, to bear it withal ; he 
made the altar hollow with boards. 

8 *tf And he made c the laver of brass, and 
the foot of it of brass, of the l looking- 
glasses of the women * assembling, which 
assembled at thi door of the tabernacle of 
the congregation. 

9 1f And he made d the court: on the south 
side southward the hangings of the court 
were of fine twined linen, an hundred 
cubits: 

10 Their pillars were twenty, and their 
brasen sockets twenty: the hooks of the 
pillars and their fillets were of silver. 

11 And for the north side the hangings 
were an hundred cubits, then pillars' were 
twenty, and their sockets of brass twenty ; 
the hooks of the pillars and then fillets of 
silver. 

12 And for the west side were hangings of 

72 



B. C. 1491. 



CI7AP. 37. 
j Nu. 17. 8. 

Jer. 1. 11. 
k Rev. 1. 20. 

Rov. 4. 5. 
I ch. 30. 1. 

Is. 60. 6. 

Mat. 1. 11. 

Heb. 7. 25. 

1 Pet. 2. 5. 
4 unction of 

holiness. 

ch. 30. 23, 

34. 

Is. 61. 1. 

Is. 11. 2. 

Ps. 133. 2. 

1 John 2. 

20. 
m Ps. 141. 2. 

Song 4. 14. 

Mai. 1. 11. 

Heb. 5. 7. 

Heb. 7. 25. 

Rev. 5. 8. 

Rev. 8. 

3,4. 



CHAP. 38. 
a ch. 27. 1. 

Heb. 9. 14. 

Heb. 13. 

10. 
61KL7.45. 
c ch. 30. 18. 

2 Kin. 16. 

17. 

2 Chr.4.2. 

Ps. 26. 6. 

Zech. 13. 1. 

Ezek. 36. 

25. 

2 Cor. 7. 1. 

Heb. 10.22. 

1 John 5. 6. 

1 Or, brasen 
glasses. 

2 assembling 
by troops, 
as 

1 Sam. 2. 
22. 

d ch. 27. 9. 

Ps. 84. 2, 

10. 

Ps. 92. 13. 
e 2 Chr. 3. 

14. 
/ch. 27. 19. 

2 Chr. 3. 9. 
Ezra 9. 8. 
Isa. 22. 23. 
Eph. 2. 21, 
22. 

9 Nu. 1, 50, 

53. 

Nu. 9. 15. 

Nu. 10.11. 

Nu. 17.7,8. 

Nu. 18. 2. 

2 Chron. 

24. 6. 

Acts 7. 44. 
h Num. 4. 

28, 33. 
ich. 31.2,6. 
j ch. 30. 13. 

Lev. 5. 15. 

Lev. 27. 3, 
25. 

Num.3. 47. 

Nu. 18. 16. 
Ach. 30. 13, 

15. 
3 a poll. 
I Nu. 1. 46. 
m ch. 26. 19, 
21,25 32, 



fifty cubits, their pillars ten, and their 
sockets ten ; the hooks of the pillars and 
their fillets of silver. 

13 And for the east side eastward fifty 
cubits. 

14 The hangings of the one side of the gate 
were fifteen cubits ; then* pillars three, and 
their sockets three. 

15 And for the other side of the court 
gate, on this hand and that hand, were 
hangings of fifteen cubits ; their pillars 
three, and their sockets three. 

16 All the hangings of the court round 
about were of fine twined linen. 

17 And the sockets for the pillars were of 
brass; the hooks of the pillars and their 
fillets of silver; and the overlaying of their 
chapiters of silver; and all the pillars of the 
court were filleted with silver. 

18 And the hanging for the gate of the 
court was needlework, of e blue, and pur- 
ple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen: and 
twenty cubits was the length, and the 
height in the breadth vxis five cubits, an- 
swerable to the hangings of the court. 

19 And their pillars were four, and their 
sockets of brass four; then hooks of silver, 
and the overlaying of their chapiters and 
their fillets of silver. 

20 And all the / pins of the tabernacle, 
and of the court rotmd about, were of brass. 

21 11 This is the sum of the tabernacle, 
even of 9 the tabernacle of testimony, as it 
was counted, according to the command- 
ment of Moses, for- the service of the Le- 
vites, h \>y the hand of Ithamar, son to 
Aaron the priest. 

22 And * Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son 
of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made all that 
the Lord commanded Moses. 

23 And with him was Aholiab, son of 
Ahisamach. of the tribe of Dan, an en- 
graver, ana a cunning workman, and an 
embroiderer in blue, and in purple, and in 
scarlet, and fine linen. 

24 All the gold that was occupied for the 
work in all' the work of the holy pixtee, 
even the gold of the offering was twenty 
and nine talents, and seven hundred and 
thirty shekels, after i the shekel of the 
sanctuary. 

25 And the silver of them that were num- 
bered of the congregation was an hunched 
talents, and a thousand seven hundred and 
threescore and fifteen shekels, after the 
shekel of the sanctuary : 

26 A * bekah for 3 every man, that is, half 
a shekel, after the shekel of the sanctuary, 
for every one that went to be numbered, 
from twenty years old and upward, for l six 
hundred thousand and three thousand and 
five hundred and fifty men. 

27 And of the hundred talents of silver 
were cast m the sockets of the sanctuary, 
and the sockets of the veil; an hunched 
sockets of the hundred talents, a talent for 
a socket. , , , 

28 And of the thousand seven hundred 
seventy and five shekels he made hooks for 
the pillars, and overlaid their chapiters, 
and filleted them. . . 

29 And the brass of the offering was 
seventy talents, and two thousand and four 
hundred shekels. , . . 

30 And therewith he made the sockets to 
the door of the tabernacle of the congrega- 
tion, and the brasen altar, and the brasen 
grate for it, and all the vessels of the altar 



The People Restraiyced. EXODUS, XXXVII, XXXVIII. The Ark, Mercyseat, &c. 



necessary delay was allowed to take place: 
and from the moment the first pole was 
stuck in the ground till the final completion 
of the sacred edifice, he and his associates 
laboured with all the energies both of 
mind and body engaged in the work. And 
what was the mainspring of their arduous 
and untiring diligence? They could be actu- 
ated by none of the ordinary motives that 
give impulse to human industry, by no de- 
sire for the acquisition of gain; no ambition 
for honour; no view of gratifying a mere 
love of power in directing the labours of a 
large body of men. They felt the stimulus— 
the strong irresistible impulse of higher and 
holier motives— obedience to the authority, 
zeal for the glory and love to the service of 
God. 3. They brought unto Moses, <fec— 
Moses, in common with other Oriental ma- 
gistrates, had his morning levees for re- 
ceiving the people, (see on ch. 18. 13.) and it 
was while he was performing his magisterial 
duties that the people brought unto him free- 
will offerings every morning." Some who had 
nothing but their manual labour to give 
would spend a great part of the night in 
hastening to complete their self-imposed 
task before the early dawn- others might 
find their hearts constrained by silent medi- 
tations on their bed to open their coffers and 
give a part of their hoarded treasure to the 
pious object. All whose hearts were touched 
by piety,penitence,or gratitude repaired with 
eager haste into the presence of Moses, not 
as heretofore, to have their controversies 
settled, but to lay on his tribunal their con- 
tributions to the sanctuary of God. (2 Cor. 
9. 7.) They (the workmen) received of Moses, 
<fec.— It appears that the building was begun, 
after the first few contributions were made; 
it was progressively carried, and no neces- 
sity occurred to suspend operations even for 
the shortest interval, from want of the re- 
quisite materials. 5. spake unto Moses, (fee- 
By the calculations which the practised 
eyes of the workmen enabled them to make, 
they were unanimously of opinion that the 
supply already far exceeded the demand, 
and that no more contributions were re- 
quired. Such a report reflects the highest 
honour on their character as men of the 
strictest honour and integrity, who, notwith- 
standing they had command of an untold 
amount of the most precious things, and 
might, without any risk of human discovery, 
have appropriated much to their own use, 
were too high principled for such acts of pe- 
culation. Forthwith; a proclamation was 
issued to stop further contributions. 35. 
made a vail— the second or inner vail, which 
separated the holy from the most holy place, 
embroidered with cherubim and of great 
size and thickness. 37. made a hanging for 
the door— curtains of elaborately wrought 
needle-work are often suspended over the 
entrance to tents of the great nomad sheicks, 
and throughout Persia, at the entrance of 
summer tents— mosques and palaces. They 
are preferred as cooler and more elegant 
than wooden doors. This chapter contains 
an instructive narrative: it is the first in- 
stance of donations made for the worship of 
God, given from the wages of the people's 
sufferings and toils. They were acceptable 
to God, (Phil. 4. 18,) and if the Israelites 
showed such liberality, how much more 
should those whose privilege it is to live 
72 



under the Christian dispensation? (1 Cor. 6. 
20; 16. 2.) 

CHAPTER XXXVII. 
Ver. 1-29. Furniture of the Taber- 
nacle. 1. Bezaleel made the ark— The descrip- 
tion here given of the things within the 
sacred edifice is almost word for word the 
same as that contained in ch. 25. It is not 
on that account to be regarded as a useless 
repetition of minute particulars; for by the 
enumeration of these details, it can be seen 
how exactly every thing was fashioned ac- 
cording to the " pattern shown on the 
mount;" and the knowledge of this exact 
correspondence between the prescription 
and the execution was essential to the pur- 
poses of the fabric. 6-10. made the mercy-seat 
of pure gold— To construct a figure, whether 
the body of a beast or a man, with two ex- 
tended wings, measuring from 2 to 3 feet from 
tip to tip, with the hammer, out of a solid 
piece of gold, was what few, if any, artisans 
of the present day could accomplish. 17-22. 
he made the candlestick of pure gold— practical 
readers will be apt to say, "Why do such 
works with the hammer, when they could 
have been cast so much easier— a process 
they were well acquainted with?" The only 
answer that can be given is, that it was done 
according to order. We have no doubt but 
there were reasons for so distinctive an order, 
something significant, which has not been 
revealed to us. [Napier.] The whole of that 
sacred building was arranged with a view to 
inculcate through every part of its apparatus, 
the great fundamental principles of revela- 
tion. Every object was symbolical of impor- 
tant truth — every piece of furniture was 
made the hieroglyphic of a doctrine or a duty 
—on the floor and along the sides of that 
moveable edifice was exhibitd.by emblematic 
signs addressed to the eye, the whole remedial 
scheme of the gospel. How far this spiritual 
instruction was received by every successive 
generation of the Israelites, it may not be 
easy to determine. But the tabernaclejike the 
law of which it was a part, was a schoolmas- 
ter to Christ; and just as the walls of schools 
are seen studded with pictorial figures, by 
which the children, in a manner level to their 
capacities and suited to arrest their volatile 
minds, are kept in constant and familiar re- 
membrance of the lessons of piety and virtue, 
so the tabernacle was intended by its fur- 
niture and all its arrangements to serve as a 
"shadow of good things to come." In this 
view, the minute descriptions given in this 
chapter respecting the ark and mercy-seat, 
the table of shewbread, the candlestick, the 
altar of incense and the holy oil, were of the 
greatest utility and importance; and though 
there are a few things that were merely orna- 
mental appendages, such as the knops and the 
flowers, yet, in introducing these into the 
tabernacle, God displayed the same wisdom 
and goodness as He has done by introducing 
real flowers into the kingdom of nature to 
engage and gratify the eye of man. 

CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
Ver. 1-20. Furniture of the Taber- 
nacle. 1. The altar of burnt-offering— The 
repetitions are continued, in which may be 
traced the exact conformity of the execution 
to the order. 8. laver of brass ... of the look- 
ing-glasses of the women— the word mirrors 
should have been used, as those implements 
usually round, inserted into a handle of 



EXODUS, XXXIX. 



The ephod and 

31 And the socke a of the court round 
about, and the _Kets of the court rate. 
and all the pins f the tabernacle, and all 
the pins of the nit re and i 

UHAPTKK XXXIX. 
1 The rfiift in of ta tiiu ami fcofj mnrmmta 2 TTit 
cp hod. 8 Tht br.: .- The robe of the 

c, etc. & AUxncwed 
aiid afrf.ixvtd by Moses. 

AND of a the blue, and purple, and scar- 
^ let. they made b cloths of service, to 
do service in the holy place, and made the 
holy garments for Aaron ; c as the Lord 
commanded Mioses. 

2 And d he made the ephod of gold. blue, 
and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined 
linen. 

3 And they did beat the gold into thin 
plates, and cut it into wires, to work if in 

_\ie, and in the purple, and in the ;' ch. 28. is. 
scarlet, and in the fine linen, xcith cunning ** &■ l " 
work. * 

4 They made shoulder-pieces for it, to 
couple it together: by the two edges was it 
ecu] led together. 

5 And the e curious girdle of his ephod. 
that was upon it, was of the same, accord- 
ing to the work thereof; of gold, blue, and 
purple, and scarlet, and tine twined linen; 
as the Lord commanded M 

6 r And /they wrought iJ onyx stones in- 
closed in ouches of gold, graven, as 
are graven, with the ''names of the chil- 
dren of Israel. 

7 And he put them on the shoulders of the 
ephod. that thty should be stones for a » me- 
morial to the children of Israel ; as the 
Lord commanded M 

8 r And i he made the breastplate of cun- 
ning work, like the work of the ephod; of 
gold. blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine 
twined linen. 

9 It was foursquare ; they made the breast- 
plate double: a span was the length there- 
of, and a span the breadth thereof, being 
doubled. 

10 And * they set in it four rows of stones: 
the first row was a 1 sardius. a - topaz, and 
a 3 carbuncle: this was the fust row. 

11 And the second row. an * emerald, a 
6 sapphire, and a 6 diamond. 

12 And the third row, a ' ligure, an 8 agate, 
and an s amethyst. 

13 And the fourth row, a 10 beryl, an 
I 1 onyx, and a 12 ^: inclosed 
in ouches of gold in their inclosings. 

14 And the ston : siding to the 
names of the children of Israel, twelve. a<> 

.- to their names, like the engravings 
of a signet, every one with his name, ac- 
cording to the twelve :: i 

15 And they made upon the breastplate 
chains at the ends, o/ wreathen work of 
pure gold. 

16 And they made two ouches or gold, and 

Id rings, and put the two rings in the 
two ends of the breastplate. 
I. And they put the two wreathen chains 
of gold in the two rings on the ends of the 
: late. 

1 8 And the two ends of the two wreathen 
chains they fastened in the two ouches, and 
put them on the shoulder-pieces of the 
ephod. before it. 

19 And they made two rings of gold, and 
pnt them on the two ends of the breast- 
plate, upon the border of it. which was on 
the side of the ephod inward* 



The role, coats, mitre, etc. 



CHAP. 39. 

6 ch. 31. 10. 
eh. 35. 19. 
Ps. 93. 5. 
Eiek.43. 
12. 

e c... I:. I. 
d ch. 2S. J. 
Ler. 8. 7. 
e Is. 11. 5. 
■or. 1. 13 
/ ch. 28. 9. 

7 J:: ■-- le. 
h Is. 49. 16. 

Rer.2.17. 
t ch. 28. 12. 
J:s-.. 4. 7. 
- - 



1 Or, ruhY. 
Krwfcf ■ 

s: :--. 

2 S :-"_=■:- 'i 
stone. 

3neri'8 

=■ .:-.■=. 

4 Jadah's 
stone. 

5 Issi.LiT 5 
= :::_-. 

6 Zi-bulon't 

= T7. r. 

7 Om 5 

•: r.r. 

stone. 
U Asher's 

s: z~. 
II J ; ;_ s 

stone. 

min'a 

st:r.e. 
I eh. 28. 31. 

"••■ :>.. -5 •:-;. 

r. --— ~ 

prevented 
:..i v.is 
from 
striking 

ench 

::.-r. 
» eh. SBB. 39, 

•a 

o ch. 23. 4, 
39. 

18. 

i * a -.a. 

q Ps. 93. 5. 

Zech.14. 

20. 

L*.23. 

18. 
r eh. 25. 40. 
* Heb. 9. 

1--25. 
t Rer. 1. 

13-3). 
« ch. 27. 21. 

Mat. 5. 14. 

na a is. 

13 the in- 
cense of 



5 -::«. 
» ch 38. 30. 

1 Kin. 8. 

6i. 
* Rev. 3. 12. 

Gai.2.9. 



20 And they made two c brings, 
i and put them on the two sides of the 

I underneath, toward the fore part of it, over 
! against the other coupling thereof, above 
the curious girdle of the ephod. 

21 And they did bind the breastplate by 

[to the rings of the ephod with 
a lace of blue, that it niu'ht be above the 
curious girdle of the eph'od, and that the 
breastplate might not be loose., 
the ephod ; as the Lord com:.. 
Moses. 

22 r And * he made the robe of the ephod 
of woven work, all of blue. 

23 And there was an hole in the mi 1st I 
the robe, as the hole of an haberge- 

a band round about the hole, thai it should 
not rend. 

24 And they made upon the hems of the 
robe pomegranates or blue, and purple, 
and scarlet, and twined U 

25 And they made m bells or" pure gold, and 
put the bells betsveen the pomegranates 
upon the hem of the robe, round about be- 
tween the pomegranates ; 

26 A bell and a pomegranate, a bell and a 
pomegranate, round about the hem of the 
robe to minister in; as the Lord com- 
manded M : 

27 f And " they made coats of fine linen, 
of woven work*, for Aaron, and for his 
sons. 

28 And "a mitre o/fine linen, and goodly 
bonnets of fine linen, and * linen breeches 
of fine twined linen, 

29 And a girdle of fine twined linen, and 
blue, and purple, and scarlet, of needle- 
work: as the Lord commanded Mi 

80 £ And they made the plate of the holy 
crown of pure gold, and wrote upon it a 
writing.' like to the engravings of a signet, 
« HOLINESS Tu THE LuUD. 

31 And they tied unto it a lace of blue, to 
tasten it on* high upon the mitre; as the 
Lord commanded Moses. 

32 Thus was all the work of the taber- 
nacle of the tent of the congregation 
finished: and the children of Israel did 
r according to all that the Lord com- 
manded Moses, so did they. 

oo 1 And they brought 8 the tabernacle 
unto Moses, the tent, and all his furniture, 
his taches. his boards, his bars, and his 
pillars, and his sockets, 

34 And the covering of rams' skins dyed 
red. and the covering of badgers' skins, and 
the veil of the cove] 

35 The ark of the testimony, and the staves 

and the mercyseat, 

36 The table, and all the vessels thereof, 
and the showbread. 

37 The ' pure candlestick, \oiih the lamps 
thereof, fcne u lamps to be set in 
order, and all the vessels thereof, and the 
oil for lisrht, 

38 And the solden altar, and the anoint- 
ing oil. and 13 the sweet incense, and the 
haheing for the tabernacle door, 

39 The * brasen altar, and his grate of 
brass, h: ; staves, and all his vessels, the 
laver and bos : :. 

40 The hangings of the court, his w pillars, 
and his sockets, and the hanging tor the 
court gate, his cords, and his pins, and all 

.- ftac service of the tabernacle, 
f the congregation, 

41 The cloths of service to do service in 
the holyptece, and the holy garments for 



Sum the People Offered. 



EXODUS, XXXIX, XL. 



The Tabernacle Set Up. 



wood, stone, or metal, were made of brass, 
silver, or bronze, highly polished. [Wilk. j 
It was customary for the Egyptian women to 
carry mirrors with them to the temples; and 
whether by taking the looking-glasses of the 
Hebrew women Moses designed to put it out 
of their power to follow a similar practice at 
the tabernacle, or whether the supply of 
brass from other sources in the camp was 
exhausted, it is interesting to learn how 
zealously and to a vast extent they surren- 
dered those valued accompaniments of the 
female toilet, of the women assembling at the 
door— not priestesses, but females of pious 
character and influence, who frequented the 
courts of the sacred building, (Lev. 2. 36,) and 
whose parting with their mirrors, like the cut- 
ting the hair of the Nazarites, was their re- 
nouncing the world for a season. [Heng.] 9- 
21. the court— It occupied a space of one hun- 
dred and fifty feet by seventy-five, and it was 
enclosed by curtains of fine linen about eight 
feet high, suspended on brazen or copper pil- 
lars. Those curtains were secured by rods 
fastened to the top, and kept extended by 
being fastened to pins stuck in the ground, 
hooks— the hooks of the pillars in the court 
were for hanging up the carcases of the sacri- 
ficial beasts— those on the pillars at the entry 
of the tabernacle were for hanging the sacer- 
dotal robes and other things used in the ser- 
vice. 11. sockets— mortices or holes in which 
the end of the pillars stood. 17. chapiters— 
or capitals of the pillars, were wooden posts 
which ran along their top, to which were 
attached the hooks for the hangings. 18. 
The height in the breadth— or in the measure. 
The sense is that the hangings of the court- 
gate, which was twenty cubits wide, were of 
the same height as the hangings all round the 
court. [Wall. J 21. This is the sum— Having 
completed his description of the component 
parts of the tabernacle, the inspired historian 
digresses into a statement respecting the gold 
and silver employed in it, the computation 
being made according to an order of Moses— 
by the Levites, under the direction of Itha- 
mar, Aaron's youngest son. 24. Twenty and 
nine talents, seven hundred and thirty shekels- 
equivalent to £150,000 sterling. 25. The silver 
of them that were numbered— 603,550 men at 
half a shekel each would contribute 301,775 
shekels ; which, at 2s. 4<#. each, amount to 
£35,207 sterling. It may seem difficult to 
imagine how the Israelites should be pos- 
sessed of so much wealth in the desert; but 
it should be remembered that they were en- 
riched first by the spoils of the Egyptians, 
and afterwards by those of the Amalekites. 
Besides, it, is highly probable that during 
their sojourn they traded with the neigh- 
bouring nations who bordered on the wilder- 
ness. [Hewlett.] 

CHAPTEK XXXIX. 
Ver. 1-31. Garments of the Priests. 1. 
Cloths of service— official robes. The ephod of 
the high priest,the robe of the ephod,the girdle 
of needlework and the broidered coat were all 
of fine linen; for on no material less delicate 
could such elaborate symbolical figures have 
been pourtrayed in embroidery, and all 
beautified with the same brilliant colours. 
(See on ch. xxviii.) 3. cut the gold into wires 
to work it— i.e., the metal was beaten with a 
hammer into thin plates— cut with scissors or 
some other instrument into long slips— then 
rounded into filaments or threads. "Cloth 

n 



of golden tissue is not uncommon on the 
monuments, and specimens of it have been 
found rolled about mummies ; but it is 
not easy to determine whether the gold 
thread was originally interwoven or subse- 
quently inserted by the embroiderer. [Tay- 
lor.] 30. a writing, like the engravings of a 
signet— the seal-ring worn both by ancient 
and modern Egyptians on the little finger of 
the right hand, contained inscribed on a cor- 
nelion or other precious stone, along with 
the owner's name, a religious sentiment or 
sacred symbol, intimating that he was the 
servant of God, or expressive of trust in 
Him. And it was to this practice the inscrip- 
tion on the high priest alludes, (cf. Jo. 3. 23.) 
34. The covering of rams' skins dyed red— (See 
ch. 25. 7.) It was probably red morocco lea- 
ther, and "badgers' skins," rather "the skins 
of the tahash, supposed to be the dugong, or 
dolphin of the Eed Sea, the skin of which is 
still used by the Arabs under the same ap- 
pellation.'' [Goss.] 43. Moses did look upon ah 
the work — a formal inspection was made on 
the completion of the tabernacle, not only 
with a view to have the work transferred from 
the charge of the workmen, but to ascertain 
whether it corresponded with "the pattern." 
The result of a careful and minute survey 
showed that every plank, curtain, altar and 
vase, had been most accurately made of the 
form, and in the place designed by the Divine 
architect— and Moses, in accepting it off their 
hands, thanked God for them, and begged 
Him to bless them. 

CHAPTER XL. 
Ver. 1-12. The Tabernacle Beared and 
Anointed. 1. On the first day of the first 
month— From a careful consideration of the 
incidents recorded to have happened after 
the Exodus, (ch. 12. 2; 13. 4; 19. 1; 20. 18; 31. 
28, &c.,) it has been computed that the work 
of the tabernacle was commenced within six 
months after that emigration; and conse- 
quently, that other six months had been occu- 
pied in building it. So long a period spent in 
preparing the materials of a moveable pavi- 
lion, it would be difficult to understand, were 
it not for what we are told of the vast dimen- 
sions of the tabernacle, as well as the im- 
mense variety of curious and elaborate work- 
manship which its different articles of furni- 
ture required. 2. the tabernacle— the entire 
edifice ; the tent— the covering that surmount- 
ed it, {v. 19.) 15. anoint his sons, as thou didst 
anoint their father— The sacred oil was used, 
but it does not appear that the ceremony was 
performed exactly in the same manner; for 
although the anointing oil was sprinkled over 
the garments both of Aaron and his sons, 
29. 21; Lev. 8. 30, i it Mas not poured over the 
heads of the latter. This distinction was re- 
served for the high priest, (ch. 29. 7; Lev. 8. 
12; Ps. 133. 2.) 16. Thus did Moses— On his 
part, the same scrupulous fidelity was shewn 
in conforming to the " pattern" in the dispo- 
sition oi the furniture, as had been displayed 
by the workmen in the erection of the edifice. 

33. So Mcses finished the work— Though it is 
not expressly recorded in this passage, yet, 
from what took place on all similar occasions, 
there is reason to believe that on the inau- 
guration day, the people were summoned 
from their tents,— were all drawn up a vast 
assemblage, yet in calm and orderly arrange- 
ment around the newly erected tabernacle. 

34. a cloud— lit " Tlw" cloud,— the nrystio 



The tabernacle is reared, 



EXODUS, XL. 



and filled with God's glory. 



-A .iron the priest, and his sons' garments, 
to minister in the priest's office. 

42 According to all that the Lord com- 
manded Moses, so the children of Israel 
made* all the work. 

*J And Moses did look upon all the work, 
and, behold, they had done it as the Lord 
had commanded, even so had they done it: 
and Moses * blessed them. 

CHAPTER XL. 

1 The tabernacle is commaiided to be reared and 
anointed. 12 Aaron and his sons to be sancti- 
fied. 34 A cloud covereth it. 

A ND the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 
X1 2 On the hrst day of the a first mouth 
shalt thou set up b the tabernacle of the 
tent of the congregation. 

3 And c thou shalt put therein the ark of 
the testimony, and cover the ark with the 
veil. 

4 And d thou shalt bring in the table, and 
set e in order i the things that are to be 
set in order upon it ; and thou shalt bring 
in the candlestick, and light the lamps 
thereof. 

5 And thou shalt set the/altar of gold for 
the incense before the ark of the testimony, 
and put the hanging of the door to the 
tabernacle. 

6 And thou shalt set the altar of the burnt 
offering before the door of the tabernacle 
of the tent of the congregation. 

7 And 9 thou shalt set the laver between 
the tent of the congregation and the altar, 
and shalt put water therein. 

8 And thou shalt set up the court round 
about, and hang up the hanging at the 
court gate. 

9 And thou shalt take h the anointing oil, 
and anoint the tabernacle, and all that is 
therein, and shalt hallow it, and all the 
vessels thereof: and it shall be holy. 

10 And thou shalt anoint the altar of the 
burnt offering, and all his vessels, and 
sanctify the altar: and » it shall be an altar 

2 most holy. 

11 And thou shalt anoint the laver and his 
foot, and sanctify it. 

12 And i thou shalt bring Aaron and his 
sons unto the door of the tabernacle of 
the congregation, and wash them with 
water. 

13 And thou shalt put upon Aaron the 
holy garments, * and anoint him, and sanc- 
tify him ; that he may minister unto me in 
the priest's office. 

14 And thou shalt bring l his sons, and 
clothe them with coats: 

15 And thou shalt anoint them, as thou 
didst anoint their father, that they may 
minister unto me in the priest's office: for 
their anointing shall surely be m an ever- 
lasting priesthood throughout their gene- 
rations. 

16 Thus did Moses: according to all that 
the Lord commanded him, so did he. 

17 H And it came to pass in the first 
month in the second year, on the first day 



B. C. 1491. 



of the month, 
reared up. 



that 



the tabernacle was 
74 



CHAP. 39. 
x ch. 85. 10. 
y Gen. 14. 19. 

Lev. 9. 22. 

Nu. 6. 23. 

Jos. 22. 6. 

2 Sam. 6. 

18. 

1 Ki. 8. 14. 

2Chr.30.27. 

CHAP. 40. 
a ch. 12. 2. 
b ch. 26. 1, 

30. 

Num. 7. 1. 
c Num. 4. 5. 
d ch. 26. 35. 
e Lev. 24. 5,6. 

1 the order 
thereof. 

/Heb. 9. 24. 

Heb. 10. 

19-22. 
g ch. 30. 18. 
h ch. 3i). 

23-26. 
i ch. 29. 36. 

2 holiness 
of holi- 
nesses. 

j Lev. 8. 

1-13. 
k ch. 28. 41. 

Ps. 133. 2. 
I Heb. 7. 23. 
m Nu. 25.13. 
Heb. 7. 11. 
Rev. 1.6. 
1 Pet. 2. 
5,9. 
» Nu. 7. 1. 
o tables of 

the law. 

ch. 25. 16. 

Ps. 78. 5. 

Is. 8. 20. 
P ch. 35. 12. 
q ch. 26. 35. 
r ch. 26. 35. 
8 ch. 25. 37. 
t ch. 30. 6. 
«■ ch. 30. 7. 
v ch. 26. 36. 
w ch. 29. 38. 
x ch. 30. 18. 
V ch. 30. 19. 
* ch. 27. 9, 

16. 
a Lev. 16. 2. 

Nu. 9. 15. 

1 Ki. 8. 10. 
2Chr.5.13. 

2 Chr. 7. 2. 
Is. 6. 4 
Ezek. 43. 4. 
Hag. 2. 7,9. 
Rev. 15. 8. 

6 1 Ki. 8. 11. 

2 Chr. 5.14. 

Ps. 78. 14. 
c Nu. 10. 11. 

Neh. 9. 19. 

3 journeyed. 
d Num '9. 

19-22. 
e c h. 13.21. 
Num. 9. 15. 



18 And Moses reared up the tabernacle, 
and fastened his sockets, and set up the 
boards thereof, and put in the bars thereof, 
and reared up his pillars. 

19 And he spread abroad the tent over the 
tabernacle, and put the covering of the tent 
above upon it ; as the Lord commanded 
Moses. 

20 11 And he took and put the ° testimony 
into the ark, and set the staves on the ark, 
and put the mercyseat above upon the 
ark: 

21 And he brought the ark into the taber- 
nacle, and p set up the veil of the covering, 
and covered the ark of the testimony ; as the 
Lord commanded Moses. 

22 H And q he put the table in the tent of 
the congregation, upon the side of the 
tabernacle northward, without the veil. 

23 And he set the bread in older upon it 
before the Lord; as the Lord had com- 
manded Moses. 

24 11 And r he put the candlestick in the 
tent of the congregation, over against the 
table, on the side of the tabernacle south- 
ward. 

25 And 8 he lighted the lamps before the 
Lord ; as the Lord commanded Moses. 

26 11 And * he put the golden altar in the 
tent of the congregation before the veil: 

27 And " he burnt sweet incense thereon; 
as the Lord commanded Moses. 

28 11 And v he set up the hanging at the 
door of the tabernacle. 

29 And he put the altar of burnt offering 
by the door of the tabernacle of the tent or 
the congregation, and w offered upon it the 
burnt ottering and the meat offering; as the 
Lord commanded Moses. 

30 11 And % he set the laver between the 
tent of the congregation and the altar, and 
put water there, to wash withal. 

31 And Moses and Aaron and his sons 
washed then hands and their feet thereat: 

32 "When they went into the tent of the 
congregation, and when they came near 
unto the altar they washed; v as the Lord 
commanded Moses. 

33 And z he reared up the court round 
about the tabernacle and the altar, and set 
up the hanging of the court gate. So Moses 
finished the work. 

34 11 Then a a cloud covered the tent of the 
congregation, and the glory of the Lord 
filled the tabernacle. 

35 And Moses b was not able to enter into 
the tent of the congregation, because the 
cloud abode thereon, and the glory of the 
Lord filled the tabernacle. 

36 And c when the cloud was taken up 
from over the tabernacle, the children of 
Israel 3 went onward in all then: jour- 
neys: 

37 But d if the cloud were not taken up, 
then they journeyed not till the day that it 
was taken up. 

38 For e the cloud of the Lord was upon 
the tabernacle by day, and fire was on it by 
night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, 
throughout all then journeys. 



A Cloud Covereth 



EXODUS, XL. 



the Tabernacle. 



cloud which was the well-known symbol of 
the divine presence. After remaining at a 
great distance from them on the summit of 
the mount, it appeared to be in motion; and 
if many among them had a secret misgiving 
about the issue, how would the fainting heart 
revive, the interest of the moment intensely 
increase, and the tide of joy swell in every 
bosom, when that symbolic cloud was seen 
slowly and majestically descending towards 
the plain below, and covering the tabernacle. 
The entire and universal concealment of the 
tabernacle within the folds of an impervious 
cloud was not without a deep and instructive 
meaning,— it was a protection to the sacred 
edifice from the burning heats of the Arabian 
climate,— it was a token of the divine pre- 
sence,— and it was also an emblem of the 
Mosaic dispensation, which, though it was a 
revelation from heaven, yet left many things 
hid in obscurity; for it was a dark cloud com- 
pared with the bright cloud, which betokened 
the clearer and fuller discoveries of the divine 
character and glory in the gospel. (M. 17. 
6.) The glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle— 
i. e., light and fire, a created splendour, which 
was the peculiar symbol of God. (1 J. 1. 5.) 
"Whether this light was inherent in the cloud 
or not, it emanated from it on this occasion, 
and making its entry, not with the speed of 
a lightning flash, as if it were merely an elec- 
tric spark, but in majestic splendour, it 
passed through the outer porch into the 
interior of the most holy place. (1 Ki. 8. 10; 
J. 1. 14.) Its miraculous character is shewn 
by the fact, that, though l4 it filled the taber- 
nacle," not a curtain or any article of furni- 
ture was so much as singed. 35. Moses was 
not able to enter— How does this circumstance 
shew the incapacity of man, in his present 
state, to look upon the unveiled perfections 
of the Godhead. Moses could not endure the 
unclouded effulgence, nor the sublimest of 
the prophets, (Is. 6. 5.) But what neither 
Moses nor the most eminent of God's mes- 
sengers to the ancient Church through the 
weakness of nature could endure, we can all 
now do by an exercise of faith; looking unto 
Jesus, who reflected with chastened radiance 
the brightness of the Father's glory; and 
who, having as the Forerunner for us, en- 
tered withm the veil, has invited us to come 
boldly to the mercyseat. While Moses was 
compelled, through the influence of over- 
whelming awe, to stand aloof, and could not 
enter the tabernacle, Christ entered into the 
holy place not made with hands; nay, He is 
himself the true tabernacle, filled with the 
g'!ory of God, ever with the grace and truth 
which the Shechinah typified. What reason 
have we to thank God for Jesus Christ, who, 
while He himself was the brightness of the 
Father's glory, yet exhibited that glory in so 
mild and attractive a manner, as to allure 
us to draw near with confidence and love 

n 



into the divine Presence? 36. When the cloud 
was taken up — In journeying through the 
sandy trackless deserts of the East, the use 
of torches, exhibiting a cloud of smoke by day 
and of fire by night, has been resorted to from 
time immemorial. The armies of Darius 
and Alexander were conducted on their 
marches in this manner. [Faber.] The Arab 
caravans in the present day observe the same 
custom; and materials for these torches are 
stored up among other necessary prepara- 
tions for a journey. Live iuel, hoisted in 
chafing-dishes at the end of long poles, and 
being seen at a great distance, serves, by the 
smoke in the daytime and the light at night, 
as a better signal for march than the sound of 
a trumpet, which is not heard at the extre- 
mities of a large camp. [Laborde.] This 
usage, and the miracle related by Moses, 
mutually illustrate each other. The usage 
leads us to think that the miracle was neces- 
sary, and worthy of God to perform; and, on 
the other hand, the miracle of the cloudy 
pillar, affording double benefit of shade by 
day and light at night, implies not only that 
the usage was not unknown to the Hebrews, 
but supplied all the wants which they felt in 
common with other travellers through those 
dreary regions. [Faber. Hess. Grand.] 
But its peculiar appearance, unvarying char- 
acter, and regular movements distinguished 
it from all the common atmospheric pheno- 
mena. It was an invaluable boon to the 
Israelites, and being recognised by all classes 
among that people as the symbol of the 
divine Presence, it guided their journeys, 
and regulated their encampments, (cf. Ps. 
29. 105.) 38. The cloud of the Lord, <fec— While 
it had hitherto appeared sometimes in one 
place, sometimes in another, it was now 
found on the tabernacle only; so that from 
the moment that sanctuary was erected, and 
the glory of the Lord had filled the sacred 
edifice, the Israelites had to look to the 
place which God had chosen to put His 
name there, in order that they might enjoy 
the benefit of a heavenly Guide. (Nu. 9. 
15-23.) In like manner, the church had di- 
vine revelation for its guide from the first:— 
long before the Word of God existed in a 
written form: but ever since the setting up 
of that sacred canon, it rests on that as its 
tabernacle, and there only is it to be found. 
It accompanies us wherever we are or go, 
just as the cloud led the way of the Israelites. 
It is always accessible— can be carried in our 
pockets when we walk abroad; it may be 
engraven on the inner tablets of our memo- 
ries and our hearts; and so true, faithful and 
complete a guide is it, that there is not a 
scene of duty or of trial through which we 
may be called to pass in the world, but it 
furnishes a clear, a safe and unerring direc- 
tion. (Col. 3. 16.) 



THE THIRD 1300K OF MOSES, CALLED 

LEVITICUS. 



CHAPTER I. 

1 The burnt offerinps, 3 of the herd, 10 of the 

flocks, 14 of the fowls. 
A NT) the Lord a called unto Moses, and 
■**■ spake unto him b out of the tabernacle 
of the congregation, saving, 

2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and 
say unto them, c If any man of you bring 
an offering unto the Lord, ye shall bring 
your offering of the cattle, even of the herd, 
and of the tiock. 

3 If his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the 
herd, let him offer a male d without blemish : 
he shall offer it of his own voluntary will 
at the door of the tabernacle of the congre- 
gation before the Lord. 

4 And e he shall put his hand upon the 
head of the burnt offering; and it shall be 
accepted for him g to make atonement for 
him. 

5 And he shall kill the >* bullock before 
the Lord: *and the priests, Aaron's sons, 
shall bring the blood, i and sprinkle the 
blood round about upon the altar that is 
by the door of the tabernacle of the congre- 
gation. 

6 And he shall flay the burnt offering, and 
cut it into his pieces. 

7 And the sons of Aaron the priest shall 
put fire upon the altar, and k lay the wood 
in order upon the fire: 

8 And the priests, Aaron's sons, shall lay 
the parts, tiie head, and the fat, in order 
upon the wood that is on the fire which is 
upon the altar: 

9 But his inwards and his legs shall he 
wash in water: and the priest shall burn all 
on the altar, to be a burnt sacrifice, an 
offering made by fire, of a l sweet savour 
unto the Lord. 

10 IT And if his offering be of the flocks, 
namely, of the sheep, or of the goats, for a 
burnt sacrifice, he shall bring' it a male 
without blemish. 

11 And he shall kill it on the side of the 
altar northward before the Lord: and the 

{>riests, Aaron's sons, shall sprinkle his 
>lood round about upon the altar. 

12 And he shall cut it into his pieces, with 
his head and his fat: and the priest shall 
lay them in order on the wood that is on 
the fire which is upon the altar: 

13 But he shall wash the inwards and the 
legs with water: and the priests shall bring 
it all, and burn it upon the altar: it is a 
burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of 
a sweet savour unto the Lord. 

14 If And if the burnt sacrifice for his of- 
fering to the Lord be of fowls, then he shall 
bring his offering of m turtle-doves, or of 
young pigeons. 

15 And the priest shall bring it unto the 
altar, and i wring off his head, and burn it 
on the altar; and the blood thereof shall be 
wrung out at the side of the altar: 

1(5 And he shall pluck away his crop with 

2 his leathers, and cast it beside the altar 
on the east part, by the place of the 
ashes: 

17 And he shall cleave it with the wings 

thereof, but n shall not divide it asunder: 

and the priest shall burn it upon the altar, 

upon the wood that is upon the the: it is a 

75 



CHAP. 1. 

a Ex. 19. 3. 
6Nu.l2.4.5. 
c ch. 22. 18. 
d Mai. 1. 14. 

Jno.l4.3». 

Eph. 5. 27. 

Heb. 9. 14. 

1 Pet. 1. 
19. 

e Ex. 29. 10. 
Is. 53. 4. 

2 Cor. 5. 
21. 

1 Pet. 2. 

24. 
/ Is. 53 7. 

Rom. 12. 1. 

Phil. 4. 18. 
g Nu. 15. 25. 

Rom. 5. 11. 
h Mie. 0. 6. 
i He. 10. 11. 
j Heb. 12. 24. 

1 Pet. 1. 2. 
k Gen. 22 9. 
I Gen. 8. 21. 

Ezek. 20. 
28. 

2 Cor. 2. 15. 
Eph. 5. 2. 
Phil. 4. 18. 

™- Lu. 2. 24. 

1 Or, pinch 
off the bead 
vrith the 
nail. 

2 Or, the filth 
thereof. 

n Gen. 15. 
10. 



CHAP. 2. 
« ch. 6. 14. 

ch. 9. 17. 

Nu. 15. 4. 
6 ch. 5. 12. 

ch. C. 15. 

ch. 24. 7. 

Is. C6. 3. 

Acts 10. 4. 
c ch. 7. 9. 

ch. 10. 12, 

13. 
d Ex. 29. 37. 

Nu. 18. 9. 
e Ex. 29. 2. 

1 Or, on a 
Hat plate, 
or, slice. 

/ Ex. 29. 18. 
g Ex. 29. 18, 

37. 
h eh. 6. 17. 

Mat. 16.12. 

Mark 8. 15. 

Luke 12. 1. 

1 Cor. 5. 8. 

Gal. 5. 9. 
i Ex. 22. 29. 
ch, 23. 10, 
11. 

2 ascend. 

j Mark 9. 49. 

Col. 4. 8. 
k Nu. 18. 19. 
I Ezek. 43.24. 
?/i Ex. 23. 19. 
Pro. 3. 9. 
n ch. 23. 10, 

14. 
2Ki.4.42. 



burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, o1 
a sweet savour unto the Lord. 

CHAPTER II. 

1 The meat offering of Hour, with oil and incense. 

12 The oblation of first-fruits not to be burnt. 

13 Tl\e salt of the meat offering. 

A ND when any will offer a a meat offering 
- £X unto the Lord, his offering shall be of 
fine flour; and he shall pour oil upon it, 
and put frankincense thereon: 

2 And he shall bring it to Aaron's sons 
the priests: and he shall take thereout his 
handful of the flour thereof, and of the oil 
thereof, with all the frankincense thereof: 
and the priest shall burn Hhe raem'nJ dt 
it upon the altar, to be an offering jr.iae by 
fire, of a sweet savour unto th- 1 Lord: 

3 And c the remnant of the meat offering 
shall be Aaron's and h'.s sons': d ft i s a 
thing most holy of the offerings of the 
Lord made by fire. 

4 1F And if thou bring an oblation of a 
meat offering baken in the oven, it shall he 
unleavened cakes of fine flour mingled 
with oil, or unleavened wafers e anointed 
with oil. 

5 IF And if thy oblation be a meat offering 
baken * in a pan. it shall be of fine flour 
unleavened, mingled with oil. 

6 Thou shalt part it in pieces, and pour 
oil thereon: it is a meat offering. 

7 IF And if thy oblation be a meat offering 
baken in the frying-par., it shall be matie 
of fine flour with oil. 

8 And thou shalt bring the meat offering 
that is made of these things unto the Lord: 
and when it is presented unto the priest, 
he shall bring it unto the altar. 

9 And the priest shall take from the m°nt 
offering a memorial thereof, and shall burn 
it upon the altar: it is an /ottering made 
by fire, of a sweet savour unto the Lord. 

10 And that which is left of the meat 
offering shall be Aaron's and his sons': it is 
a tiling most holy of the offerings of the 
Lord <j made bv fire. 

11 No meat offering, which ye shall bring 
unto the Lord, shall be made with * leaven: 
for ye shall bum no leaven, nor any honey, 
in any offering of the Lord made by 
fire. 

12 1F As » for the oblation of the first- 
fruits, ye shall otter them unto the Lord: 
but they shall not '- be burnt on the altar 
for a sweet savour. 

13 And every oblation of thy meat offering 
shaft J 1 ' thou season with salt; neither shalt 
thou suffer * the salt of the covenant of thy 
God to be lacking from thy meat offering: 

i with l all thine offerings thou shalt oiler 
salt. 

14 And if thou offer a meat offering of thy 
first-fruits m unto the Lord, n thou shalt 
oiler for the meatoffering of thy first-fruits 
green ears of corn dried by the fire, even 
corn beaten out of lull ears. 

15 And thou shalt put oil upon it, and lay 
frankincense thereon: it is a meat offering. 

16 And the priest shall burn the memorial 
of it, part of the beaten com thereof, and 
part of the oil thereof, with all the frank- 
incense thereof: it is an offering made by 
hie unto the Lord. 



THE TEIED BOOK OF MOSES. CALLED 

LEVITICUS. 



CHAPTER I. 

Ver. 1-17. Burnt -Offerings of the 
Herd. 1. The Lord spake out of the taber- 
nacle—The laws that are contained in the 
previous record were delivered either to the 
people publicly from Sinai, or to Moses pri- 
vately, on the summit of that mountain; 
but on the completion of the tabernacle, the 
remainder of the law was announced to the 
Hebrew leader by an audible voice from the 
divine glory, which surmounted the mercy- 
seat. 2. Speak unto the children of Israel— If 
the subject of communication were of a tem- 
poral nature, the Leviteswere excluded; but 
if it were a spiritual matter, the whole tribes 
were comprehended under this name. (Deu. 
27. 12.) If ai>y man, &c— The directions 
given here relate solely to voluntary or free- 
will-offerings—those rendered over and above 
such, as being of standing and universal obli- 
gation, could not be dispensed with or 
commuted for any other kind of offering. 
(Ex. 29. 38; ch. 23. 37; Nil. 28. 3; 28. 11-27, 
&c.) bring your offering, &c. —i.e., those ani- 
mals that were not only tame, innocent and 
gentle, but use ul and adapted for food. 
This rule excluded horses,dogs,swine, camels 
and asses, which were used in sacrifice by 
some heathen nations, beasts and birds of 
prey, as also hares and deers. 3. a burnt- 
offering— so called from its being wholly 
consumed on the altar; no part of it was 
eaten either by the priests or the offerer. It 
was designed to propitiate the anger of God 
incurred by original sin, or by particular 
transgressions; and its entire combustion 
indicated the self- dedication of the of- 
ferer—his whole nature— his body and soul 
—as necessary to form an sacrifice accept- 
able to God. (Eo. 12. 1; Phil. 1. 20.) This 
was the most ancient as well as the most 
conspicuous mode of sacrifice, a male with- 
out blemish — no animal was allowed to be 
offered that had any deformity or de- 
fect. Among the Egyptians, a minute in- 
spection was made by the priest, and the 
bullock having been leclared perfect, a cer- 
tificate to that effect being fastened to its 
norns with wax, was sealed with his ring, 
and no other might be substituted. A simi- 
lar process of examining the condition of 
the beasts brought as offerings, seems to 
have been adopted by the priests in Israel. 
(Jo. 6. 27.) at the doors of the tabernacle — 
where stood the altar of burnt-offering, (Ex. 
40. 6,) and every other place was forbidden, 
under the highest penalty, (ch. 17.4.) 4. Shall 
put his hand upon his head— This was a sig- 
nificant act which implied not only that the 
offerer devoted the animal to GocL but that 
he confessed his consciousness of sin, and 
prayed that his guilt and its punishment 
might be transferred to the victim, and it 
shall be— rather "that it maybe an accept- 
able atonement." 5. and he shall kill, fee- 
meaning not the priest, for it was not his 
official duty in case of voluntary sacrifices, 
but the offerer; in later times, however, the 
office was generally performed by Levites. 
before the Lord— on the spot where the hands 
had been laid upon the animal's head, on 
the north side of the altar, sprinkle the blood 
75 



— This was to be done by the priests. The 
blood being considered the life, the effusion 
of it was the essential part of the sacrifice, 
and the sprinkling of it— the application of 
the atonement— which made the person and 
services of the offerer acceptable to God. The 
skin having been stripped off, and the carcase 
cut up, the various pieces were disposed on 
the altar in the manner best calculated to 
facilitate their being consumed by the fire. 
8. the fat— that about the kidneys especially, 
which is called "suet." 9. But his inwards, 
&c— this part of the ceremony was symbo- 
lical of the inward purity, and the holy walk, 
that became acceptable worshippers, a sweet 
savour unto the Lord— is an expression of the 
offerers' piety, but especially as a sacrificial 
type of Christ. 10-13. If his offering be of the 
flecks— Those who could not afford the ex- 
pense of a bullock might offer a ram or a he- 
goat, and the same ceremonies were to be 
observed in the act of offering. 14-17. If the 
burnt sacrifice be of fowls— The gentle nature 
and cleanly habits of the dove led to its 
selection, while all other fowls were rejected, 
either for the fierceness of their disposition or 
the grossness of their taste; and in this case, 
there being from the smallness of the ani- 
mal no blood for waste, the priest was 
directed to prepare it at the altar and sprinkle 
the blood. This was the offering appointed 
for the poor. The fowls were always offered 
in pairs, and the reason why Moses ordered 
two turtle doves or two young pigeons, was 
not merely to suit the convenience of the 
offerer, but according as the latter was in 
season: for pigeons are sometimes quite 
hard and unfit for eating, at which time 
turtle doves are very good in Egypt and 
Palestine. The turtle doves are not restricted 
to any age, because they are always good, 
when they appear in those countries, being 
birds of passage ; but the age of the pigeons is 
particularly marked, that they might not be 
offered to God at times when they are re- 
jected by men. [Harmer.] It is obvious, 
from the varying scale of these voluntary 
sacrifices, that the disposition of the offerer 
was the thing looked to— not the costliness 
of his offering. 

CHAPTEE II. 
Ver. 1-16. The Meat - Offerings. 1. 
When any will offer a meat-offering— or gift — 
distinguishing a bloodless from a bloody 
sacrifice. The word " meat," however, is im- 
proper, as its meaning as now used is differ- 
ent from that attached at the date of our 
English translation. It was then applied not 
to "flesh," but "food," generally, and here 
it is applied to the flour of wheat. The meat- 
offerings were intended as a thankful ac- 
knowledgment for the bounty of providence; 
and hence, although meat-offerings accom- 
panied some of the appointed sacrifices, 
those here described being voluntary obla- 
tions, were offered alone, pour oil upon it- 
oil was used as butter is with us— symboli- 
cally it meant the influences of the Spirit, of 
which oil was the emblem, as incense was of 
prayer, 2. shall burn the memorial—" rather" 
for a memorial, i.e. , a part of it. 3. The rem- 
nant of the meat offering shall be Aaron's and 



The peace offering. 



LEVITICUS, III, IV. 



The sin offering. 



CHAPTER III. 

1 The peace offering of the herd, 6 of the flock, 7 
whether a lamo, \'2 or a goat. 

A H D if his oblation be a a sacrifice of 
-^ peace ottering, if he offer it of the herd ; 
whether it be a male or female, he shall 
offer it without blemish before the Lord. 

2 And b he shall lay his hand upon the 
head of his offering, and kill it at the door 
of the tabernacle of the congregation: and 
Aaron's sons the priests shall sprinkle the 
blood upon the altar round about. 

3 And he shall offer of the sacrifice of the 
peace ottering an ottering made by fire unto 
Mie Lord: the i fat that covereth the in- 
wards, and all the fat that is upon the in- 
wards, 

4 And the two kidneys, and the fat that 
is on them, which is by the flanks, and 
the *- caul above the liver, with the kidneys, 
it shall he take away. 

5 And Aaron's sons c shall burn it on the 
altar upon the burnt sacrifice, which is 
upon the wood that is on the fire: it is an 
offering made by tire, of a sweet savour 
unto the Lord. 

6 11 And if his offering for a sacrifice of 
peace offering unto the Lord be of the 
flock, male or female, he shall otter it 
without d blemish. 

7 If he offer a lamb for his ottering, then 
shall he otter it befoie the Lord. 

8 And he shall lay his hand upon the 
head of his ottering, and kill it before the 
tabernacle of the congregation : and Aaron's 
sons shall sprinkle the blood thereof round 
about upon the altar. 

9 And he shall otter of the sacrifice of the 
peace ottering an ottering made by fire unto 
the Lord: the fat thereof, and the whole 
rump, it shall he take off hard by the back 
bone ; and the fat that covereth the inwards, 
and all the fat that is upon the inwards. 

10 And the two kidneys, and the fat that 
is upon them, which is by the flanks, and 
the caul above the liver, with the kidneys, 
it shall he take away. 

11 And the priest shall burn it upon the 
altar : it is e the food of the ottering made 
by fire unto the Lord. 

12 1i And it' his offering be a goat, then he 
shall otter it before the Lord. 

13 And he shall lay his hand upon the 
head of it, and kill it before the tabernacle 
of the congregation: and the sons of Aaron 
shall sprinkle the blood thereof upon the 
altar round about. 

14 And he shall offer thereof his offering, 
even an offering made by fire unto the 
Lord • the fat that covereth the inwards, 
and all the fat that is upon the inwards, 

15 And the two kidneys, and the fat that 
is upon vhem, which is by the flanks, and 
the caul above the liver, with the kidneys, 
it shall he take away. 

16 And the priest shall burn them upon 
the altar: it is the food of the offering made 
by fiie for a sweet savour. / All the tat is 
the Lord's. 

17 It shall be a g perpetual statute for 
your generations throughout all your dwell- 
ings, that ye eat neither fat nor * blood. 

CHAPTER IV. 



CHAP. 3. 
a ch. 22. 21. 
6 Ex 29. 10. 

Is 53. 4. 

Nu. 8. 12. 

2 Cor. 5.21. 

Heb. 9. 28. 

1 Pet 2. 24. 

1 Pet. 3. IS. 

1 Or, Fuet. 

2 Or. midriff 
over the 
liver, and 
over the 
kidnevs. 

C£x. 2£. 13. 
d Is. 5:. 9. 

Johnl4JiO. 

Acts 4. 27. 

R". 12. 1,2. 

2 Cor. 5. 
21. 

Tit. 2.11, 

12. 

Heb. 7. 26. 

I Pet. 1.19. 
• eh. 21. 6,8. 
17, 21. 22. 
eh. 22. 25. 
Ezek. 44. 7. 
Mai. 1. 7. 
12. 
/ ch. 7. 23. 

1 Sa 2. 15. 

2 Chr. 7. 7. 
g ch. 6. 18. 

ch.23. 14. 
h Gen. 9. 4. 
ch. 17. 10. 
De. 12.16. 
1 Sam. 14. 
33. 

Ezek. 447, 
15. 

Rom. 14, 
20.23. 



1 The sin offering of ignorance for the -priest, IS for 
the con 
people, 



the congregation, 22 for a ruler, 27 for any 



3for 

■/the 



ND the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 
L 2 Speak unto the children of Israel, 
76 



CHAP. 4. 

ch. 5. 15, 
17. 

Nu. 15. 22. 

1 Sam. 14. 
27. 

Ps. 19. 12. 
b ch. 8. 12. 

Heb. 5. 3. 
e en. 9. 2 
d ch. 1. 3, 4. 
e ch. 16. 14. 

Nu. 19. 4. 
/ Is. 42.21. 

John 8. 29. 

Ro. 3. 24. 

2 Cor. 5. 
19. 

Eph. 2. 13, 

Rev. 5. 9. 
9 ch. 9. 9. 

ch. 16. 18. 
h ch. 5. 9. 
i Ex. 29. 14. 

Nu. 19. 5. 

1 to without 
the camp. 

j ch. 6. 11. 
A: Heb. 13.11. 

2 at the pour- 
ing out 

of the 

ashes. 
I Num. 15. 

24. 

Josh. 7. 11. 
m ch. 5. 2, 3, 

4, 17. 
n ch. 1. 4. 
o Heb. 9. 12, 

13, 14. 



saying, a If a soul shall sin through igno- 
rance against any of the commandments 
of the Lord concerning things which 
ought not to be done, and* shall do against 
any of them: 

If b the priest that is anointed do sin 
according to the sin of the people ; then let 
him bring for his sin. which ne hath sinned, 
a c voung bullock without blemish unto 
the Lord for a sin ottering. 

4 And he shall bring the bullock d unto 
the door of the tabernacle of the cong eg*. 
tion before the Lord ; and shall lav hish.-uid 
upon the bullock's head, and kill the bul- 
lock before the Lord. 

5 And the priest that is anointed e shall 
take of the bullock's blood, and bring it to 
the tabernacle of the congregation: 

6 And the priest shall dip his finger in the 
blood, and sprinkle of the blood seven times 
before / the Lord, before the veil of the 
sanctuary. 

7 And the priest shall g put some of the 
blood upon the horns of the altar of sweet 
incense before the Lord, which is in the 
tabernacle of the congregation: and shall 
pour * all the blood of the bullock at the 
bottom of the altar of the burnt ottering, 
which is at the door of the tabernacle of 
the conarrearation. 

8 And he shall take off from it all the fat 
of the bullock for the sin offering; the fat 
that covereth the inwards, and all the fat 
that is upon the inwards, 

9 And the two kidneys, and the fat that 
is upon them, which is by the flanks, and 
the caul above the liver, with the kidneys, 
it shall he take away, 

10 As it was taken off from the bullock of 
the sacrifice of peace offerings : and the 
priest shall burn them upon the altar of 
the burnt offering. 

11 And » the skin of the bullock, and all 
his flesh, witn his head, and with his legs, 
and his inwards, and his dung, 

12 Even the whole bullock shall he carry 
forth i without the camp unto a clean 
place, i where the ashes are poured out, 
and k burn him on the wood with fire : 
2 where the ashes are poured out shall he 
be burnt. 

13 IT And l if the whole congregation of 
Israel sin through ignorance, m and the 
thing be hid from the eyes of the assembly, 
and they have done someichat against any 
of the commandments of the Lord con- 
cerning things which should not be done, 
and are guilty ; 

14 When the sin, which they have sinned 
against it, is known, then the congregation 
shall offer a young bullock for the sin, and 
bring him before the tabernacle of the con- 
gregation. 

15 And the elders of the congregation 
shall n lay their hands upon the head of 
the bullock before the Lord; and the bul- 
lock shall be killed before the Lord. 

16 And ° the priest that is anointed shall 
bring of the bullock '« blood to the taber- 
nacle of the congi egation: 

17 And the priest t^ail dip his finger in 
some of the blood, and sprinkle it seven 
times before the Lord, even before the 
veil. 

18 And he shall put some of the blood 
upon the horns of the altar which is before 
the Lord, that is in the tabernacle oJ the 
congregation, and shall pour out all the 



The Salt of the Meat Offering. 



LEVITICUS, III, IV. The Peace Offering of the Herd. 



his sons'— The circumstance of a portion of it and happiness generally— a peace-offering was 
being appropriated to the use of the priests a voluntary tribute of gratitude for health 
distinguishes this from a burnt offering. \ or other benefits. In this view it was 
They alone were to partake of it within the eucharistic, being a token of thanksgiving 
sacred precincts, as among "the most holy for benefits already received, or it was 
things. 4. baked in the oven— generally a ! sometimes votive, presented in prayer for 
circular hole excavated in the floor, from one ; benefits wished for in future, of the herd 
to five feet deep ; the sides of which are j —This kind of offering being of a festive 
covered with hardened plaster, on which ! character, either male or female, if with- 
cakes are baked of the form and thickness of i out blemish, might be used, as both of 



pancakes. (See on Gen. 18. 



of Eastern ovens varies considerably accord 
ing to the nomadic or settled habits of the 
people. 5. baked in a pan— a thin plate, gen- 
erally of copper or iron, placed on a slow fire, 
similar to what the country people in Scot- 
land called a "girdle" for baking oat-meal 
cakes. 6. part it iu pieces, and pour oil there- 
on—pouring oil on bread^s a common prac- 
tice among Eastern people, who are fond of 
broken bread dipped in oil, butter, and 
milk— oil only was used in the meat-offer- 
ings, and probably for a symbolic reason. It 
is evident that these meat-offerings were pre- 
viously prepared by the offerer, and when 
brought, the priest was to take it from his 
hands and burn a portion on the altar. 11. 
no leaven, nor any honey— Nothing sweet or 



The shape - them were equally good for food, and if the 



circumstances of the offerer allowed it, it 
might be a calf. 2. he shall lay his hand upon 
the head— Having performed this significant 
act, he killed it before the door of the taber- 
nacle, and the priests sprinkled the blood 
round about upon the altar. 3. he shall 
offer of the sacrifice— The peace-offering dif- 
fered from the oblations formerly mentioned 
in this respect: that while the burnt-offering 
was wholly consumed on the altar, and the 
freewill - offering was partly consumed and 
partly assigned to the priests; in this offer- 
ing the fat alone was burnt, only a small 
part was allotted to the priests, while the 
rest was granted to the offerer and his friends, 
thus forming a sacred feast of which the Lord, 
his priests and people conjointly partook. 



sour was to be offered. In the warm climates ! and which was symbolical of the spiritual 
of the East leavened bread soon spoils, and j feast, the sacred communion which, through 
hence it was regarded as the emblem of hypo- j Christ, the great peace-offering, believers 
crisy or corruption. Some, however, think j enjoy. (See further on chaps. 19. 22.) The 
that the chief reason of the prohibition was j fat that covereth the inwards— i.e.the web-work 
that leaven and honey were used in the idol- that presents itself first to the eye on opening 



atrous rites of the heathen. 12. the oblation 
of the first-fruits— voluntary offerings made 
by individuals out of their increase, and 
leaven and honey might be used with these, 
(ch. 23. 17; Mum. 15. 20.) Though pre- 
sented at the altar, they were not consumed, 
but assigned by God for the use of the 
priests. 13. every-meat-offering shalt thou 
season with salt— The same reasons which led 
to the prohibition of leaven, recommended 
the use of salt— if the one soon putrefies— the 
other possesses a strongly preservative pro- 
perty, and hence it became an emblem of 
incorruption and purity, as well as of a per- 
petual covenant— a perfect reconciliation and 
lasting friendship. No injunction in the 
whole law was more sacredly observed than 
this application of salt, for, besides other 
uses of it, that will be noticed elsewhere, it 
had a typical meaning referred to by our 
Lord concerning the effect of the Gospel on 
those who embrace it ; (Mk. 9. 49, 50.) as 
when plentifully applied, preserves meat 
from (spoiling, so will the Gospel keep men 



the belly of a cow. the fat upon the inwards- 
adhering to the intestines, but easily re- 
movable from them; or, according to some, 
that which was next the ventricle. 4-11. 
the two kidneys ... of the flock ... the whole 
rump — There is, in Eastern countries, a 
species of sheep the tails of which are not 
less than four feet -and -a-half in length. 
These tails are of a substance between fat 
and marrow. A sheep of this kind weighs 
sixty or seventy English pounds weight, of 
which the tail usually weighs fifteen pounds 
and upwards. This species is by far the 
most numerous in Arabia, Syria, and Pales- 
tine, and, forming probably a large portion 
in the flocks of the Israelites, seems to have 
been the kind that usually bled on the Jew- 
ish altars. The extraordinary size and deli- 
ciousness of their tails give additional im- 
portance to this law. To command by an 
express law the tail of a British sheep to 
be offered in sacrifice to God, might well 
surprise us; but the wonder ceases — when we 
are told of those broad-tailed Eastern sheep. 



from i eing corrupted by sin. And as salt land of the extreme delicacy of that part which 



was indispensable to render sacrifices ac- 
ceptable to God, so the Gospel brought home 
to the hearts of men by the Holy Ghost, is 
indispensably requisite to their offering up 
of themselves living sacrifices.— [Brown.] 
14. a meat-offering of thy first-fruits— From 
the mention of green ears, this seems to have 
been a voluntary offering before the harvest— 
the ears being prepared in the favourite way 
of Eastern people, by parting them at the 
fire, and then beating them out for use. It 
was designed to be an early tribute of pious 
thankfulness for the earth's increase, and it 
was offered according to the usual directions. 
CHAPTER III. 
Ver. 1-17. The Peace-Offering of the 
Herd. 1. If his oblation, &c. — "peace" 
being used in Scripture to denote prosperity 
76 



was so particularly specified in the statute. 
[Pax.] 12. if his offering be a he-goat— Whether 
this or any of the other two animals were 
chosen, the same general directions were to 
be followed in the ceremony ol' offering. 
17. Ye shall eat neither fat nor blood— The 
details given above distinctly define the lat 
in animals which was not to be eaten, so 
that all the rest, whatever adhered to other 

Earts, or was intermixed with them might 
e used. The prohibition of blood rested 
on a different foundation, being intended to 
preserve their reverence for the Messiah, 
who was to shed his blood as an atoning 
sacrifice for the sins of the world. [Brown. J 
CHAPTER IV. 
Ver. 1, 2. Sin Offering of Ignorance. 
if a soul shall sin through ignorance— A soul— 



The stn^offerivg for the people. 



LEVITICUS, V. 



Offerings for various sins. 



blood at the bottom of the altar of the 
burnt offering, which is at the door of the 
tabernacle of the congregation. 

19 And he shall take all his fat from him, 
and burn it upon the altar. 

20 And he shall do with the bullock as he 
did with the bullock for a sin offering, so 
shall he do with this: 11 and the priest shall 
make an atonement for them, and it shall 
be forgiven them. 

21 And he shall carry forth the bullock 
without the camp, and burn him as he 
burned the first bullock: it is a sin otfering 
for the congregation. 

22 f When a q ruler hath sinned, and done 
soraeiohat through ignorance against any 
of the commandments of the Lord his 
God concerning things which should not 
be done, and is guilty"; 

23 Or if his sin, wherein he hath sinned. 
come to his knowledge; he shall bring his 
offering, a kid of the goats, a male without 
blemish: 

24 And he shall lay his hand upon the 
head of the goat, and kill it in the place 
where they kill the burnt offering before 
the Lord: it is a sin offering. 

25 And the priest shall t;ike of the blood 
of the sin offering with his linger, and put 
it upon the horns of the altar of burnt 
offering, and shall pour out his blood at the 
bottom of the altar of burnt offering. 

26 And he shall burn all his fat upon the 
altar, as r the fat of the sacrifice of peace 
offerings : 8 and the priest shall make an 
atonement for him as concerning his sin. 
and it shall be forgiven him. 

27 IF And < if 3 any one of the * common 
people sin through ignorance, while he 
doeth somewhat against any of the com- 
mandments of the Lord consenting things 
which ought not to be done, and be guilty; 

23 Or u if his sin, which he hath sinned. 
come to his knowledge: then he shall bring 
his offering, a kid ol the goats, a female 
without blemish, for his sin which he hath 
sinned. 

29 And v he shall lay his hand upon the 
head of the sin offering, and slay the sin 
otfering in the place of the burnt offering. 

30 And the priest shall take of the blood 
thereof with his finger, and put it upon the 
horns of the altar of burnt otfering, and 
shall pour out all the blood thereof at the 
bottom of the altar. 

31 And ■ he shall take away all the fat 
thereof, x as the fat is taken away from off 
the sacrifice of peace offerings ; and the 
priest shall bum it upon the altar for a 
sweet y savour unto the Lord ; z and the 
priest shall make an atonement for him, 
and it shall be forgiven him. 

32 And if he brim: a " lamb for a sin offer- 
ing, ° he shall bring it a female without 
blemish. 

33 And he shall lay his hand upon the 
head of the sin offering, and slay it for a 
*in offering in the place where they kill the 
burnt ottering. 

34 And the priest shall take of the blood 
of the sin ottering with his finger, and put 
it upon the horns of the altar of burnt 
otfering, and shall pour out all the blood 
thereof at the bottom of the altar: 

3-3 And he shall take away all the tat 
thereof, as the fat of the lamb is taken 
away from the sacrifice of the peace offer- 
ings; and the priest shall burn them upon 
77 



B. C. 1490. 



CHAP. 4. 

p Nu. 15. 25. 

Dan. 9. 24. 

Rom. 5. 11. 

Ho. 2. 17. 

He. 10. 10, 

11. 12. 

1 John 1. 7. 

Uol.n2 2. 
9 Ex. 18. 21. 

Nu. lo. 2. 

Ezra 9. 2. 

Acts 3. 17. 

r ch. x 5. 

« Nu. 15. 23. 

* Nu. 15.27. 
Eo. 7. 20. 

3 any soul. 

4 j-eoplo of 
the land. 

t* ver. 23. 

V rer. 4, 24. 
w ch. 3. 14. 
x ch. 2. 3. 

V Ex. 29. 18. 
ch. 1.9. 

* rer. 26. 
a Is. 53. 7. 

John 1. 29. 

Arts 3. 32. 

1 Pet. 1.19. 

Rer. 5. 

6.14. 

Rer. 13. 8. 
6 rer. 28. 
c ch. 3. 5. 
d Dan. 9. 24. 

Ro. 5. 11. 

Heb. 9. 

8-28. 

Uohnl. 7. 

1 John 2.2. 



CnAP. 5. 

a 1 Ki. 8. 31. 

Pro. 29. 24. 

Mat. 26.63. 
6 Ge. 17. 14. 

ch. 7. 18. 

ch. 17. 16. 

ch. 19.8. 

ch.20. 17. 

Nu. 9. 13. 
e ch. 11. 24, 

28. 31, 39. 

Nu. 19. 11, 

13. 16. 
dch. 12. 1. 

ch. 13. 1. 

ch. 15. 1. 
« Rashly, 

ISa. 14.24. 
/ 1 Sam. 25. 

Mai. 3. 5. 

Acts 23. 12 

9 Mark 6. 23. 

h ch. 26.41. 

Nu. 5. 7. 

Ezra 10. 

11. 

i ch. 14. 21. 

1 his hand 
cannot 
reach to 
the suffi- 
ciency of 
a lamb. 

2 Or. i-inch 
ort' the head 
with the 
nail. 

j ch. 1. 14. 

3 Or, ordi- 
nance. 

k Num. 5. 

15. 
J ch. 4, 36. 



the altar, c according to the offerings made 
by fire unto the Lord: and the priest shall 
make an ''atonement for his sin that he liath 
committed, and it shall be forgiven him. 
CHAPTER V. 

1 The trespass offering of one that eoncealtth his 
kn 'V.'td.e in k m e kma an unclean thing, 4 or in 
making an oaih. 14 '/'Air tre pass offering in 
suerilege, 17 and in fins cf ignorance. 

A >'D if a soul sin, a and hear the voice of 
-"■ swearing, and is a witness, whether he 
hath seen or known of it; if he do not utter 
it, then he shall b bear his iniquity. 

2 Or c if a soul touch any unclean thing, 
whether it be a carcase of an unclean beast, 
or a carcase of unclean cattle, or the car- 
case of unclean creeping things, and if it be 
hidden from him; he also shall be unclean, 
and guilty. 

3 Or if he touch the d uncleanness of man, 
whatsoever uncleauness it be that a man 
shall be defiled withal, and it be hid from 
him; when he knoweth of it, then he shall 
be .guilty. 

4 Or it' a soul e swear, pronouncing with 
his lips / to do evil, or g to do good, what- 
soever it be that a man shall pronounce 
with an oath, and it be hid from him ; wlieii 
he knoweth of it, then he shall be guilty in 
one of these. 

5 And it shall be, when he shall be smilty 
in one of these things, that he shall * con- 
fess that he hath sinned hi that thing: 

6 And he shall bring his trespass offering 
unto the Lord for his sin which he hath 
sinned, a female from the flock, a lamb, or 
a kid of the goats, for a sin ottering; and 
the priest shall make an atonement for him 
concerning his sin. 

7 And * if i he be not able to bring a 
lamb, then he shall bring for his trespass, 
which he hath committed, two turtle-doves, 
or two young pigeons, tmto the Lord; one 
for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt 
offering. 

8 And he shall bring them unto the priest, 
who shall offer thai winch is for the sin 
offering first, and 2 wring off his head 
from his neck, but shall not divide it 
asunder: 

» And he shall sprinkle of the blood of the 
sin offering upon the side of the altar; and 
the rest of the blood shall be wrung out 
at the bottom of the altar: it is a sin oiler- 
ing. 

10 And he shall offer the second for a 
burnt offering, according to i the b manner: 
and the priest shall make an atonement for 
him for his sin. which he hath sinned, and 
it shall be forgiven liim. 

11 But if he be not able to bring two tnr- 
tle-doves, or two young pigeons- fhen he 
that sinned shall bring lor his offering the 
tenth part of an ephah of tine flour for a 
sin otfering: k he shall put no oil upon it, 
neither shall he put any frankincense 
thereon; for it is a sin ottering. 

12 Then shall he bring it to the priest, 
and the priest shall take his handfid oi it, 
even a memorial thereof, and burn it on 
the altar, ' according to the offerings made 
by fire unto the Lord: it is a sin otter- 
ing. 

13 And the priest shall make an atonement 
for him as touching his sin that he hath 
sinned in one of these, and it shall be for- 
given him: and the rtmnant shall be the 
priest's, as a meat oilering. 



Sin-Offering of Ignorcmce. 



LEVITICUS, V. 



Offerings for Various Sins. 



an invidual. All sins may be considered, in 
a certain sense, as committed " through 
ignorance," error, or misapprehension of 
one's true interests. The sins, however, re- 
ferred to in this law were unintentional vio- 
lations of the ceremonial laws, — breaches 
made through haste, or inadvertency of some 
negative precepts, which, if done knowingly 
and wilfully, would have involved a < apital 
punishment, or do against ary of them— To 
bring out the meaning, it is necessary to 
supply, "he shall bring a sin-offering." 

3-35. Sin-Offering foe, the Priest. 3. 
If a priest that is anointed sin— i.e., the high 
priest, in whom, considering his character as 
typical mediator, and his exalted office, the 
people had the deepest interest; and whose 
transgression of any part of the divine law, 
thereiore, whether done unconsciously or 
heedlessly, was a very serious offence, both as 
regarded himself individually, and the in- 
fluence of his example. He is the person 
principally meant, though the common order 
of the priesthood was included, do sin ac- 
cording to the sin of the people— i.e., bring guilt 
on the people. He was to take a young bul- 
lock, (the age and sex being expressly men- 
tioned, and having killed it according to the 
form prescribed for the burnt offerings, he 
was to take it into the holy place, and sprinkle 
the atoning blood seven times before the veil, 
and tip with the crimson fluid the horns of 
the golden altar of incense, on his way to the 
court of the priests,— a solemn ceremonial 
appointed only for very grave and heinous 
offences, and which betokened that his sin. 
though done in ignorance, had vitiated all 
his services; nor could any official duty he 
engaged in be beneficial either to himself or 
the people, unless it were atoned for by blood. 
11. the skin of the bullock and his flesh— In or- 
dinary circumstances these were perquisites 
of the priests. But in the expiation necessary 
for a sin of the high priest's, after the fat of 
the sacrifice was offered on the altar, the 
carcase was carried without the camp, in 
order that the total combustion of it in the 
place of ashes might the more strikingly in- 
dicate the enormity of the transgression, and 
the horror with which he regarded it. (cf. 
Heb. 13. 12, 13.) 13. If the whole congregation 
of Israel sin through ignorance — In conse- 
quence of some culpable neglect or misappre- 
hension of the law, the people might contract 
national guilt, and national expiation was 
necessary. The same sacrifice was to be 
offered as in the former case, but with this 
difference in the ceremonial,that the elders or 
heads of the tribes,as representing the people, 
and being the principal aggressors in mis- 
leading the congregation, laid their hands on 
the head of the victim. The priest then took 
the blood into the holy place, where, after 
dipping his finger in it seven times, he sprin- 
kled the drops seven times before the veil,— 
this done, he returned to the court of the 



law. The trespass of such a civil functionary 
being less serious in its character and conse- 
quences than that either of the high priest or 
the congregation, a sin offering of inferior 
value was required— "a kid of the goats;" 
and neither was the blood carried into the 
sanctuary, but applied only to the altar <»t 
burnt offering, nor was the carcase taken 
without the camp, it was eaten by the priests- 
in-waiting. 27-35. If any of the common people 
sin through ignorance— In this case, the ex- 
piatory offering appointed was a female kid, 
or a ewe-lamb without blemish ; and the 
ceremonies were exactly the same as those 
observed in the case of the offending ruler. 
In these two latter instances, the blood of the 
sin offering was applied to the altar of burnt 
offering— the place where bloody sacrifices 
were appointed to be immolated. But the 
transgression of a high priest, or of the whole 
congregation, entailing a general taint on 
the ritual of the tabernacle, and vitiating 
its services, required a further expiation; 
and therefore, in these cases, the blood of the 
sin offering was applied to the altar of in- 
cense. 35. it shall be forgiven him— None of 
these sacrifices possessed any intrinsic value 
sufficient to free the conscience of the sinner 
from the pollution of guilt, or to obtain his 
pardon from God; but they gave a formal 
deliverance from a secular penalty, He. 9. 
13, 14); and they were figurative representa- 
tions of the full and perfect sin offering which 
was to be made by Christ. 

CHAPTER V. 

Ver. 1. Trespass Offerings for Con- 
cealing Knowledge. 1. If a soul hear the 
voice of swearing— or, according to some, "the 
words of adjuration." A proclamation we s is» 
sued calling any one who could give informa- 
tion, to come before the court and bear testi- 
mony to the guilt of a criminal, and the n an- 
ner in which witnesses were interrogated in 
the J ewish courts of justice was not by sv ear- 
ing them directly, but adjuring them by read- 
ing the words of an oath: "the voice of 
swearing." The offence, then, for the expia- 
tion of which this law provides, was that of 
a person who neglected or avoided the op- 
portunity of lodging the information which 
it was in his power to communicate. 

2, 3. Touching anything Unclean. 
if a soul touch any unclean thing— a person 
who, unknown to himself at the time, came 
in contact with anything unclean, and either 
neglected the requisite ceremonies of purifi- 
cation, or engaged in the services of religion 
while under the taint of ceremonial defile- 
ment might be afterwards convinced that he 
had committed an offence. 

4-19. For Swearlng. If a scul swear— 
a rash oath, without duly considering the 
nature and consequences of the oath, per- 
haps inconsiderately binding himself to do 
anything wrong, or neglected to perform a 
vow to do something good. In all such cases 



priests, and ascending the altar, put some j a person might have transgressed one of the 



portion upon its horns ; then he poured it out 
at the loot of the altar. The fat was the only 
part of the animal which was offered on the 
altar; for the carcase, with its appurtenances 
and offals, was carried without the camp, 
into the place where the ashes were deposit- 
ed, and there consumed with fire. 22-26. 
When a ruler hath sinned— "Whatever was the 
form of government, the king, judge, or sub- 
ordinate, was the party concerned in this 
77 



divine commandments unwittingly, and have 
been afterwards brought to a sense of his 
delinquency. 5. It shall be . . . shall confess 
—make a voluntary acknowledgment of his 
sin from the impulse of his own conscience, 
and before it come to the knowledge of the 
world. A previous discovery might have 
subjected him to some degree of punishment 
from which his spontaneous confession re- 
leased him, but still he was considered guilty 



Tlie trespass of- 



LEVITICUS, VI. 



Law of the meatofferino. 



14 1 And the Lord spake unto Moses, 

15 Of " a soul commit a trespass, and sin 
through _ . in the huly thine - 
Lord: then " he mall bring for his trespass 

unto the Lord a ram without blemish out 
of the flocks, with thy estimation by shekels 
of silver, alter ° the shekel of the sanctuary, 
for a trespass offering: 
IB And he shall make amends for the 
harm that he hath dune in the holy thing. 

shall add the tilth part there! 
give it unto the priest: a and the priest shall 
at for him with the ram 
u:' the trespass ofiering, and it shall be ior- 
■ dm. 

17 r And if a soul sin. and commit any of 
these things which are forbidden to be 
done by the commandments of the Lord: 
though r he wist it not. yet is he guilty, and 
shall bear his iniquity. 

18 And he shall bring 1 a ram * without 
blemish out of the flock, with thy estima- 
tion, for a tn ing, unto the 

and the priest shall make an atonement for 
him concerning his ignorance wherein he 
erred and wist it not. and it shall be for- 
.tini. 

19 It is t a trespass offering: u he hath cer- 
tainly trespassed against the Lord. 

CHAPTER VI. 

1 The trespass offering for sins dome wittingly. 8 
The ; t offering, 14 and meat offer- 

ing. . o at tfCe consecratic-n of a 

priest. 9i Tr.elau- afikt i 

A ND the Lord spake unto Moses, saying. 
"■ 2 If a soul sin. and a commit aires- 
Lord. and h lie unto his 
neighbour in that c which was delivered him 
to Keep, or in ! fellowship, or in a thinir 
taken away by violence, or hath d deceived 
- 

a Or ■ have found that which was lost, and 
lieth concerning it, and /sweareth falsely; 
in any of ail these that a man doel 
ning th 

4 Then it shall be, because he hath sinned, 
and is guilty, That he shall restore that 
which he took violently away, or the thing 
which he hath deceitfully gotten, or that 
which was delivered him to keep, or the 
lost thing which he found, 

5 Or ciil that about which he hath sworn 
falsely; he shall even • restore it in the 
principal, and shall add the tilth part more 
thereto, and give it unto him to whom it 

-ineth, - in the day of his trespass 

o' And he shall brine his trespass offering 
unto the Lord, a rani without blemish out 
of the riock. with thv estimation, for a tres- 
pass ottering, unto the | : 

7 And '■- the priest shall make an atone- 
ment tor him before the Lord: and it shall 
be forgiven him for any thing of all that 
he hath done in trespass::!,: therein. 

o r And the Lord spake unto Moses. 
saring. 

y Command Aaron and his sons, saving. 
This «> the law of the burnt ofiering: "it ?s 
the burnt offering, 3 because of the burning 
upon the altar all nk r ht unto the morning, 
and the rhe of the altar shall be burning 
in it. 

10 And » the priest shall put on his linen 

garment, and his linen breeches shall he 

I ut upon his flesh, and take up the ashes 

73 



B. C. 1490. 



CHAP. 5. 

"* eh. 22. 14. 

o Ex. 30. 13. 

ch. 27. 25. 

eh. 22. 14. 

ch. 2T. 13, 

15. 27, 31. 

Nu. 5. 7. 
2 ch. 4. 20. 

Heb. 9.13, 

14. 
r p 5 . 19.12. 

Lu. 12. 48. 

s 1 Turn. 2. 

: . 

Heb. 10. 

1-17. 
1 1=. 53. 10. 
u Ezra 10. 2. 



CHAP. 6. 

6 ch. 19. IE 

Acts 5. 4. 

Col. 3. 9. 
c Ex. 22. 7, 

10. 
1 pmffimg 

:• the 

band, 

or, in 

ic -. ing 
d Pro. 26. 19. 
e Dru.22. 1. 
/Jer. 7.9. 

Z«h. 5. 4. 
g 2 Sa. 12. 6. 

Eukel9.S. 
S in the day 

of his tres- 



his being 

found 

sruiltv. 
h Heb." 10. 

1-17- 
3 Or, for the 

I : ing 
i Exc . till 

Is. 33. IE 
Dan. 7. 10. 
JJdat. 25. 41. 

k Nu. 15. 4. 

I Nu. IS. lu. 

tn eh. 2. 11. 

n Ntim. 18. 
9.10. 

Ex. 29. 37. 

t v u . is. :.. 

q ch. 3. 17. 

r ch. 22, 3. 

Ex. 29. 37. 
6 Ex. 29. 2. 

1 Ex. :.. 36. 

j v. £ X . 29. 25. 
Is. 53. 10. 

Dm. 9. 2rj. 
1 Tim. 2. 6. 

I eh. « 2i. 

£9,33. 
w ch. 21. 22. 

Ps. 93. 5. 
X Num. 18. 

9. 10. 

Exek. 44. 

28. 
V Ex. 29. 

37. 

Ex.30. 

29. 
S ch. 11. 33. 

ch. 15.12. 



which the fire hath consumed with the 
burnt ottering on the altar, and he shall 
put them beside the altar. 

11 And he shall put off his gannei I 

put on other garments, and carry forth the 
ashes without the camp unto a clean 
place. 

12 And the fire upon the altar shall be 
burning in it; it shall not be put out: and 
the priest shall burn wood on it every 
morning, and lay the burnt ofiering hi order 
upon it ; and he shall bum thereon the fat 
of the peace offerings. 

13 The / tire shall" ever be burning upon 
the altar: it shall never go out. 

14 1 And *this is the law of the meat offer- 
ing: the sons of Aaron shall oiler it before 
the Lord, before the altar. 

15 And he shall take of it his handful, of 
the flour of the meat offering, and of the 
oil thereof, and all the frankincense which 
is upon the meat offering, and shall burn it 
upon ti. *ur, even the 
memorial of it." unto the Lord. 

16 And the remainder thereof shall Aaron 
and his sons eat: with l unleavened bread 
shall it be eaten in the holy place ; in the 
court of the tabernacle of the congregation 
they shall eat it. 

17 It '"' shall not be baken with leaven. w I 
have given it unto tkemfor their | 

of my offerings made by tire: 'it ■ 
holy, as is the sin offering; and as the tres- 
ring. 

IS All p the males among the children of 
Aaron shall eat of it. q It shall be 
tute for ever in your generations concern- 
ing the offerings of the Lord made by tire: 
every r one that I 
holy. 

19 I And the Lord spake unto Moses, 
savin sr. 

is 8 U the offering of Aaron, and of 
his sons, which they shall otier unto the 
Lord in the day when he is anointed; the 
tenth part of an f ephah of tine flour for a 
meat onering perpetual, hah of it in the 
morning, and halt thereof at rrkht. 

21 in a pan it shall be made whh oil; and 
when it is baken. thou shall bring it in: 
and the baken pieces of the meat ofiering 
shalt thou otier for a sweet savour unto the 
Lord. 

22 And the priest of his sons that is 
anointed in his stead shall offer ir: 
statute for ever unto the Lord ; u it shall 
be wholly burnt. 

23 For every meat ofiering for the priest 
shall be wholly burnt: it shall not be 
eaten. 

-~t f And the Lord spake unto Moses, 
saying, 

2b .'Speak unto Aaron and to his Bona; 

saying, This ?'s the law of the sin offering; 

■ In the place where the burnt ofiering is 

- hail the sin offering be killed before 

the Lord: " it i^' n.ost holy. 

26 '1 he * priest that offereth it for sin shall 
eat it: hi the I shall it be eaten, 

in the court of the tabernacle of th 
gregation. 

2~ Whatsoever * shall touch the 
thereof shall be holy: and when th 
sprinkled of the blood thereof upon any 

:con it 
was spiinkied in the holy place. 

2* Tut the earthen vessel wherein it is 
sodden £ shall be broken : and if it be sodden 



The Trespass-Offering. 



LEVITICUS, VI. 



LawoJ the Meat-Offering. 



of a trespass, to expiate which he was ob- 
liged by the ceremonial law to go through 
certain observances. 6-14. he shall bring his 
trespass-offering— a trespass-offering differed 
from a sin-offering in the following respects, 
that it was appointed for persons who had. 
either done evil unwittingly, or were in 
doubt as to their own criminality; or felt 
themselves in such a special situation as 
required sacrifices of that kind. [Brown.] 
The trespass-offering appointed in such cases 
was a female lamb or kid; if unable to make 
such an offering he might bring a pair of 
turtle doves or two young pigeons,— the one 
to be offered for a sin-offering, the other for 
a burnt-offering; or if even that was beyond 
his ability, the law would be satisfied with 
the tenth-part of an ephah of fine flour with- 
out oil or frankincense. 15, 16. sin through 
ignorance, &c— This is a case of sacrilege 
committed ignorantly, either in not paying 
the full due of tithes— first fruits and similar 
tribute in eating of meats which belonged to 
the priests alone,— or he was required, along 
with the restitution in money, the amount 
of which was to be determined by the priest, 
to offer a ram for a trespass-offering, as soon 
as he came to the knowledge of his involun- 
tary fraud. 17-19. If a soul sin . . . though 
he wist it not— Thi s also refers to holy things, 
and it differs from the preceding in being 
one of the doubtful cases, i.e., where con- 
science suspects, though the understanding 
be in doubt whether criminality or sin has 
been committed. The Jewish Babbis give 
as an example, the case of a person who, 
knowing that " the fat of the inwards" is not 
to be eaten, religiously abstained from the 
use of it; but should a dish happen to have 
been at table in which he had reason to 
suspect some portion of that meat was inter- 
mingled, and he had, inadvertently,partaken I 
of that unlawful viand, he was bound to 
bring a ram as a trespass-offering. These j 
provisions were all designed to impress the j 
conscience with the sense of responsibility 
to God, and keep alive on the hearts of the ! 
people a salutary fear of doing any secret I 
wrong. 

CHAPTER VI. 

Ver. 1-7. Trespass-Offering for Stns 
done Wittingly. 1. If a soul . . . commit a I 
trespass against the Lord— This law, the record ; 
of which should have been joined with the ! 
previous chapter, was given concerning 
things stolen, fraudulently gotten, or wrong- 
fully kept. The offender was enjoined to 
make restitution of the articles to the right- 
ful owner, along with a fifth part out of his 
own possessions. But it was not enough 
thus to repair the injury done to a neighbour j 
and to society, he was required to bring a ; 
trespass-offering, as a token of sorrow and 
penitence for having hurt the cause|of religion j 
and of God. That trespass-offering was a ram j 
without blemish, which was to be made on ) 
the altar of burnt-offerings, and the flesh ; 
belonged to the priests. This penalty was 
equivalent to a mitigated fine, but being I 
associated with a sacred duty, the form in I 
which the fire was inflicted served the im- I 
portant purpose of rousing attention to the ] 
claims and reviving a sense of responsibility 
to God. 

8-13. The Law of the Burnt-Offer- 
ing, command Aaron and his sons— In this 
passage, Moses received instructions to be 
78 



delivered to the priests respecting their 
official duties, and first the burnt-offer- 
ing. Heb. — "a sacrifice, which went up 
in smoke." The daily service consisted of 
two lambs offered in the morning at sun- 
rise, the other in the evening, when the day 
began to decline. Both of them were con- 
sumed on the altar by means of a slow fire, 
before which the pieces of the sacrifice were 
so placed that they fed it all night. At all 
events, the observance of this daily sacrifice 
on the altar of burnt-offering was a daily 
expression of national repentance and faith. 
The fire that consumed these sacrifices had 
been kindled from heaven at the consecra- 
tion of the tabernacle, and to keep it from 
being extinguished, and the sacrifices from 
being burned with common fire, strict in- 
junctions are here given respecting not only 
the removal of the ashes, but the approach- 
ing near to the fire-place in garments that 
were not officially " holy." 

14-18. The La w of the Meat-Offering. 
This is the law of the meat-offering— Though 
this was a provision for the priests and their 
families, it was to be regarded as " most 
holy;" and the way in which it was prepared 
was, on any meat-offerings being presented, 
the priest carried them to the altar, and 
taking a handful from each of them as an 
oblation, salted and burnt it on the altar; the 
residue became the property of the priests, 
and was the food of those whose duty it was 
to attend on the service. They themselves 
as well as the vessels from which they ate 
were typically holy, and they were not at 
liberty to partake of the meat-offering while 
they laboured under any ceremonial defile- 
ment. 

19-2 \ The High Priest's Meat-Offer- 
ing. This is the offering of Aaron and his sons 
—The daily meat-offering of the high priest; 
for though his sons are mentioned along 
with him, it was probably only those of his 
descendants who succeeded him in that high 
office that are meant. It was to be offered 
one-half of it in the morning, and the other 
half in the evening— being daily laid by the 
ministering priest on the altar of burnt- 
offering, where, being dedicated to God, it 
was wholly consumed. This was designed to 
keep him and the other attendant priests in 
constant remembrance, that though they 
were typically expiating the sins of the 
people, their own persons and services could 
meet with acceptance only through faith, 
which required to be daily nourished and 
strengthened from above. 

24-30. The Law of the Sin-Offering. 
This is the law of the sin-offering— It was slain, 
and the fat and inwards, after being washed 
and salted, were burnt upon the altar. But 
the rest of the carcase belonged to the 
officiating priest. He and his family might 
feast upon it— only, however, within the 
precincts of the Tabernacle; and none 
else were allowed to partake of it but 
the members of a priestly family— and not 
even they, if under any ceremonial defile- 
ment. The flesh on all occasions was boiled 
or sodden, with the exception of the paschal 
lamb, which was roasted, and if an earthen 
vessel had been used, it being porous, and 
likely to imbibe some of the liquid particles, 
it was to be broken; if a metallic pan had 
been used it was to be scoured and washed 
with the greatest care, not because the vessels 



Lam of the, peace-offering. 



LEVITICUS, TIL 



The priests' portion. 



in a brasen pot, it shall be both scoured, 
and rinsed in water. 

29 All a the males anion? the priests shall 
eat thereof: it is most holy. 

3u And b no sin offering, whereof any of 
the blood is brought into the tabernacle of 
the congregation to reconcile withal in the 
holy place, shall be eaten; it shall be burnt 
in the fire. 

CHAPTER VII. 

1 The law of the trespass offering, 11 and of the 
peace Offerings. 11 The fat and the blood are 
forbidden. 28 The priests' portion. 

T IKE WISE a this is the law of the tres- 
- LJ pass offering: & it is most holy. 

2 In c the place where they kill the burnt 
offering shall thev kill the trespass offer- 
ing: and the blood thereof shall he sprinkle 
round about upon the altar. 

3 And he shall offer of it d all the fat 
thereof; the rump, and the fat that covereth 
the inwards, 

4 And the two kidneys, and the fat that is 
on them, which is by the flanks, and the 
caul that is above the liver, with the kid- 
neys, it shall he take away: 

5 And the priest shall burn them e upon 
the altar for an offering made by hre unto 
the Lord: it is a trespass ottering. 

6 Even /male among the priests shall eat 
thereof: it shall be eaten in the holy place: 
it g is most holy. 

7 As the sin offering is, so is h the trespass 
offering: titer e is one law for them: the 
priest that maketh atonement therewith 
shall have it. 

8 And the priest that offereth any man's 
burnt offering, even the priest shal] have to 
himself the skin of the burnt offering which 
he hath offered. 

9 And » all the meat offering that is baken 
in the oven, and all that is dressed in the 
frying-pan, and i in the pan, shall be the 
priest's J that offereth it. 

10 And every meat offering mingled with 
oil, and dry, shall all the sons of Aaron 
have, one as much as another. 

11 H And k this is the law of the sacrifice 
of peace offerings, which he shall offer unto 
the Lord. 

12 If he offer it for a thanksgiving, then 
he shall offer with the sacrifice of thanks- 
giving unleavened cakes mingled with oil, 
and unleavened wafers L anointed with oil, 
and cakes mingled with oil, of fine flour, 
fried. 

13 Besides the cakes, he shall offer/or his 
offering 1U leavened bread with the sacrifice 
of thanksgiving of his peace offerings. 

14 And of it he shall offer one out of the 
whole oblation for an heave offering unto 
the Lord, n and it shall bs the priest's 
that spiinkleth the blood of the peace 
offerings. 

15 And ° the flesh of the sacrifice of his 
peace offerings for thanksgiving shall be 
eaten the same day that it is ottered; he 
Bhall not leave any of it until the morn- 
ing. 

10 Eut p if the sacrifice of his offering be a 
vow, or a voluntary offering, it shall be 
eaten the same day that he offereth his 
sacrifice: and on the morrow also the re- 
mainder of it shall be eaten: 

17 But the remainder of the flesh of the 
sacrifice on the tkiru day shall be burnt 
with lire. 

18 And if any of the flesh of the sacrifice 

7tf 



B. C. 1490. 



CHAP. 


0. 


o.Nu 


is 


1 K 


fccli. 


10. 


27. 


Be 


13 


11. 



CHAP. 7. 
a ch. 5. 1. 

eh. 6. 1-7 
6 Ex. 29. 37. 

ch. 6. 17. 

ch. 21. 22. 
c ch.4. 24, 

29,83. 
d Ex. 29. 13. 

ch. 3. 4, 9, 

10, 14, 15. 

ch. 4. 8, 9. 
e Tit. 2. 14. 

Heb. 9. 28. 
/ch. 6. 16. 

Nu. 18. 9. 
g ch. 2. 3. 

Ps. 93. 5. 
h ch. G. 25. 

ch. 14. 13. 
i ch. 2. 3, 

10. 

Nu. 18. 9. 

Eze. 44. 29. 
1 Or, on 

the flat 

plate, or, 

slice. 
j Num. 5. 9. 

1 Cor. 9. 

7-14. 
* ch. 3. 1. 

ch. 22. 18. 

1 ch. 2. 4. 
Nu. G. 15. 

m Amos 4. 5. 
» Nu. 18. 8. 
° ch. 22. 30. 
P ch. 19. 6. 
9 Gen. 4. 5. 

Nu. 18. 27. 
r ch. 11. 10. 

Fro. 15. 8. 

Pro. 21.27. 

fie. 5. 1. 

Jer. 6. 20. 

Amos 5.22. 
8 ch. 15. 3. 
t Ge. 17. 14. 
« ch. 13. 1. 
v ch. 11. 24, 

28. 
«•' Eze. 4. 14. 
Z ch. 3. 17. 

2 carcase. 
Deut. 14. 
21. 

Eze. 4. 14. 

Ezek. 44. 

31. 
V Gen. 9. 4. 

Deut. 12. 

16. 

Acts 15. 

20. 
z ch. 3. 1. 
« Exod. 29. 

24, 27, 

ch. 8. 27. 

ch. 9. 21. 

Nu. o. a>. 

b ch. 3. 5, 11. 
c ch. 9. 21. 

Nu. 6. 20. 
d Exod. i9. 

28. 

ch. 10. 14, 

15. 

Nu. 18. 18. 

Deu. 18. 3. 
c Ex. 40. 13, 
15. 
ch. 8. 12,30. 



of his peace offerings be eaten at all on 
the thml day, it shall nut be accepted, 
neither shall it be ' l imputed unto him that 
oliereth it: it shall be an r abomination, 
and the soul that eateth of it shall bear his 
iniquity. 

19 And the flesh that toucheth any unclean 
thing shall not be eaten; it shall be burnt 
with fire: and as for the fiesh, all that be 
clean shall eat thereof. 

20 But the soid that eateth of the flesh oi 
the sacrifice of peace offerings that pertain 
unto the Lord, *' having his uncleanness 
upon him, even that soul * shall be cut uri* 
from his people. 

21 Moreover the soul that shall touch any 
unclean thing, as u the uncleanness of man, 
or any* unclean beast, or any "'abominable 
unclean thing, and eat of the flesh of the 
sacrifice of peace offerings which pertain, 
unto the Lord, even that soul shall be cut 
off from his people. 

22 H And the Lord spake unto Moses, 
saying, 

23 Speak unto the children of Israel, say- 
ing, x Ye shall eat no manner of fat, of ok, 
or of sheep, or of goat. 

24 And the tat of the 2 beast that dieth of 
itself, and the fat of that which is torn with 
beasts, may be used in any other use; but 
ye shall in no wise eat of it. 

25 For whosoever eateth the fat of the 
beast, of which men offer an ottering made 
by hie unto the Lord, even the soul that 
eateth it shall be cut off from his people. 

2b Moreover " ye shall eat no manner of 
blood, whether it be of fowl or of beast, in 
any of your dwellings. 

27 Whatsoever soul it be that eateth any 
maimer of blood, even that soul shall be cut 
oil' from his people. 

28 H And the Lord spake unto Moses, 
saying, 

29 Speak unto the children of Israel, say- 
ing. z lie that offereth the sacrifice of Ids 
peace offerings unto the Lord shall bring 
his oblation unto the Lord of the sacrifice 
of his peace offerings. 

30 His own hands shall bring the offer- 
ings of the Lord made by fire; the fat with 
the breast, it shall he bring, that ° the 
breast may be waved for a wave offering 
before the Lord. 

31 And b the priest shall burn the fat upon 
the altar; but the breast shall be Aaron's 
and his sons'. 

32 And c the right shoulder shall ye give 
unto the priest for an heave oflering of the 
sacrifices of your peace offerings. 

33 He among the sons of Aaron that of- 
fereth the blood of the peace offerings, and 
the fat, shall have the right shoulder for 
his part. 

34 For d the wave breast and the heave 
shoulder have 1 taken of the children of 
Israel from off the sacrifices of their peace 
offerings, and have given them unto Aaron 
the priest and unto his sons by a statute 
for ever from among the children of 
Israel. 

35 f This is the portion of the anointing 
of Aaron, and of the anointing of his 
sons, out of the offerings of the Lord made 
by lire, in the day when lie presented them 
to minister unto the Lord in the priest's 
office; 

3b Which the Lord commanded to be 
given them of the children of Israel, e in 



Law of the Trespass-Offering. 



had been defiled, but the reverse— because 
the flesh of the sin-offering having been boiled 
in them, those vessels were now too sacred 
for ordinary use. The design of all these 
minute ceremonies was to impress the minds, 
both of priests and people, with a sense of 
the evil nature of sin, and the care they 
should take to prevent the least taint of its 
impurities clinging to them. 

CHAPTER VII. 

Ver. 1-9. The Law of the Trespass- 
Offering. 1. likewise this is the law of the 
trespass-offering. This chapter is a continua- 
tion of the laws that were to regulate the 
duty of the priests respecting the trespass- 
offerings. The same regulations obtained in 
this case as in the burnt-offerings— -part was 
to be consumed on the altar, while the other 
part was a perquisite of the priests— some fell 
exclusively to the officiating minister, and 
was the lee for his services; others were the 
common share of all the priestly order, who 
lived upon them as their provision, and 
whose meetings at a common table would 
tend to promote brotherly harmony and 
friendship. 8. shall have to himself the skin 
—Ail the flesh and the fat of the burnt- 
offerings being consumed, nothing remained 
to the priest but the skin. It has been 
thought that this was a patriarchal usage, 
incorporated with the Mosaic law, and that 
the right of the sacrificer to the skin of the 
victim was transmitted from the example of 
Adam (see on Ge. 3. 21.). 11-14. This is the 
law of the sacrifice of peaee-offerings— Besides 
the usual accompaniments of other sacrifices, 
leavened bread was offered with the peace- 
orierings, as a thanksgiving, such bread being 
common at feasts. 15-17. eaten the same day 
that it was offered — The flesh of the sacrifices 
was eaten on the day of the offering or on the 
day following. But if any part of it remained 
till the third day, it was, instead of being 
made use ot, to be burned with fire. In the 
East,- butcher-meat, is generally eaten the 
day it is killed, and it is rarely kept a 
second day, so that as a prohibition was 
issued against any of the flesh in the peace- 
otterings being used on the third day, it has 
been thought, not without reason, that this 
injunction must have been given to prevent 
a superstitious notion arising, that there was 
some virtue or holiness belonging to it. 18. 
it shall not be accepted, neither imputed— the 
sacrifice will not be acceptable to God nor 
profitable to him that otters it. 20. cut off 
from his people— i.e., excluded from the privi- 
leges of an Israelite— lie under a sentence of 
excommunication. 21. abominable unclean 
thing— some copies of the Bible read, "any 
reptile." 22-27. ye shall eat no maimer of fat 
—see on ch. 3. 17. 

29-38. The Priests' Portion. He that 
offereth the sacrifice— In order to show that 
the sacrifice was voluntary, the offerer was 
required to bring it with his own hands to 
the priest. The breast having been waived 
to and fro in a solemn manner as devoted to 
God, was made over to the priests; it was 
assigned to the use of their order generally, 
but the right shoulder was the perquisite of 
the officiating priest. 35-38. This is tlie portion 
of the anointing of Aaron — These verses con- 
tain a general summing up of the laws 
which regulate the privileges and duties 
of the priests. The word "anointing" is 
often used as synonymous with 
79 



LEVITICUS, VIII. Aaron and his Sons Consecrated. 

" dignity. " So that the " portion of the 
anointing of Aaron " probably means the 
provision made for the maintenance oi the 
high priest, and the numerous body of 
functionaries which composed the sacerdotal 
order, in the day, <fcc— i. e., from the day 
they approached the Lord in the duties of 
their ministry. 

CHAPTER VIII. 
"Ver. 1-36. Moses Consecrateth Aaron 
and His Sons. 2. Take Aaron and his sons— 
The consecration of Aaron and his sons had 
been ordered long before, (Ex. %).) but it is 
now described with all the details of the 
ceremonial, as it was gone through after the 
tabernacle was completed, and the regula- 
tions for the various sacrifices enacted. 3-5. 
Gather thou, <fcc— It was manifest y expedient 
for the Israelitish people to be satisfied that 
Aaron's appointment to the high dignity of 
the priesthood was not a personal intrusion, 
nor a family arrangement between him and 
Moses; and nothing, therefore, could be a 
more prudent or necessary measure, for 
impressing a profound conviction of the 
Divine origin and authority of the priestly 
institution, than to summon a Reneral as- 
sembly of the people, and in their presence 
perform the solemn ceremonies of inaugura- 
tion, which had been prescribed by Divine 
authority. 6. Mcses washed tnern with water 
—At consecration they were subjected to 
entire ablution, though on ordinary occa- 
sions they were required, before entering 
on their duties, only to wash their hands 
and feet. Ihis symbolical ablution was 
designed to teach them the necessity of in- 
ward purity, and the imperative obligation 
on those who bore the vessels and conducted 
the services of the sanctuary to be holy. 7- 
9. He put upon him the coc t— The splendour 
of the official vestments, together w.th the 
gorgeous tiara of the high priest, was in- 
tended doubtless, in the first instance, to 
produce in the minds of the people a high 
respect for the ministers of religion; and in 
the next, from the predominant use oi linen, 
to inculcate upon Aaron and his sons the 
duty of maintaining unspotted righteousness 
in their characters and lives. 10-12. tcck 
the oil, &c— which was designed to intimate, 
that persons who acted as leaders in the 
solemn services of worship should have the 
unction of the Holy One both in His gifts 
and graces. 14-17. Brought the bullock, <kc— 
A timely expression of their sense of un- 
worthiness— a public and solemn confession 
of their personal sins, and a transference of 
their guilt to the typical victim. 18-21. 
Brought the ram, &c— as a token of their en- 
tire dedication to the service of God. 22-30. 
Brought the other ram, <fec— Alter the sin- 
offering and burnt-offering had been pre- 
sented on their behalf, this was their peace- 
offering, by which they declared the pleasure 
which they felt in entering upon the service 
of God, and being brought into close 
communion with him as the ministers of 
his sanctuary, together with their confident 
reliance on his grace to help them in all 
their sacred duties. 33. Ye snail not, <fcc — 
After all these preliminaries, they had still 
to undergo a week's probation in the court 
of the tabernacle before they obtained per- 
mission to enter into the interior of the 
acred building. During the whole of that 



office" or J period the same sacrificial rites were ob- 



Moses consecrateth 



leviticus, vm. 



Aaron and Ms sons. 



the day that he anointed, them, by a 
statute/ for ever throughout their genera- 
tions. 



37 This is the law o of the burnt offering, ! f Heb 7 



CHAP. 7. 



18-28. 

He. 8.1-13. 

Heb. 10. 

1-12. 
9 ch. 6. 9. 
h ch. 6. 25. 
i Ex. 29. 1. 

ch. 6. 20. 



of the meat offering, h and of the sin offer 
ing, and of the trespass offering, « and of the 
consecrations, and of the sacrifice of the 
peace offerings; 

38 Which the Lord commanded Moses in 
mount Sinai, in the day that he commanded 
the children of Israel to offer their obla- 
tions unto the Lord, in the wilderness of 
Sinai. 

CHAPTER VIIL 

1 Moses consecrateth Aaron and his sons: 14 their 
siu qffartM/ : 18 their burnt ojfcrimg. J2 The ram 
of consecration. 31 The place and time of their 
consecration. 

AND the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 
-"- 2 Take a Aaron and his sons with him, 
and the garments, and b the anointing oil, 
and a bullock for the sin offering, and 
two rams, and a basket of unleavened 
bread; 

3 And gather thou all the congregation 
together unto the door of the tabernacle of 
the congregation. 

4 And Moses did as the Lord commanded 
him; and the assembly was gathered to- 
gether unto the door of the tabernacle of 
the congregation. 

5 And Moses said unto the congregation. 
This is the thing which the Lord com- 
manded to be done. 

6 And Moses brought Aaron and his sons, 
and c washed them with water. 

7 And he put upon him the d coat, and 
girded him with the girdle, and clothed him 
with the robe, and put the ephod upon him, 
and he girded him with the curious girdle 
ot the ephod, and bound it unto him there- 
with. 

8 And he put the breastplate upon him: 
also he Iput in the breastplate the Urini 
and the Thummim. 

9 And / he put the mitre upon his head ; 
also upon the mitre, even upon his lore 
front, did he put the golden plate, the 
holy crown ; as the Lord • commanded 
Moses. 

lu And h Moses took the anointing oil, and 
anointed the tabernacle and all that was 
therein, and sanctified them. 

11 And he sprinkled thereof upon the altar 
seven times, and anointed the altar and all 
his vessels, both the laver and his foot, to 
sanctify them. 

12 And he ' poured of the anointing oil 
upon Aaron's head, and anointed him, to 
sanctify him. 

13 And.? Moses brought Aaron's sons, and 
put coats upon them, and girded them with 
girdles, and l put bonnets upon them; as 
the Lord commanded Moses. 

14 r And * he brought the bullock for the 
sin offering: and Aaron and his sons L laid 
their hands upon the head of the bullock 
for the sin offering. 

15 And he slew it; m and Moses took the 
blood, and put it upon the horns of the altar 
round about with his finger, and purified 
the altar, and poured the blood at the bot- 
tom of the altar, and sanctified it, to make I b Ex '■&• SL - 
reconciliation upon it. c .^. x -™!^- 

lb" And " he took all the fat that was upon 
the inwards, and the caul aWjve the liver, 
and the two kidneys, and their fat, and 25, 26. 
Moses burned U upon the altar. e Heb. 7. 16. 



CHAP. 8. 
a Ex. 29. 1. 
6 Ex. 30. 24, 

25. 
C Ex. 30. 19. 

Pa. 26. 6. 

Is. 52. 11. 

Eze. 36.25. 

1 Cor. 6. 

11. 

Eph. 5. 26. 

Heb. 9. 

9-14. 

He. 10. 22. 

Rev. 1.5,6. 
d Ex. 28. 4. 
e Ex. 23. 30. 
/Ex. 29. 6. 

Zech. 3. 5. 

Zech.6.11. 
g ch. 28. 37- 
h Ex 30.26, 

27. 28, 29. 
t ch 21. 10, 

12. 

Ex. 29. 7. 

Ex. 3'. SO. 

Ps. 133. 2. 

Is. 61. 1. 
j Ex. 29. 8,9. 
1 bound. 
k Ex. 29. 10. 

Ezek. 43. 

19. 
I ch. 4. 4. 
« Ex. 29. 12, 

36. 

ch. 4. 7. 

Ere. 43.20, 

26. 

Heb. 9. 22. 
n Ex. 29. 13. 

ch. 4. a 
° ch. 4. 11, 

12. 

Ex. 29. 14. 
P Ex. 29. 15. 
q Ex. 29. 18. 
r Ex. 29 19, 

31. 
8 Ro. 6. 13, 

19. 

Ro. 12. 1. 

1 Cor. 6. 

20. 
t Heb. 9. 

18-24. 
u Exod. 29. 

22. 
v Exod. 29. 

23. 
w Exod. 29. 

21. 
* Ex. 29. 25. 
y Gen. 8. 21. 

Eph. 5. 2. 
z Ex. 29. 26. 
a Ex. 29. 21. 

Ex. 30. 30. 

Nu. 3. 3. 



d Ex. 29. 30, 



17 But the bullock, and his hide, his flesh, 
and his dung, he burnt with fire without 
the camp ; as the Lord ° commanded 
Moses. 

18 1T And p he brought the ram for the 
burnt offering: and Aaron and his sons laid 
their hands upon the head of the ram. 

19 And he killed it; and Moses sprinkled 
the blood upon the altar round about. 

20 And he cut the ram into pieces; and 
Moses burnt the head, and the pieces, and 
the fat. 

21 And he washed the inwards and the 
legs in water; and Moses burnt the whole 
ram upon the altar: it was a burnt sacrifice 
for a sweet savour, and an offering made 
by fire imto the Lord; q as the Lord com- 
manded Moses. 

22 IT And r he brought the other ram, the 
ram of consecration: and Aaron and his 
sons laid their hands upon the head of the 
ram. 

23 And he slew it; and Moses took of the 
blood of it, and put it upon * the tip of 
Aaron's right ear, and upon the thumb of 
his right hand, and upon the great toe of 
his right foot. 

24 And he brought Aaron's sons, and 
Moses put of the blood upon the tip of their 
right ear, and upon the thumbs of their 
right hands, and upon the great toes of 
their right feet; and Moses 'sprinkled the 
blood upon the altar round about. 

25 And " he took the fat, and the rump, 
and all the fat that was upon the inwards, 
and the caul above the fiver, and the 
two kidneys, and their fat, and the right 
r.houlder: 

26 And " out of the basket of unleavened 
bread that was before the Lord he took 
one unleavened cake, and a cake of oiled 
bread, and one wafer, and put them on the 
fat, and upon the right shoulder: 

27 And he put all "' upon Aaron's hands, 
and upon his sons' hanas, and waved them 
for a wave offering before the Lord. 

28 And x Moses took them from off their 
hands, and burnt them on the altar upon 
the burnt offering: they were consecrations 
for y a sweet savour: it is an ottering made 
by fire unto the Lord. 

29 And Moses took the breast, and waved 
it for a wave ottering before the Lord: far 
or the ram of consecration it was 2 Moses' 
pan ; as the Lord commanded Moses. 

30 And a Moses took of the anointing oil, 
and of the blood which xoas upon the 
altar, and sprinkled it upon Aaron, and 
upon his garments, and upon his sons, 
and upon his sons' garments with hhn; 
and sanctified Aaron, and his garments, 
and his sons, and his sons' garments with 
him. 

31 U And Moses said unto Aaron and to 
his sons, b Boil the flesh at the door of the 
tabernacle of the congregation; and there 
eat it with the bread that is in the basket 
of consecrations, as I commanded, saying, 
Aaron and his sons shall eat it. 

32 And c that which remaineth of the 
flesh and of the bread shall ye bum with 
fire. 

33 And ye shall not go out of the door of 
the tabernacle of the congregation m seven 
days, until the days of \ our consecration be 
at an end: for d seven 'days shall he conse- 
crate you. 

34 As e he hath done this day, so the Lord 



The Priests' Entry into Office. 



LEVITICUS, IX, X. 



Nadab and Abihu Burnt 



served as on the first day, and they were 
expressly admonished that the smallest 
breach of any of the appointed observances 
would lead to the certain forfeiture of their 
lives. 

CHAPTER IX. 
Ver. 1-24. The Priests' Enthy into Of- 
fice. 2. Moses called, Take thee a young calf 
—The directions in these sacred things were 
still given by Moses, the circumstances be- 
ing extraordinary. But he was only the 
medium of communicating the divine will 
to the newly-made priests. The first of 
their official acts was the sacrifice of another 
sin-offering to atone for the defects of the in- 
auguration services; and yet that sacrifice did 
not consist of a bullock— the sacrifice ap- 
pointed for some particular transgression: 
but of acalf,perhaps, not without a significant 
reference to Aaron's sin in the golden calf. 
Then followed a burnt-offering, expressive 
of their voluntary and entire self-devotement 
to the divine service. The newly consecrated 
priests having done this on their own 
account, were called to offer a sin-offering and 
burnt-offering for the people: ending the cere- 
monial by a peace-offering which was a sacred 
feast. This injunction " to make an atone- 
ment for himself and for the people (Sept., 
for thy family") at the commencement of 
his sacred functions, furnishes a striking 
evidence of the divine origin of the Jewish 
system of worship. In all false, or corrupt 
forms of religion, the studied policy has 
been to inspire the people with an idea of 
the sanctity of the priesthood as, in point of 
purity and favour with the Divinity, far 
above the level of other men. But among 
the Hebrews, the priests were required to 
offer for the expiation of their sins as well 
as the humblest of the people. This imper- 
fection of Aaron's priesthood, however, does 
not extend to the Gospel dispensation; for 
our Great High Priest, who has entered for 
us into "the true tabernacle," "knew no 
sin." (He. 10. 10. 11.) 8. Aaron went unto the 
altar, &c— Whether it had been enjoined the 
first time, or it was unavoidable from the 
divisions of the priestly labour not being as 
yet completely arranged, Aaron, assisted by 
his sons, appears to have slain the victims 
with his own hands, as well as gone through 
all the prescribed ritual at the altar. 17-21. 
meat-offering . . . wave-offering— It is observ- 
able that there is no notice taken of these in 
the offerings the priests made for themselves. 
They could not bear their own sins ; and there- 
fore, instead of eating any part of their own 
sin-offering as they were at liberty to do in 
the case of the people's offering, they had 
to carry the whole carcases "without the 
camp and burn them with fire." 22. Aaron 
lifted his hands and blessed— The pronounc- 
ing of a benediction on the people assem- 
bled in the court was a necessary part of 
the high priest's duty, and the formula in 
which it was to be given is described, .'JNTu. 
6. 23-27.) came down from offering— The altar 
was elevated above the level of the floor, 
and the ascent was by a gentle slope. (Ex. 
20. 26.) 23. Moses and Aaion went into the 
tabernacle — Moses, according to the divine 
instructions he had received, accompanied 
Aaron and his sons to initiate them into their 
sacred duties. Their previous occupations 
had detained them at the altar, and they 
now entered in company into the sacred 
80 



edifice to bear the blood of the offerings 
within the sanctuary. The glory of the Lord 
appeared, &c.— perhaps in a resplendent ef- 
i fulgence above the tabernacle as a fresh 
j token of the divine acceptance of that newly 
I established seat of his worship. 24. There 
1 came out lire from the Lord— A flame emanat- 
ing from that resplendent light that filled 
the holy place flashed upon the brasen altar 
and kindled the sacrifices. This miraculous 
fire— for the descent of which the people had 
probably been prepared— and which the 
priests were enjoined never to let out (ch. 6. 
13, ) was a sign— not only of the accept- 
ance of the offerings and of the establish- 
ment of Aaron's authority, but of God's actual 
residence in that chosen dwelling-place. The 
moment the solemn, though welcome spec- 
tacle was seen, a simultaneous shout of joy 
and gratitude burst from the assembled 
congregation, and in the attitude of pro- 
foundest reverence they worshipped "a pre- 
sent Deity." 

CHAPTEK X. 
Ver. 1-20. Nadab and Abihtj Burnt. 1. 
the sons of Aaron, &c— If this incident oc- 
cured at the solemn period of the consecrat- 
ing and dedicating the altar, these young men 
assumed an office which had been committed 
to Moses; or if it were some time after, it 
was an encroachment on duties which de- 
volved on their father alone as the high priest. 
But the offence was of a far more aggravated 
nature than such a mere informality would 
imply. It consisted not only in their ven- 
turing unauthorized to perform the incense 
service,— the highest and most solemn of 
the priestly offices,— not only in their engag- 
ing together in a work, which was the duty 
only of one, but in their presuming to intrude 
into the holy of holies, to which access was 
denied to all but the high priest alone. In 
this respect, "they offered strange fire before 
the Lord;" they were guilty of a presump- 
tuous and unwarranted intrusion into a 
sacred office which did not belong to them. 
But their offence was more aggravated still: 
for instead of taking the fire which was put 
into their censers from the brasen altar, they 
seem to have been content with common fire, 
and thus perpetrated an act, which, consider- 
ing the descent of the miraculous fire they 
had so recently witnessed, and<the solemn ob- 
ligation under which they were laid to make 
use of that which was specially appro- 
priated to the service of the altars, they 
betrayed a carelessness, an irreverence, 
a want of faith, most surprising and la- 
mentable. A precedent of such evil tend- 
ency was dangerous, and it was imperatively 
I necessary, therefore, as well for the priests 
! themselves as for the sacred things, that a 
marked expression of the divine displeasure 
should be given for doing that which " God 
commanded them not." 2. fire from the Lord 
. . . devoured them— Kather killed them, for it 
appears, (v. 5,) that neither their bodies nor 
their robes were consumed. The expression 
"from the Lord," indicates that this fire 
issued from the most holy place; and in the 
destruction of these two young priests, by the 
infliction of an awful judgment, the wisdom 
of God observed the same course, in repres- 
sing the first instance of contempt for sacred 
things, as he did at the commencement of the 
Christian dispensation. (A. 5. 1-11.) 3. Moses 
said, This is it, &c— "They that come nigh 



Aaron* s first offering. 



LEVITICUS, IX, X. 



Nadab and Abihu slain. 



hath commanded to do, to make an atone 
ment 1'or you. 

35 Therefore shall ye abide at the door of 
the tabernacle of the congregation day and 
night seven days, and / keep the charge of 
the Lord, that ye die not: for so I am com- 
manded. 

36 So Aaron and his sons did all things 
which the Lord commanded by the hand 
of Moses. 

CHAPTER IX. 

1, 8 Aaron' 3 sin offering and burnt offering for 

himself and the people. 23 Moses and Aaron 

bUss the people, and fire conteth out from the 

Lord upon the altar. 

A ND ° it came to pass on the eighth day, 
-*- x that Moses called Aaron and his sons, 
and the elders of Israel ; 

2 And he said unto Aaron, & Take thee a 
young calf for a sin ottering, and c a ram 
for a burnt offering, without blemish, and 
offer tlvem before the Lord. 

3 And unto the children of Israel thou 
Bhalt speak, saying, * Take ye a kid of the 
goats for a sin ottering; and a call* and a 
lamb, both of the first year, without ble- 
mish, for a burnt offering; 

4 Also a bullock and a ram for peace of- 
ferings, to sacrifice before the Lord ; and 
a e meat offering mingled with oil: for/ to- 
day the Lord will appear unto you. 

5 H And they brought that which Moses 
commanded before the tabernacle of the 
congregation : and all the congregation 
drew near and stood before the Lord. 

6 And Moses said, This is the thing which 
the Lord commanded that ye should do: 
and ° the glory of the Lord shall appear 
unto you. 

7 And Moses said unto Aaron, Go unto 
the altar, and h offer thy sin offering, and 
thy burnt offering, and make an atonement 
for thyself, and for the people: and * offer 
the offering of the people, and make an 
atonement for them; as the Lord com- 
manded. 

8 \\ Aaron therefore went unto the altar, 
and slew the calf of the sin offering which 
was for himself. 

9 And i the sons of Aaron brought the 
blood unto him : and he dipped his finger 
in the bluoJ, and * put it upon the horns of 
the aitar, and poured out the blood at the 
bottom of the altar: 

10 Lut l the tat, and the kidneys^ and the 
caul above the liver of the sin ottering, he 
burnt upon the altar; m as the Lord com- 
manded Moses. 

11 And n the flesh and the hide he burnt 
with tire without the camp. 

12 And he slew the burnt offering; and 
Aaron's sons presented unto him the blood, 
which he sprinkled round about upon the 
altar. 

13 And they presented the burnt offering 
unto him. with the pieces thereof, and the 
head: and he burnt them upon the altar. 

1+ And he did wash the inwards and the 
legs, and burnt them upon the burnt offer- 
ing on the altar. 

15 1 1 And ° he brought the people's offer- 
ing, and took the goat, which was the sin 
ottering for the people, and slew it, and 
offered it for sin, as the first. 

1 ) And he brought the burnt offering, and 
ottered it according to the * manner. 

17 And he brought the meat offering, and 

8 took an handful thereof, and burnt it 

81 



B C. H90. 



CHAP. 


8. 


/Nu.9. 
1 Ki. 2 

Eze. 48 


19. 
3. 
11. 



CHAP. 9. 

a Eze. 43. 27. 
6 Ex. 29. 1. 
c ch. 8. 18. 
d Ezra 6. 17. 
e ch. 2. 4. 
/ Ex. 29. 43. 
y Ex. 24. 16. 
h 1 Sa. 3. 14. 

Hcb. 5. 3. 

Heb. 9. 7. 
ich. 4. 16, 

20. 
j ch. 8. 15. 
Arch. 4. 7. 

1 ch. 8. 16. 
mch.4. 8. 
» ch. 8. 17. 
o Is. 53. 10. 

Heb. 2. 17. 
lOr, ordi- 
nance. 

2 filled his 
hand out 
of it. 

P Ex. 29. 38. 
q Ex. 29. 24. 
r Deu. 21. 5. 

Lu. 24. 50. 
« 2 Sa. 6. 18. 

2Chr. 6. 3. 

1 Chr. 16.2. 
t Nu. 16. 19. 
w Gen. 4. 4. 

Gen. 15.17. 

2 Chr. 7. 1. 
v Ex. 25. 22. 
wiRx 18.89. 

Ezra 3. 11. 



CHAP. 10. 
a Nu 26.61. 
6 Ex. 30. 9. 
c Nu. 16. 35. 

2 Sa. 6. 7. 

d Ex. 19. 22. 

la. 62. 11. 

Eze. 20.41. 

« Is. 49. 3. 

Eze. 28. 22. 

John 13.31. 

2 Thess. 1. 

10. 
/ Ex. 6. 18. 

Nu. 3. 19. 
9 Acts 6. 6. 
A Nu. 6.6,7. 

Deu. 33. 9. 
i 2 Sa. 24. 1. 
j ch. 21. 12. 
k Ex. 28. 41. 
I Pro. 31. 5. 

Pro. 20. 1. 

Is. 28. 7. 

Isaiah 56, 

10-12. 

Ezek.44.21. 

Hosea4.11. 

Luke 1. 15. 

Eph. 5. 18. 

1 Tim. 3. 3. 

Tit. 1. 7. 
m Jer. 15.19. 

Ezek. 22. 

20. 

Ezek. 44. 

23. 
» Deu. 24. 8. 

Neh. B. 2, 

13. 

Jer. 18. 18. 

Mai. 2. 7. 



upon the altar, p beside the burnt sacrifice 
of the morning. 

18 He slew also the bullock and the ram 
for a sacrifice of peace offerings which was 
for the people: and Aaron's sous presented 
unto him the blood, which he sprinkled 
upon the altar round about, 

19 And the fat of the bullock and of the 
ram, the rump, and that which covereth 
the inwards, and the kidneys, and the caul 
above the liver: 

20 And they put the fat upon the breasts, 
and he burnt the fat upon the altar: 

21 And the breasts and the right shoulder 
Aaron waved q for a wave offering before 
the Lord; as Moses commanded. 

22 And Aaron lifted up his hand toward 
the people, and r blessed them; and came 
down from offering of the sin offering, and 
the burnt olicring, and peace offerings. 

23 And Mos^s and Aaron went into the 
tabernacle of the congregation, and came 
out, and a blessed the people : * and the 
glory of the Lord appeared unto all the 
people. 

24 And u there came a fire out * from be- 
fore the Lord, and consumed upon the 
altar the burnt offering and the fat: ivhich 
wiien all the people saw, w they shouted, 
and fell on their faces. 

CHAPTER X. 
1 Nadab and Abihu burnt 8 The priests forbid- 
den wine when they enter the tabernacle. 12 The 
law of eting the holy things. 

AND a Nadab and Abihu, the ions of 
■"■ Aaron, took either of them his censer, 
and put fire therein, and put incense there- 
on, and offered b strange fire before the 
Lord, which he commanded them not. 

2 And there c went out fire from the Lord, 
and devoured them; and they died before 
the Lord. 

3 Then Moses said unto Aaron, This is it 
that the Lord spake, saying, 1 will be sanc- 
tified in them « that come nigh me, and 
before all the people I will be ■ glorified. 
And Aaron held his peace. 

4 And Moses called Mishael and Elzaphan. 
the sons of /Uzziel the uncle of Aaron, and 
said unto them, Come near, y carry your 
brethren from before the sanctuary out of 
the camp. 

5 So they went near, and carried them in 
their coats out of the camp; as Moses had 
said. 

6 And Moses said unto Aaron, and unto 
Eleazar and unto Ithamar, his sons, h Un- 
cover not your heads, neither rend yout 
clothes, lest ye die, and lest * wrath come 
upon all the people: but let your brethren, 
the whole house of Israel, bewail the burn- 
ing which the Lord hath kindled. 

7 And $ ye shall not go out from the door 
of the tabernacle of the congregation, lest 
ye die: k for the anointing oil of the Lord 
is upon you. And they did according to 
the word of Moses. 

8 1T And the Lord spake unto Aaron, 
saying, . 

9 Bo l not drink wine nor str< .. .4 drink, 
thou, nor thy sons with thee, w lien ye go 
into the tabernacle of the congregation, 
lest ye die: it shall be a statute for ever 
throughout vour generations: 

10 And that ye may m put difference be- 
tween holy and unholy, and between un- 
clean and clean ; 

11 And n that ye may teach the children 

*' 



Law of Eating Holy Things. 



LEVITICUS, XI. 



Meats Clean and Unclean. ' 



me "points, in this passage, directly to the 
priests; and they had received repeated and 
solemn warnings as to the cautious and re- 
verent manner of their approach into the 
divine presence. (Ex. 19. 22; 29. 44, ch. 8. 
35. ) Aaron held his peace— The loss of two sons 
in so sudden and awful a manner was a cala- 
mity overwhelming to parental feelings. But 
the pious priest indulged in no vehement 
ebullition of complaint, and gave vent to no 
murmur of discontent, but submitted in 
silent resignation to what he saw was "the 
righteous judgment of God." 4-5. Moses 
called, &c— The removal of the two corpses 
for burial without the camp, would spread 
the painful intelligence amongst all the con- 
gregation. r ihe interment of the priestly 
vestments along with them, was a sign of 
their being polluted by the sin of their irre- 
ligious wearers; and the remembrance of so 
appalling a judgment could not fail to strike 
a salutary fear into the hearts both of priests 
and people. 6. uncover not your heads They 
who were ordered to carry out the two 
bodies, being engaged in their sacred du- 
ties, were forbidden to remove their tur- 
bans, in conformity with the usual customs 
of mourning; and the prohibition, "neither 
rend your garments," was in all probability, 
confined also to their official costume. For at 
other times, the priests wore the ordinary 
dress of their countrymen, and, in common 
with their families, might indulge their pri- 
vate feelings by the usual signs or expressions 
of grief. 8-11. Do not drink wine, &c— This pro- 
hibition, and the accompanying admonitions, 
following immediately the occurrence of so 
fatal a catastrophe, has given rise to an opin- 
ion entertained by many, that the two unhap- 
py priests were under the influence of intoxi- 
cation when they committed the offence which 
was expiated only by their lives. But such 
an idea, though the presumption is in its fav- 
our, is nothing more than conjecture. 12-15. 
Moses spake unto Aaron, &c— This was a timely 
and considerate rehearsal of the laws that re- 
gulated the conduct of the priests. Amid the 
distractions of their family bereavement, 
Aaron and his surviving sons might have 
forgotten or overlooked some of their du- 
ties. 16-20. Moses diligently sought, &c— 
In a sacrifice presented, as that had been, 
on behalf of the people, it was the duty of 
the priests, as typically representing them, 
and bearing their sins, to have eaten the 
flesh, after the blood had been sprinkled 
upon the altar. Instead of using it, however, 
for a sacred feast, they had burnt it without 
the camp; and Moses, who discovered this 
departure from the prescribed ritual, proba- 
bly from a dread of some farther chastise- 
ments challenged— not Aaron, whose heart 
was too much lacerated to bear a new cause 
of distress— but his two surviving sons in 
the priesthood for the great irregularity. 
Their father, however, who heard the charge, 
and by whose directions the error had been 
committed, hastened to give the explana- 
tion: The import of his apology is, that 
all the duty pertaining to the presentation 
of the offering had been duly and sacredly 
performed, except the festive part of the 
observance, which privately devolved upon 
the priest and his family; and that this had 
been omitted, either because his heart was 
too dejected to join in the celeb: ati>n of a 
cheerful feast, or that he supposeu, from the 
81 



appalling judgments that had been inflicted, 
j the whole services of that occasion were so vi- 
! tiated, that he did not complete them. Aaron 
was decidedly in the wrong. By the express 
I command of God, the sin offering was to be 
eaten in the holy place; and no fanciful view 
| of expediency or propriety ought to have led 
! him to dispense at discretion with a positive 
l statute. The law of God was clear, and where 
i that is the case, it is sin to deviate a hair's 
I breadth from the path of duty. But Moses 
| sympathized with his deeply afflicted broth- 
er; and having pointed out the error, said no 
more. 

CHAPTER XI. 
Ver. 1-47. Beasts that may and mat 
not be Eaten. 1. The Lord spake unto 
Moses— These laws being addressed to both 
the civil and ecclesiastical rulers in Israel, 
may serve to indicate the two-fold view that 
is to be taken of them. Undoubtedly the 
first and strongest reason for instituting a 
distinction among meats, was to discourage 
the Israelites from spreading into other 
countries, and from general intercourse with 
the world— to prevent them acquiring fami- 
liarity with the inhabitants of the countries 
bordering on Canaan, so as to fall into their 
idolatries, or be contaminated with their 
vices ; in short, to keep them a distinct 
and peculiar people. To this purpose, no 
difference of creed, no system of polity, no 
diversity of language or manners was so sub- 
servient as a distinction of meats founded 
on religion; and hence the Jews who were 
taught by education to abhor many articles 
of food, freely partaken of by other people, 
never even at periods of great degeneracy, 
could amalgamate with the nations amongst 
j which they were dispersed. But although 
this was the principal foundation of these 
laws, dietetic reasons also had weight ; 
for there is no doubt that the flesh of 
many of the animals here ranked as un- 
clean, is everywhere, but especially in warm 
climates, less wholesome and adapted for 
food than those which are allowed to be 
eaten. These laws, therefore, being sub- 
servient to sanatory as well as religious 
ends, were addressed both to Moses and 
Aaron. 3-7. whatsoever parteth the hoof, and is 
cloven-footed, and cheweth the cud—' Ruminat- 
ing animals by the peculiar structure of their 
stomachs digest their food more fully than 
others. It is found that in the act of chew- 
ing the cud, a large portion of the poisonous 
properties of noxious plants eaten by them, 
passes off by the salivary glands. This 
power of secreting the poisonous effects of 
vegetables, is said to be particularly re- 
markable in cows and goats, whose mouths 
are often sore, and sometimes bleed, in con- 
sequence. Their flesh is therefore in a better 
state for food, as it contains more of the 
nutritious juices, and is more easily digested 
in the human stomach, and is consequently 
more easily assimilated. Animals which do 
not chew the cud, convert their food less 
perfectly; their flesh is therefore unwhole- 
some, from the gross animal juices with 
which they abound, and is apt to produce 
scorbutic and scrofulous disorders. But 
the animals that may be eaten are those 
which " part the hoof as well as chew 
the cud, ' and this is another means 
of freeing the flesh of the animal from 
noxious substances, *' In the case of an* 



What animals may 



LEVITICUS, XI. 



and what may not he eaten. 



of Israel all the statutes which the Lord 
hath spoken unto them by the hand of 
Moses. 

12 11 And Moses spake unto Aaron, and 
unto Eleazar and unto Ithaniar, his sons 
that were left, Take ° the meat offering that 
remaineth ot the offerings of the Lord 
made by tire, and eat it without leaven 
beside the altar: for p it is most holy: 

13 And ye shall eat it in the holy place, 
because it is thy due, and thy sons' due, of 
the sacrifices of the Lord made by tire: for 
so I am commanded. 

14 And q the wave breast and heave 
shoulder shall ye eat in a clean place ; thou, 
and thy sons, and thy daughters with thee : 
for they be thy due, and thy sons' due, 
which are given out of the sacrifices of 
peace offerings of the children of Israel. 

15 The heave shoulder and the wave breast 
shall they bring with the offerings made by 
fire of the fat, to wave it for a wave offer- 
ing before the Lord ; and it shall be thine, 
and thy sons' with thee, by a statute for 
ever; as the Lord hath commanded. 

16 1i And Moses diligently sought r the 

goat of the sin offering, and, behold, it was 
unit: and he was angry with Eleazar and 
Ithamar, the sons of Aaron which were left 
alive, saying, 

17 Wherefore 8 have ye not eaten the sin 
offering in the holy place, seeing it is most 
holy, and God hath given it you to bear 
the iniquity of the congregation, to make 
atonement for them before the Lord? 

18 Behold, the blood of it was not brought 
in within the holy place: ye should indeed 
have eaten it in the holy place, * as I com- 
manded. 

19 And Aaron said unto Moses, Behold, 
this u day have they offered then sin offer- 
ing and their burnt offering before the 
Lord; and such things have befallen me: 
and if I had eaten the sm offering to-day, 
should v it have been accepted in the sight 
of the Lord? 

20 And when Moses heard that, he was 
content. 

CHAPTER XL 
What beasts may and what may not be eaten, etc. 

A ND the Lord spake unto Moses and to 
xx - Aaron, saying unto them, 

2 Speak unto the children of Israel, say- 
ing, a These are the beasts which ye shall 
eat among all the beasts that are on the 
earth. 

3 Whatsoever parteth the hoof, and is 
cloven-footed, and cheweth the cud, among 
the beasts, that shall ye eat. 

4 .Nevertheless these shall ye not eat of 
them that chew the cud, or of them that 
divide the hoof: as the camel, because he 
cheweth the cud, but divideth not the 
hoof; he is unclean unto you. 

5 And the coney, because he cheweth the 
cud, but divideth not the hoof ; he is un- 
clean unto you. 

6 And the hare, because he cheweth the 
cud, but divideth not the hoof; he is b un- 
clean unto you. 

7 And the swine, though he divide the 
hoof, and be cloven-footed, yet he cheweth 
not the cud ; e he is unclean to you. 

8 Of their tiesh shall ye not eat, and then 
carcase shall ye not touch; <* they are un- 
clean to you. 

9 IT These e shall ye eat of all that are in 
the waters: whatsoever hath fins and scales 

82 



CHAP. 10. 


o Ex. 29. 2. 


ch. 6. 1G. 


Nu. 18. 9, 


10. 


P ch. 21. 22. 


q Ex. 29. 24. 


ch. 7. 31, 


34. 


Num. 18. 


11. 


♦*ch. 9.3,15. 


8 Ezek.44.29. 


t ch. 6. 2(3. 


w ch. 9. 8, 


12. 


v Jer. 6. 20. 


Jer. 14. 12. 


Hos. 9. 4. 


Mai. 1. 10. 



CHAP. 11. 
a Deu. 14. 4. 

Acts 10. 

12. 
b 1 Tim. 4. 

4, 5. 
c Is. 65. 4. 

Is. 06. 3, 

17. 
d Is. 52. 11. 

Mat. 15. 

11, 20. 

Mark 7. 2, 

15, 18. 

Acts 10. 

14, 15. 

Acts 15. 

29. 

Ko. 14. 14, 

17. 

1 Cor. 8. 8. 

Col. 2. 16. 

21. 

Heb. 9. 10. 
e Deu. 14. 9. 
/ch. 7. 18. 

Deu. 14. 3. 
g Deut. 14. 

12 

Ro.14.1-23. 

1 A species 
of eagle. 

2 The black 
eagle. 

h Ps. 102. 6. 
Zeph. 2. 
14. 

3 The golden 

vulture. 

4 Supposed 
to mean all 
Hying in- 
sects. 

i Mat. 3. 4. 
Mark 1. 6. 
j Judg. 6. 5. 
Jer. 46. 23. 
Nan. 3. 17. 
A: ch. 14. 8. 
ch. 15. 5. 
Num. 19, 
10, 22. 
Num. 31. 
24. 

5 Supposed 
to mean 
monkeys, 
bears, 
frogs, etc. 

I Heb. 9. 10. 
m is. 66. 17. 

6 Supposed 
to mean 
the frog. 

n p s . 58. 8. 
o Is. 2. 20. 
P ch. 15. 12. 



in the waters, in the seas, and in the rivers, 
them shall ye eat. 

10 And all that have not fins and scales in 
the seas, and in the rivers, of all that move 
in the waters, and of any living tiling which 
is in tne waters, they sluxll be an / abomi- 
nation unto you: 

11 They shall be even an abomination 
unto you ; ye shall not eat of their flesh, 
but ye shall have their carcases in abomi- 
nation. 

12 Whatsoever hath no fins nor scales in 
the waters, that shall be an abomination 
unto you. 

13 U And 9 these are they which ye shall 
have in abomination among the fowls; 
they shall not be eaten, they are an abo- 
mination: the eagle, and the l ossiliage, 
and the - ospray, 

14 And the vulture, and the kite after his 
kind: 

15 Every raven after his kind; 

16 And the owl, and the night hawk, and 
the cuckoo, and the hawk after his kind, 

17 And the little owl, and the cormorant, 
and the great owl, 

18 And the swan, and the h pelican, and 
the 3 gier eagle, 

lb> And the stork, the heron after her kind, 
and the lapwing, and the bat. 

20 All * fowls that creep, going upon all 
four, shall be an abomination unto you. 

21 Yet these may ye eat of every Hying 
creeping thing that goeth upon all four, 
which have legs above their feet, to leap 
withal upon the earth; 

22 Evta these of them ye may eat: » the 
locust after his kind, and the bald locust 
after his kind, and the beetle after his 
kind, and the i grasshopper after his kind. 

23 But all other fiying creeping things, 
which have four feet, sliaU be an abomina- 
tion unto you. 

24 And for these ye shall be unclean: who- 
soever toucheth the carcase of them shall 
be unclean until the even. 

25 And whosoever beareth ought of the 
carcase of them k shall wash his clothes, 
and be unclean until the even. 

26 The carcases of every beast which di- 
videth the hoof, and is not cloven-footed, 
nor cheweth the cud, are unclean unto 
you: everyone that toucheth them shall be 
unclean. 

27 And 5 whatsoever goeth upon his paws, 
among all manner of beasts that go on all 
four, those are unclean unto you : whoso 
toucheth their carcase shall be unclean 
until the even. 

28 And he that beareth the carcase of 
them shall wash his clothes, and be un- 
clean until the even: they are unclean unto 
you. 

29 V These also shall be l unclean unto you 
among the creeping tilings that, creep upon 
the earth; the weasel, and '"the mouse, 
and the 6 tortoise after his kind, 

30 And the ferret, and the chameleon, and 
the lizard, and the * snad, and the " mole. 

31 These are unclean to you among all 
that creep: whosoever doth touch them, 
when they be dead, shall be unclean until 
the even. 

32 And upon whatsoever any of them, 
when they are dead, doth fall, it shall be 
unclean; whether it be any vessel ot wood, 
or raiment, or skin, or sack, whatsoever 
vessel it be, wherein any work is done, * it 



What Animals 



LEVITICUS, XI. 



may not be Eaten, 



mals with parted hoofs, when feeding in un- 
favourable situations, a prodigious amount 
of foetid matter is discharged and passes off 
between the toes; while animals with un- 
divided hoofs, feeding on the same ground, 
become severely affected in the legs, from 
the poisonous plants among the pasture." 
[Whitlow's Code of Health.] All exper- 
ience attests this, and accordingly the use 
of ruminating animals, that is, which both 
chew the cud, and part the hoof, has always 
obtained in most countries, though it was 
observed most carefully by the people who 
were favoured with the promulgation of God's 
law. 4. the camel— It does to a certain ex- 
tsnt divide the hoof, for the foot consists of 
two large parts, but the division is not com- 
plete, the toes rest upon an elastic pad on 
which the animal goes; as a beast of burden 
its flesh is tough, and an additional reason 
for its prohibition might be to keep the 
Israelites apart from the descendants of 
Ishmael. 5. the coney— not the rabbit, for it 
is not found in Palestine or Arabia, but the 
Hyrax, a little animal of the size and general 
shape of the rabbit, but differing from it in 
several essential features: it has no tail, 
singular long hairs bristling, like thorns, 
amongst the fur on its back; its feet are bare, 
its nails fiat and round, except those on each 
inner toe of the hind feet which are sharp 
and project like an awl. It does not burrow 
in the ground, but frequents the clefts of 
rocks. 6. the hare— two species of hare must 
have been pointed at, the Sinai hare— the 
hare of the desert, small and generally 
brown; the other, the hare of Palestine and 
Syria, about the size and appearance of 
that known in our own country. ^Neither 
the hare nor the coney are really ruminating. 
They only appear to be so from woi king the 
jaws on the grasses they live on. They are 
not cloven footed, and besides it is said that 
from the great quantity of down upon them, 
they are very much subject to vermin, that 
in order to expel these, they eat poisonous 
plants, and if used as food while in that 
state, they are most deleterious. [Whit.] 
7. the swine— It is a filthy, foul feeding ani- 
mal, and it wants one of the natural provi- 
sions for purifying the system, " it cheweth 
not the cud-" in hot climates indulgence in 
swines' flesh is particularly liable to pro- 
duce leprosy, scurvy, and various cutaneous 
eruptions. It was therefore strictly avoided 
by the Israelites, and its prohibition was 
further necessary to prevent their adopting 
many of the grossest idolatries practised by 
neighbouring nations. 9. These shall ye eat, 
whatsoever hath fins and scales—" The fins and 
scales are themeans by whichthe excrescences 
of fish are carried off, the same as in animals 
by perspiration. I have never known an 
instance of disease produced by eating such 
fish; but those that have no fins and scales 
cause, in hot climates, the most malignant 
disorders when eaten; in many cases they 
prove a mortal poison." [Whitlaw.1 12. 
Whatsoever hath no fins nor scales, &c— Under 
this classification, frogs, eels, shell-fish of 
all descriptions were included as unclean, 
M many of the latter (shell-fish) enjoy a repu- 
tation they do not deserve, and have, when 
plentifully partaken of, produced effects 
which have led to a suspicion of their con- 
taining something of a poisonous nature. 
13-19. These are they.... abomination among 
82 



fowls— All birds of prey are particularly 
ranked in the class unclean, all those which 
feed on flesh and carrion, no less than twenty 
species of birds, all probably then known, 
are mentioned under this category, and the 
inference follows that all which are not 
mentioned were allowed, that is fowls which 
subsist on vegetable substances. From our 
imperfect knowledge of the natural history 
of Palestine, Arabia.and the contiguous coun- 
tries, it is not easy to determine exactly what 
some of the prohibited birds are; although 
they must have been all well known among 
the people to whom these -laws were given, 
the ossifrage— Heb., bone-breaker, rendered 
in the Septuagint griffon, supposed to be the 
Gypcetos barbatus, the Lammer Geyer of the 
Swiss— a bird of the eagle or vulture species, 
inhabiting the highest mountain-ranges in 
Western Asia as well as Europe, and pursues 
as its prey the chamois, ibex, or marmot, 
among rugged clifis, till it drives them over 
a precipice — thus obtaining the name of 
■' bone-breaker." the osprey— the black eagle, 
among the smallest, but swiftest and strong- 
est of its kind, the vulture — the word so 
rendered in our version means more pro- 
bably " the kite" or " glede," and describes a 
varying but majestic flight, exactly that of 
the kite, which now darts forward with the 
rapidity of an arrow, now rests motionless 
on its expanded wings in the air— it feeds on 
small birds, insects, and fish, the kite— the 
vulture. In Egypt, and perhaps in the ad- 
joining countries also, the kite and vulture 
are often seen together flying in company, or 
busily pursuing their ioul but important 
office of devouring the carrion and relics of 
putrefying flesh, which might otherwise 
pollute the atmosphere, after his kind— i.e., 
the prohibition against eating it extended to 
the whole species, the raven— including the 
crow, the pie. the owl— it is generally sup- 
posed the ostrich is denoted by the original 
w T ord. the night hawk— a very small bird, 
with which, from its nocturnal habits, many 
superstitious ideas were associated, the 
cuckoo— evidently some other bird is meant 
by the original term, from its being ranged 
among rapacious birds. Dr. Shaw thinks it 
is the saf-saf ; but that being a gramanivorous 
and gregarious bird, is equally objectionable. 
Others think that the term the sea-mew, or 
some of the small sea-fowl, are intended, 
the hawk— the Hebrew word includes every 
variety of the falcon family— as the gos- 
hawk, the jer-hawk, the sparrow-hawk, &c. 
Several species of hawks are found in West- 
ern Asia and Egypt, where they find inex- 
haustible prey in the immense numbers of 
pigeons and turtle-doves that abound in 
those quarters. The hawk was held pre- 
eminently sacred among the Egyptians; and 
this, besides its rapacious disposition and 
gross habits, might have been a strong rea- 
son for its prohibition as an article of food 
to the Israelites, the little owl— or horned 
owl, as some render it. The common barn 
owl, which is well known in the East. It is 
the only bird of the kind here referred to, 
although the word is thrice mentioned in 
our version, cormorant— supposed to be the 
gull, the great owl— according to some, the 
ibis of the Egyptians. It was well known to 
the Israelites, and so rendered by the 
Septuagint, (Deu. 14. 16 ; Is. 34. 11.) accord- 
ing to Parkhurst, the bittern, but not deter- 



Unclean creeping things. 



LEVITICUS, XII, XIII. 



Laws concerning leprosy. 



must be put into water, and it shall be un- 
clean until the even ; so it shall be cleansed. 

33 And every earthen vessel whereinto 
ana of them ialleth. whatsoever is in it 
shall be unclean; and » ye shall break it. 

34 Of all meat which may be eaten, that 
on which such water cometh shall be un- 
clean: and all drink that may be drunk in 
even such vessel shall be unclean. 

35 And everything whereupon any pari 
of their carcase ialleth shall be unclean; 
whether it be oven, or ranges for pots, they 
shall be broken down: for they are unclean, 
a 1 d shall be unclean unto you. 

ik> .Nevertheless a fountain or pit, l where- 
in (htre U plenty of water, shall be clean: 
but that which toueheth their carcase shall 
be mi clean. 

37 And if any part of their carcase fall 
upon any sowing seed which is to be sown, 
it shall be clean. 

38 But if any water be put upon the seed, 
and any part of their carcase fall thereon, 
it shall' be unclean unto you. 

39 And if any beast of which ye may eat 
die ; he that toueheth the carcase thereof 
shall be unclean until the even. 

40 And r he that eateth of the carcase of 
it shall wash his clothes, and be unclean 
until the even: he also that beareth the 
carcase of it shall wash his clothes, and be 
unclean until the even. 

41 And every creeping thins* that creepeth 
upon the earth shall be an abomination; it 
8liull not be eaten. 

42 Whatsoever goeth upon the belly, and 
whatsoever goeth upon ail four, or what- 
soever 2 hath more feet among all creeping 
things that creep upon the earth, them ye 
6hallnot eat: for they are an abomination. 

43 V e ' shall not make 3 yourselves abo- 
minable with any creeping thing that 
creepeth, neither snail ye make yoiu*selves 
unclean with them, that ye should be de- 
nied thereby. 

44 For * I am the Lord your God: ye 
shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and w ye 
shall be holy; for I am holy: neither shall 
ye defile yourselves with any manner ol 
creeping thing that creepeth upon the 
earth. 

45 For v I am the Lord that bringeth 



you up out of the land oi Egypt, to be your 
holy 



God: ^ ye shall therefore be holy, for 1 am 



46 This is the law of the beasts, and of the 
fowl, and of every living creature that 
moveth in the waters, and of every creature 
that creepeth upon the earth ; 

47 To * make a difierenee between the un- 
clean and the clean, and between the beast 
that may be eaten and the beast that may 
not be eaten. 

CH AFTER XII. 

1 The jyurifieati.n of a womni after childbirth; 6 

tar offerings for her jnirifying. 

A XD the Lord spake unto Moses, Baying, 
2 Speak unto the children of Israel, 
sajing, II" a woman have conceived seed, 
ana bora a man-child : then a she shall be 
unclean seven days; b accordingto the days 
oi the separation for her infirmity shall she 
be unclean. 

3 And in the c eighth day the flesh of his 
foreskin shnil be circumcised. 

4 And she shall then continue in the blood 
ol iter purifying throe and thirty days; she 
shall touch no hallowed thing, nor come 

83 



B. C. 1490. 



CHAP. 11. 
q ch. 6. 28. 

1 a gathering 
together of 
waters. 

r ch. 22. 8. 
Deu. 14.21. 
Ezek. 4. 14. 
Ezek. 44. 
31. 

2 doth mul- 
tiply feet. 

5 ch. 20. 26. 

3 your souls. 
t Is. 51. 15. 

Is. i3. 3. 
u Ex. 19. 6. 

ch. 19. 2. 

1 Thes. 4.7. 

1 Pet. 1.15. 
v Gen. 35. 

1.2. 

Ex. 6. 7. 

Ex. 20. 2. 

Ro. 14. 17. 
u> Ro. 12. 1. 

1 Cor. 6. 

11. 
x ch. 10. 10. 

Jer. 15. 19. 

Eze. 22. 26. 

Eze.44.23. 

CHAP. 12? 
a Lu. 2. 22. 

6 ch. 15. 19. 
c Ge. 17. 12. 

Luke 1. 59. 

Luke 2. 2L 

John 7.22, 

23. 
d Lu 2. 22. 
e Isa. 53. 7. 

Luke 24, 

SB, 87. 

John 1. 29, 

36. 

1 Pet. 1. 

18. 19. 

Rev. 5.6-8. 

Rev. 7. 14- 

1 a son of 
Lis vear. 

f Heb". 9. 

9---8. 

Heb. 10. 

1-12. 
g ch. 5. 7. 

Lu. 2. 24. 

2 her hand 
find not 
sufficiency 
of. 

h ch. 4. 26. 



CHAP. 13. 

1 Or, swel- 
ling. 

a Deut. 28. 

27. 

Is. 3. 17. 
6 Deut. 17. 

c. 'J. 

Deu. 24. 8. 

Lu. 17. 14. 
e ch. 11. 25. 

ch. 14. 8. 
d 2 Sam. 3. 

29. 
e 2 Ki. 5. 3. 
/ .Num. 12. 

10, 12. 

2 Kin. 5. 

27. 

2 Chr. 26. 

20. 

2 the quick- 
ening of 
living ,.es. , 



mto the sanctuary, until the days oi her 
purifying be fulfilled. 

5 But if she beiir a maid-child, then she 
shall be unclean two weeks, as in her se- 
paration : and she shall continue in the 
blood of her purifying threescore and six 
days. 

6 And d when the days of her purifying 
are fulfilled, for a son, or for a daughter, 
she shall bring e a lamb 1 of the first year 
for a burnt onering, and a young pigeon, or 
a turtle-dove, for a sin oliering, unto the 
door of the tabernacle of the congregation, 
unto the priest: 

7 Who shall offer it before the Lord, and 
make fan atonement for her; and she shad 
be cleansed from the issue of her blood. 
This is the law for her that hath born a 
male or a female. 

8 And 9 if - she be not able to bring a 
lamb, then she shall bring two turtles, or 
two young pigeons; the one for the burnt 
offering, and the other for a sin offering: 
and * the priest shall make an atonement 
for her, and she shall be clean. 

CHAPTER XIII. 
The laws and tokens in discerning Ujrrosy. 

AND the Lord spake unto Moses and 
xx Aaron, saying, 

2 When a man shall have in the skin of 
his flesh a * rising, a a scab, or bright spot, 
and it be in the skin of his flesh like the 
plague of leprosy ; b then he shall be brought 
unto Aaron the priest, or unto one of his 
sons the priests: 

3 And the priest shall look on the plague 
in the skin of the flesh: and when the hail 
in the plague is turned white, and the 
plague m sight be deeper than the skin of 
his flesh, it is a plague of leprosy: and the 
priest shall look on him, and pronounce 
him unclean. 

4 If the bright spot be white in the skin of 
his flesh, and in sight be not deeper than 
the skin, and the han* thereof be not turned 
white; then the priest shall shut up him 
that hath the plague seven days: 

5 And the priest shall look on him the 
seventh day: and, behold, y-'the plague in 
his sight be at a stay, and the plague spread 
not in the fkin ; then the priest shall shut 
him up seven days more: 

6 And the priest shall look on him again 
the seventh day: and, behold, if the plague 
be somewhat dark, and the plague spread 
not in the skin, the priest shall pronounce 
him clean: it is but a scab: and he c snail 
wash his clothes, and be clean. 

7 But if the scab spread much abroad in 
the skin, alter that he hath been seen of the 
priest for his cleansing, he shall be seen of 
the priest again : 

8 And if the priest see that, behold, the 
scab spreadeth m the skin, then the priest 
shall pronounce him unclean: it is a a 
leprosy. 

9 I When the plague of leprosy is hi a 
man, then he shall d be brought unto the 
priest; 

10 And / the priest shall see Mm: and, 
behold, if the rising be white in the skin, 
and it have turned the hah - white, and 
there be ~ quick raw flesh in the rising, 

11 It is an old leprosy in the skin of hi9 
flesh: and the priest shall pronounce him 
unclean, and shall not shut him up; for he 
is unclean. 



LEVITICUS, XII, xin. 



The Law of Puri cation. 



Of Meats Clean and Unclean. 
mined the swan— found in great numbers leon— galled by the Arabs the warral 



in all the countries of the Levant, and fre- lizard, the. snail 



, - green 
lizard, which lives in the 



quents marshy places— the vicinity of rivers j sand, and is called by the Arabs chuka. of 
and lakes. It was held sacred by the Egyp- an azure colour, the mole— another species 
tians, and kept tame within the precincts of of lizard is meant, probably the chameleon, 
heathen temples. It was probably on this 31-35.touch them when dead— These regulations 
account chiefly its use as food was prohibited, must have often caused annoyance, by sud- 
Michaelis considers it the goose, the pelican | denly requiring the exclusion of people from 

society, as well as the ordinances of religion. 
Nevertheless they were extremely useful 
and salutary, especially as enforcing atten- 
tion to cleanliness. This is a matter of 
essential importance in the East, where 
venemous reptiles often creep into houses, 
and are found lurking in boxes, vessels, or 
holes in the wall: and the carcase of one of 
them, or a dead mouse, mole, lizard, or other 
unclean animal, might be inadvertently 
touched by the hand, or fall on clothes, skin- 
bottles, or any article of common domestic 
use. By connecting, therefore, the touch 
of such creatures with ceremonial defile- 
ment, which required immediately to be 
removed, an effectual means was taken to 
prevent the bad effects of venom and all un- 
clean or noxious matter. 47. make a differ- 
ence between the unclean and the clean— i. e. 



—remarkable for the bag or pouch un^er its 
lower jaw, which serves not only as a net to 
catch, but also as a receptacle of food It is 
solitary in its habits, and, like other large 
aquatic birds, often flies to a great dis- 
tance from its favourite haunts. the 
gier-eagle — Being here associated with 
water fowl, it has been questioned, whether 
any species of eagle is referred to. Some 
think as the original name racham denotes 
tenderness, affection, the halcyon or kings' 
fisher is intended. [Calmet.] Others that 
it is the bird now called rachami, a kind of 
Egyptian vulture, abundant in the streets of 
Cairo, and popularly called Pharaoh's fowl. 
It is white in colour, in size like a raven, 
and feeds on carrion; it is one of the foulest 
and filthiest birds in the world, the stork— 
a bird of benevolent temper, and held in the 
highest estimation in all Eastern countries; j between animals used and not used for food. 



it was declared unclean, probably, from its 
feeding on serpents and other venomous 
reptiles, as well as rearing its young on the 
same food, the heron— the word so translated 
only occurs in the prohibited list of food and 
has been variously rendered— the crane, the 
plover, the woodcock, the parrot.- In this 
great diversity of opinion nothing certain 



It is probable that the laws contained in this 
chapter were not entirely new, but only gave 
the sanction of divine enactment to ancient 
usages. Some of the prohibited animals 
have, on physiological grounds, been every- 
where rejected by the general sense or ex- 
perience of mankind, while others may 
have been declared unclean from their un- 



can be affirmed regarding it, and as from wholesomeness in warm countries, or from 
the group with which it is classified, it must some reasons, which are now imperfectly 



be an aquatic bird that is meant, it may as 
well be the heron as any other Dird, the 
more especially as herons abound in Egypt 
and in the Hauran of Palestine, the lapwing 
— or hoopoe— found in warm regions, a very 
pretty but filthy species of bird, and was 
considered unclean,probably from its feeding 
on insects, worms, and snails, the bat — the 
great or Ternat bat, known in the East, noted 
for its voracity and filthiness. 20. allfowlsthat 
creep, &c— by "fowls" here are to be under- 
stood all creatures with wings, and by " go- 



known, connected with contemporary idol- 
atry. 

CHAPTEK XII. 
Ver. IS. "Woman's Un cleanness by 
Child-Birth. 2. If a woman, <fec— The mo- 
ther of a boy was ceremonially unclean for a 
week, at the end of which the child was cir- 
cumcised, (Gen. 17. 12; Bo. 4. 11-13;) the mo- 
ther of a girl for two weeks— a stigma on the 
sex, (1 Tim. 2. 14. 15.), for sin, which was re.- 
moved by Christ; every one who came near 
her during that time contracted a similar de- 



ing upon all fours," not a restriction to ani- j filement. After these periods, visitors might 



mals which have exactly four feet, because 
many "creeping things" have more than 
that number. The prohibition is regarded 
generally as extending to insects, reptiles, 
and worms. 21. Yet these ye may eat . . . legs 
above their feet— Nothing short of a scientific 
description could convey more accurately 
the nature "of the locust after its kind." 
They were allowed as lawful food to the 
Israelites, and they are eaten by the Arabs, 
who fry them in olive oil; or when sprinkled 
with salt, dried, smoked, and fried, they 
are said to taste not unlike red herrings. 26. 
Every beast not cloven-footed— The prohibited 



approach her, though she was still excluded 
from the public ordinances of religion. 6-8. 
I the days of her purification— Though the occa- 
j sion was of a festive character, yet the sacri- 
fices appointed were not a peace offering, but 
a burnt offering and sin offering, in order to 
impress the mind of the parent with recol- 
j lections of the origin of sin and that the child 
inherited a fallen and sinful nature. The 
offerings were to be presented the clay after 
the period of her separation had ended— i.e., 
41st for a boy, 81st for a girl, bring two turtle 
doves, &c— (See on ch. 5. 7.) This Mas the offer- 
ing made by Mary, the mother of Jesus, and 



animals under this description include not it affords an incontestible proof of the poor 

only the beasts which have a single hoof, as and humble condition of the family. (Lu. 

horses and asses, but those also which di- 2. 22-24.) 

vided the foot into paws, as lions, tigers, <fec. 

29. the weasel, rather the mole, the mouse— 

from its diminutive size is placed among the 

reptiles instead of the quadrupeds, the 

tortoise— a lizard, resembling very nearly in 

shape, and in the hard pointed scales of the 

tail, the sliake-tail. the ferret— the Hebrew 



CHAPTEK Xin. 
Ver. 1-59. The Laws and Tokens in 
Discerning Leprosy. 2. When a man shall 
have in the skin, &c— The fact of the follow- 
ing rules for distinguishing the plague of 
leprosy being incorporated with the Hebrew 
code of laws, proves the existence of the odi- 



word is thought by some to signify the newt ous disease among that people. But a short 
or chameleon; by others the frog, the chame- time, little more than a year, if so long a 
83 



Latcs and tokens 



LEVITICUS, XIII. 



wh er eby to discern leprosy. 



12 And if a leprosy break out abroad in 
the skin, and the leprosy cover all the skin 
of him that hath the plague from his head 
even to his foot, wheresoever the priest 
looketh; 

13 Then the priest shall consider: and, be- 
hold, if the leprosy have covered all his 
nesh. he shall a pronounce him clean that 
hath the plague: it is all turned white: he 
is clean. 

14 But when raw flesh appeareth in him, 
he shall be unclean. 

15 And the y priest shall see the raw flesh, 
and pronounce him to be unclean: for the 
raw flesh is unclean: it if a leprosy. 

16 Or if the raw flesh turn again, and be 
changed unto white, he shall * come unto 
the priest ; 

17 And the priest shall see him: and, be- 
hold, if the plague be turned into white ; 
then the priest shall pronounce him clean 
that hath the plague: he ■ is clean. 

18 f The flesh, also, in which, even in the 
skin thereof, was a i boil, and is healed, 

19 And in the place of the boil there be a 
white rising, or a bright spot, white, and 
somewhat reddish, and it be showed to the 
priest ; 

20 And if, when the priest seeth it, behold, 
it be in sight lower than the skin, and the 
hair thereof be turned white; the priest 
shall pronounce him unclean: it is a plague 
of leprosy broken out of the boil. 

21 But if the priest look on it, and, be- 
hold, there be no white hairs therein, and 
if it be not lower than the skin, but be 
somewhat dark; then the priest shall shut 
him up seven days: 

22 And if it spread much abroad in the 
skin, then the priest shall pronounce him 
unclean: it is a plague. 

23 But if the bright spot stay in his place, 
and spread not, it is a burning boil ; and the 
priest * shall pronounce him clean. 

24 1 Or if there be any hesh, in the skin 
whereof th<re is 4 a hot biu-ning. and the 
qmckjiesh that burneth have a white bright 
spot, somewhat reddish, or white; 

25 Then the priest shall look upon it: and, 
behold, if the hair in the bright spot be 
turned white, and it be in sight deeper 
than the skin, it is a leprosy broken out of 
the burning: wherefore the priest shall pro- 
nounce him unclean: it is the • plague of 
leprosy. 

26 But if the priest look on it, and, behold, 
there be no white hair in the bright spot, 
and it be no lower than the othtr skin, but 
be somewhat dark; then the priest shall 
shut him up seven days: 

27 And the priest shall look upon him the 
seventh day: and if it be spread much 
abroad in the skin, then ■ the priest shall 
pronounce him unclean: it is the plague of 
leprosy. 

28 And if the bright spot stay in his place, 
and spread not in the skin, but it be some- 
what nark ; it is a rising of the burning, and 
the priest shall pronounce him clean: for it 
is an infi animation of the burning. 

29 ^ If a man or woman have a plague 
upon the head or the beard; 

oO Then " the priest shall see the plague: 
and, behold, if it be in sight deeper than 
the skin, and there be in it a yellow thin 
hair ; then the priest shall pronounce him 
tmclean: it is a dry ■ scall, even a leprosv 

pon the head or beard. 
84 



B. C. 1490. 

CHAP. 13. 

. 3 make 

I clean tk« 

! Psal. 103. 

2.3. 

Ex. 15. 26. 
9 Dcu. 24. S. 
ALu .5.12-14. 
i Deut. 32, 

39. 

Ps. 147. 3. 
j Ex. 9. 9. 

27. 

2 Ki. 20. 7. 
Job 2. 7. 
k Mat. 8. 4. 
Lu. 5. 14. 
Lu. 17. 14. 

4 a burning 
of fire. 
Deut. 28. 

| Ex. 4. B. 
Num. 12. 
10. 

2 Sam. 3. 
29. 

2K1.5.27. 
2 Chro. 26. 
19. 

Mat. 8. 
1-3. 

Markl. 
4-42. 
Luke 5. 
12-14. 
m eh. 10. 10. 

Jer. 15. 

19. 

Exek. 22. 

26. 

■ Mai. 2. 7. 

1 Cor. 12.9. 
o Deut. 2S. 

27. 

Is. 3.17. 
p Job 1. 20. 
8 eh. 10. 10. 

Jer. 15. 

19. 

Ezek. 22. 

26. 

Ezek.44. 

S3. 

5 head is 
pilled. 

r Is. 15. 2. 

Amos ;. 

10. 
« eh. 10. 10. 

Ezek. 22. 
26. 
t Esek. 24. 
17.22. 

Mic. 3. 7. 
« 1 Ki. 8. 37. 

Ps. 61. 1. 

Ps. 72. 12. 

La. 4. 15. 

Ker. 21. 4. 

■ >"u. 5. 2. 
Mm. 12.14. 

2 Ki. 7. 3. 
2 Ki. 15. 5. 
2 Chr. :.&, 
21. 

Lu. 17. 12. 

1 Cor. 5, 5. 

2 Thes.3.6. 
He. 12. 15. 

v Is- 64. 6. 

6 work of. 

7 Teasel, or, 
lcstrument. 

x Jer. 15. 19. 
Ezek.44.23. 



! 31 And if the priest look on the plague of 
'■ the scall. and. behold, it be not in sight 
'■■ deeper than the skin, and that there is no 

black hair in it ; then the priest shall shut 
i up him that hath the plague of the scall 
■ seven days. 

; 32 And in the seventh day the priest shall 
! look on the plague: and, behold, irthe scall 
' spread not, and there be in it no yellow 

hair, and the scall be not in sight deeper 

than the skin; 

33 He shall be ? shaven, but the scall shall 
he not shave ; and the priest shall shut up 
him that hath the scall seven days more. 

34 And in the seventh day the priest shall 
look on the scall: and, behold, if the scall 
be not spread in the skin, nor be in sight 
deeper than the skin; then the priest shall 
pronounce him clean: and he shall wash his 
clothes, and be clean. 

35 But if the scall spread much in the skin 
after his cleansing; 

36 Then the priest shall look on him; and, 
behold, if the scall be spread in the skin, 
the priest shall not seek lor yellow hair; he 
is unclean. 

37 But if the scall be in his sight at a 
stay, and that there is black hair grown up 
therein ; the scall is healed, he is clean: and 
the q priest shall pronounce him clean. 

38 1 If a man also or a woman have in the 
skin of their hesh bright spots, even white 
bright spots; 

39 Then the priest shall look: and, behold, 
if' the bright spots in the skin of their nesh 
be darkish white ; it is a freckled spot that 
groweth in the skin ■ he is clean. 

40 And the man whose 5 hair is fallen off 
his head, he is r bald: yet is he clean. 

41 And he that hath his hair fallen off from 
the part of his head toward his face, he is 
forehead bald: yet is he clean. 

42 And if there be in the bald head, or 
bald forehead, a white reddish sore ; it is a 
leprosy sprung up in his bald head, or his 
bald forehead. 

43 Then * the priest shall look upon it: 
and, behold, if the rising of the sore be 
white reddish in his bald head, or in his 
bald forehead, as the leprosy appeareth in 
the skin of the flesh; 

44 He is a leprous man. he is unclean: the 
priest shall pronounce him utterly unclean; 
his plague is in his head. 

45 And the leper in whom the plague is, 
his clothes shall be rent, and his head bare, 
and he shall ' put a covering upon his up- 
per lip, and shall crv, u Unclean, unclean. 

46 All the days wherein the plague shall 
be in him he shall be defiled; he it unclean: 
he shall dwell alone ; v without the camp 
shall his habitation be. 

47 £ The "' garment also that the plague 
of leprosy is in, whether it be a wooilen 
garment, or a linen garment, 

48 Whether it be in the warp, or woof, of 
linen, or of woollen, whether in a skin, or 
in any 6 thing made of skin ; 

49 And ifthe plague be greenish or red- 
dish in the garment, or in the skin, either 
in the warp, or in the woof, or in any " thin<* 
of skin; it is a plague of leprosy, and shall 
be showed unto the priest. 

5U And z the priest shall look upon the 
plague, and shut up it that hath the plague 
seven ciays: 

51 And he shall look on the plague on the 
seventh day: ifthe plague be spread in th6 



Laws and Tokens 



LEVITICUS, XIII. 



to Discern Leprosy, 



period had elapsed since the Exodus, when 
symptoms of leprosy seem extensively to 
have appeared among them ; and as they 
could not be very liable to such a cutaneous 
disorder amid their active journeyings, and 
in the dry open air of Arabia, the seeds of 
the disorder must have been laid in Egypt, 
where it has always been endemic. There is 
every reason to believe that this was the 
case;— that the leprosy was not a family 
complaint, hereditary among the Hebrews; 
but that they got it from intercourse with 
the Egyptians, and from the unfavourable 
circumstances of their condition in the house 
of bondage. The great excitement and irri- 
tability of the skin in the hot and sandy 
regions of the East, produce a far greater 
predisposition to leprosy of all kinds than 
in the cooler temperature of Europe; and 
cracks or blotches, inflammations, or even 
contusions of the skin, very often lead to 
these in Arabia and Palestine to some ex- 
tent, but particularly in Egypt. Besides, 
the subjugated and distressed state of the 
Hebrews in the latter country, and the 
nature of their employment, must have 
rendered them very liable to this as well as 
to various other blemishes and misaffections 
of the skin; in the production of which there 
are no causes more active or powerful than 
a depressed state of body and mind, hard 
labour under a burning sun, the body con- 
stantly covered with the excoriating dust of 
brickfields, and an impoverished diet— to all 
of which the Israelites were exposed whilst 
under the Egyptian bondage. It appears 
that, in consequence of these hardships, 
there was, even after they had left Egypt, 
a general predisposition among the Hebrews 
to the contagious forms of leprosy— so that 
it often occurred as a consequence of various 
other affections of the skin. And hence all 
cutaneous blemishes or blains— especially 
such as had a tendency to terminate in 
leprosy— were watched with a jealous eye 
from the first. [Good's Study or Medicine.] 
A swelling, a pimple, or bright spot on the 
skin, created a strong ground of suspicion 
of a man's being attacked by the dreaded 
disease. Then he shall be brought unto Aaron, 
&c— Like the Egyptian priests, the Levites 
united the character of physician with that 
of the sacred office; and on the appearance 
of any suspicious eruptions on the skin, the 
person having these was brought before the 
priest— not ,however,to receive medical treat- 
ment, though it is not improbable that some 
purifying remedies might be prescribed— but 
to be examined with a view to those sana- 
tory precautions which it belonged to legis- 
lation to adopt. 3-6. The priest shall look, 
&c— The leprosy, as covering the person 
with a white scaly scurf, has always been ac- 
counted an offensive blemish rather than a 
serious malady in the East, unless when it 
assumed its less common and malignant 
forms. When a Hebrew priest, after a care- 
ful inspection, discovered under the cutane- 
ous blemish the distinctive signs of contagi- 
ous leprosy, the person was immediately 
{ironounced unclean, and is supposed to 
lave been sent out of the camp to a lazaretto 
provided for that purpose. If the symptoms 
appeared to be doubtful, he ordered the 
person to be kept in domestic confinement 
for seven days, when he was subjected to a 
second examination; and if during the pre- 
84 



vious week the eruption had subsided or 
appeared to be harmless, he was instantly 
discharged. But if the eruption continued 
unabated and still doubtful, he was put 
under surveillance for another week; at the 
end of which the character of the disorder 
never failed to manifest itself, and he was 
either doomed to perpetual exclusion from 
society, or allowed to go at large. A person 
who had thus been detained on suspicion, 
when at length set at liberty, was obliged to 
"wash his clothes," as having been tainted 
by ceremonial pollution; and the purifica- 
tion through which he was required to go 
was, in the spirit of the Mosaic dispensation, 
symbolical of that inward purity it was in- 
stituted to promote. 6-8. But if the scab 
spread much— Those doubtful cases, when 
they assumed a malignant character, ap- 
peared in one of two forms, apparently ac- 
cording to the particular constitution of the 
skin or of the habit generally. The one was 
"somewhat dark"— i.e., the obscure or 
dusky leprosy, . in which the natural colour 
of the hair, which in Egypt and Palestine is 
black, is not changed, as is repeatedly said 
in the sacred code, nor is there any depres- 
sion in the dusky spot, while the patches, 
instead of keeping stationary to their first 
size, are perpetually enlarging their bound- 
ary. The patient labouring under this form 
was pronounced unclean by the Hebrew 
priest, or physician, and hereby sentenced to 
a separation from his family and friends— a 
decisive proof of its being contagious. 10-17. 
If the rising be white— This bp.ight white 
leprosyis the most malignant and inveterate 
of all the varieties the disease exhibits, and 
it was marked by the following distinctive 
signs:— A glossy white and spreading scale, 
upon an elevated base, the elevation de- 
pressed in the middle, but without a change 
of colour; the black hair on the patches par- 
ticipating in the whiteness, and the scaty 
patches themselves perpetually enlarging 
their boundary. Several of these charac- 
ters, taken separately, belong to other 
blemishes of the skin as well; so that none 
of them was to be taken alone, and it was 
only when the whole of them concurred that 
the Jewish priest, in his capacity of physi- 
cian, was to pronounce the disease a malig- 
nant leprosy. If it spread over the entire 
frame without producing any ulceration, it 
lost its contagious power by degrees; or, in 
other words, ran through its course and ex- 
hausted itself. In that case, there being no 
longer any fear of further evil either to the 
individual himself or to the community, the 
patient was declared clean by the priest, while 
the dry scales were yet upon him,and restored 
to society. If, on the contrary, the patches 
ulcerated, and quick or fungous flesh sprung 
up in them,:the purulent matter, of which, if 
brought into contact with the skin of other 
persons, would be taken into the constitu- 
tion by means of absorbent vessels, the 
priest was|at once to pronounce it an inveter- 
ate leprosy ; a temporary confinement was 
declared to be totally unnecessary, and he 
was regarded as unclean for life. " [Dr. 
Good.] Other skin affections, which had a 
tendency to terminate in leprosy though 
they were not decided symptoms when alone, 
were 18-23. " a boil," and 24-28. "a hot 
burning"— i.e., a fiery inflammation or car- 
buncle, and 29-38. " a dry scall." "'hen 



The rites and sacrifices 



LEVITICUS, XI V. 



in cleansing the leper. 



garment, either in the warp, or in the woof, 
or in a skin, or in any work that is made of 
skin ; the plague is ** a fretting leprosy ; it is 
unclean. 

52 He shall therefore burn that garment, 
whether warp or woof, in woollen or in 
linen, or any thing of skin, wherein the 
plague is: for it is a fretting leprosy; it 
shall bo burnt in the fire. 

53 And if the priest shall look, and, behold, 
the plague be not spread in the garment, 
either in the warp, or in the woof, or in any 
thing of skin ; 

54 Then the priest shall command that 
they wash the thing wherein the plague 
u<, and he shall shut it up seven days 
more: 

55 And the priest shall look on the 
plague, after that it is washed: and, behold, 
if the plague have not changed his colour, 
and the plague be not spread; it is un- 
clean ; thou shalt burn it in the fire ; it if 
fret inward, ■ whether it be bare within or 
without. 

56 And if the priest look, and. behold, the 
plague be somewhat dark after the wash- 
ing of it ; then he shall rend it out of the 
garment, or out of the skin, or out of the 
warp, or out of the woof: 

57 And if it appear still in the garment, 
either in the warp, or in the woof, or in 
any thing of skin, it is a spreading plague: 
thou shalt burn that wherein the plague is 
with fire. 

58 And the garment, either warp or woof, 
or whatsoever tiling of skin it be, which 
thou shalt wash, if the plague be depaited 
from them, then it shall l>e washed the 
second time, and shall be clean. 

59 This is the law of the plague of leprosy 
in a garment of woollen or linen, either in 
the warp, or woof, or any thing of skins, 
to pronounce it clean, or to pronounce it 
unclean. 

CHAPTER XIV. 

1 The rites and sacrifices in cleansing of the leper. 
33 The signs of leprosy in a tu.'\ise : "43 the cleans- 
ing of that hou<e. 

A .ND the Lord spake unto Moses, say- 
ing, 

2 This shall be the law of the leper in the 
day of his cleansing: He ° shall be brought 
unto the priest: 

3 And the priest shall go forth out of the 
camp; and the priest shall look, and. be- 
hold, if the plague of leprosy be healed in 
the leper; 

4 Then shall the priest command to take 
for him that is to De cleansed two l birds 
alive and clean, and b cedar wood, e and 
scarlet, and d hyssop: 

5 And the priest shall command that one 
of the birds be killed in an earthen vessel 
over running water: 

6 As for the living bird, he shall take it, 
and the cedar wood, and the scarlet, and 
the hyssop, and shall dip them and the liv- 
ing bird m the blood of the bird that was 
killed over the running water: 

7 And he shall e sprinkle upon him that 
is to be cleansed from the leprosy/ seven 
times, and shall pronounce him clean, and 
shall let the lhing bird loose - into the open 
field. 

a And he that is to be cleansed g shall 

wash his clothes, and shave off all his hair. 

a^id A wash himself in water, that he may be 

dean: and alter that he shall come into the 

So 



B. C. 1490. 



CHAP. 13. 
V ch. 14. 44. 

8 whether it 
be bald in 
the head 
thereof, 

or in the 
forehead 
thereof. 

CHAP. 14. 
« Jer. 15. 19. 
Ewk. 44. 
23 

Mat. 8.2,4, 
Mark 1.40, 
44. 

Luke 5. 
12. 14. 
Luke 17. 
14. 

1 Or, spar- 
rows. 

6 Nu. 19. 6. 
• Heb. 9. 19. 
d Ps. 51. 7. 
e Ettik. 36. 

25. 

Heb. 9. 13. 

Heb. 10.22. 
/2Kin. 6. 

10, 14. 

2 upon tin 
face of the 
field. 

9 ch. 13. 6. 
h ch. 11. 25. 
i Nu. 12. 15. 
; Mat. 8. 4. 

Mark 1.14. 
Luke 5. 14. 

3 the daugh- 
ter of her 
rear. 

/fc'ch. 2. 1. 

Xu. 15. 4, 

15. 
I eh. 5. 2, 18. 

ch. 6. 6, 7. 
m Lxod. 29. 

24. 
*» Is. 53. 7. 

John 1. 

29. 

1 Pet. 1. 

19. 

Rev. 5. 6. 
OEx.29. 11. 

ch. 1. 5, 

11. 

ch. 4. 4, 

24. 
p ch. 7. 7. 
? ch. 7. 6. 

eh. 21.22. 
r Eph. 1. 7. 

Col. 1. 14. 

Heb. 9. 

9-14. 

Rev. 12. 11. 
a Ex. 29. 20. 

ch. 8. 23. 
t Rom. 6. 

13-22. 
Rom. 12. 1. 

1 Cor. 6. 
20. 
« ch. 4. 25. 
v ch. 5. 7. 

ch. 12. 8. 

4 his hand 
reach 
not. 

5 for a war- 
in?. 

«f ch. 12. 8. 
ch. 15. 14, 

lib 



camp, and • shall tarry abroad out of tea 
tent seven days. 

9 Hut it shall be on the seventh dav, that 
he shall shave all his hair off his head and 
his beard and his evebrows, even all his 
hair he shall shave off: and he shall wash 
ins clothes, also he shall wash his flesh in 
water, and he shall be clean. 

10 And on the eighth dav i he shall take 
two he-lambs without blemish, and one 
ewe lamb 3 of the first year without blemish, 
and three tenth deals of fine flour for * a 
meat offering, mingled with oil, and one 
log of oiL 

11 And the priest that maketh him clean 
shall present the man that is to be made 
clean, and those things, before the Lord, 
at the door of the tabernacle of the con- 
gregation: 

12 And the priest shall take one he-lamb, 
and ■ oiler him for a trespass offering, and 
the log of oil. and m wave them for a wave 
offering before the Lord : 

13 And he shall slav the n lamb ° in the 
place where he shall kill the sin offering 
and the burnt offering, in the holy place: 
for ? as the sin offering is the priest's, 
so is the trespass offering: « it is most 
holy: 

14 And the priest shall take some of the 
blood T of the trespass ottering, and the 
priest shall put it * upon the tip of the right 
ear of him that is to be cleansed, and upon 
the thumb of his right hand, and upon the 
great toe of his right foot: 

15 And the priest shall take some of the 
log of oil. and pour it into the palm of Laa 
own left hand: 

16 And the priest shall dip his right finger 
in the oil that is in his left hand, and shall 
sprinkle of the oil with his finger seven 
times before the Lord: 

17 And of the rest of the oil that is in his 
hand shall the priest put upon the tip of 
the right ear of ( him that is to be cleansed, 
and upon the thumb of his right hand, and 
upon the great toe of his right foot, upon 
the blood of the trespass ottering: 

18 And the remnant of the oil that is in 
the priest's hand he shall pour upon the 
head of him that is to be cleansed: u and 
the priest shall make an atonement for him 
before the Lord. 

_ 19 And the priest shall offer the sin offer- 
ing, and make an atonement for him that 
is to be cleansed from his uncleanness; 
and afterward he shall kill the burnt of- 
fering: 

20 And the priest shall offer the burnt 
ottering and the meat offering upon the 
altar: and the priest shall make an atone- 
ment for him, and he shall be clean. 

21 And v if he be poor, and * cannot get so 
much; then he shall take one lamb for a 
trespass offering 5 to be waved, to make an 
atonement for Mm. and one tenth deal of 
fine flour mingled with oil for a meat otter- 
ing, and a log of oil ; 

22 And ■ two turtle-doves, or two young 
pigeons, such as he is able to get ; and the 
one shall be a sin offering, and the other a 
burnt ottering. 

23 And he shall bring them on the eighth 
day for his cleansing unto the priest, unto 
the door of the tabernacle of the congrega- 
tion, before the Lord. 

24 And the priest shall take the lamb of 
the trespass offering, and the log of oil, and 



The Rites and Sacrifices in 



LEVITICUS, XIV. 



Cleansing of the Leper. 



the leprosy was distinguished by being 
in sight deeper than the skin ; and the 
hair became thin and yellow. 38, 39. If 
a man or a woman have bright spots— This 
modification of the leprosy is distinguished 
by a dull-white colour, and it is entirely 
a cutaneous disorder, never injuring the 
constitution. It is described as not pene- 
trating below the skin of the flesh, ana as 
not rendering necessary an exclusion from 
society. It is evident, then, this common 
form of leprosy is not contagious, otherwise 
Moses would have prescribed as strict a 
quarantine in this as in the other cases. 
And hereby we see the great superiority of 
the Mosaic law, which so accurately distin- 
guished the characters of the leprosy, and 
preserved to society the services of those 
who were labouring under the uncontagious 
forms of the disease, over the customs and 
regulations of Eastern countries in the pre- 
sent day, where all lepers are indiscrimi- 
nately proscribed, and are avoided as unfit 
for free intercourse with their fellow-men. 
40, 41. Bald . . . forehead bald— The falling off 
of the hair is another symptom which creates 
a suspicion of leprosy, when the baldness 
commences in the back part of the head. 
But it was not of itself a decisive sign un- 
less when taken in connection with other 
tokens ;— a " sore of a reddish white colour;" 
and the Hebrews as well as other Orientals 
were accustomed to distinguish between the 
forehead baldness, which might be natural, 
and that baldness which might be the conse- 
quence of disease. 45. Clothes rent, &c— The 
person who was declared affected with the 
leprosy forthwith exhibited all the tokens of 
suffering from a heavy calamity. Rending 
garments and uncovering the head were 
common signs of mourning. As to *' the 
putting a covering upon the upper lip," that 
means either wearing a moustache, as the 
Hebrews used to shave the upper lip, [Cal- 
mep], or simply keeping a hand over it. 
All these external marks of grief were in- 
tended to proclaim, in addition to his own | 
exclamation, '* unclean ! " that the person 
was a leper, whose company every one must I 
shun. 46. dwell alone without the camp— in a j 
lazaretto by himself, or associated with I 
other lepers. (2 Ki. 7. 3, 8.) 47-59. The gar- j 
ment that the leprosy is in— It is well known ; 
that infectious diseases — such as scarlet 
fever, measles, the plague— are latently im- i 
bibed and carried by the clothes. But the 
language of this passage clearly indicates a 
disease to which clothes themselves were 
subject, and which was followed by effects j 
on them analogous to those which malig- 
nant leprosy produces on the human body— ' 
for similar regulations were made for the 
rigid inspection of suspected garments by a 
priest, as for the examination of a leprous 
person. It has long been conjectured, and 
recently ascertained by the use of a lens, 
that the leprous condition of swine is pro- 
duced by myriads of minute insects engen- j 
dered in their skin ; and regarding all 
leprosy as of the same nature, it is thought 
that this affords a sufficient reason for the 
nj unction in the Mosaic law to destroy the 
jlothes in which the disease, after careful 
observation, seemed to manifest itself. 
Olothes are sometimes seen contaminated 
sy this disease in the West Indies and the 
southern parts of America, "AVhitlaw's 
85 



Code of Health], and it may be presumed 
that as the Hebrews were living in the de 
sert, where they had not the convenience of 
frequent changes and washing, the clothes 
they wore, and the skin mats on which they 
lay, would be apt to breed infectious vermin, 
which being settled in the stuff, would im- 
perceptibly gnaw it, and leave stains similar 
to those described by Moses. It is well 
known that the wool of sheep dying of 
disease, if it had not been shorn from the 
animal while living, and also skins, if not 
thoroughly prepared by scouring, are liable 
to the effects described in this passage. 
The stains are described as of a greenish or 
reddish colour, according, perhaps, to the 
colour or nature of the ingredients used in 
preparing them; for acids convert blue vege- 
table colours into red, and alkalies change 
them into green. [Brown. 1 It appears, 
then, that the leprosy, though some- 
times inflicted as a miraculous judgment, 
(Nu. 12. 10 ; 2 Ki. 5. 27.), was a natural dis- 
ease, which is known in Eastern countries 
still ; while the rules prescribed by the 
Hebrew legislator for distinguishing the 
true character and varieties of the disease, 
and which are far superior to the method of 
treatment now followed in those regions, 
show the Divine wisdom by which he was 
guided. Doubtless the origin of the disease 
is owing to some latent causes in nature; 
and perhaps a more extended acquaintance 
with the archaeology of Egypt, and the natu- 
ral history of the adjacent countries, may 
confirm the opinion that the leprosy results 
from noxious insects or a putrid fermenta- 
tion. But whatever the origin or cause of 
the disease, the laws enacted by Divine 
authority regarding it, while they pointed in 
the first instance to sanatory ends, were at 
the same time intended, by stimulating to 
carefulness against ceremonial defilement, 
to foster a spirit of religious fear and inward 
purity. 

CHAPTEK XIV. 
Ver. 1-32. The Rites and Sacrifices in 
Cleansing of the Leper. 2. Law of the 
leper in the day of his cleansing— Though quite 
convalescent, a leper was not allowed to re- 
turn to society immediately and at his own 
will. The malignant character of his disease 
rendered the greatest precautions necessary 
to his re-admission amongst the people. 
One of the priests, most skilled in the diag- 
nostics of disease [Grotius], being deputed 
to attend such outcasts, the restored leper 
compeared before this official, and when 
after examination a certificate of health was 
given, the ceremonies here described were 
forthwith observed outside the camp. 4. 
two birds— lit. sparrows. The Septuagint, 
however, renders the expression " little 
birds;" and it is evident that it is to be taken 
in this generic sense from their being speci- 
fied as "clean"— a condition which would 
have been altogether superfluous to mention 
in reference to sparrows. In all the offerings 
prescribed in the law, Moses ordered only 
common and accessible birds; and hence we 
may presume that he points here to such 
birds as sparrows or pigeons, as in the desert 
it might have been very difficult to procure 
wild birds alive. Cedar wood, scarlet, and 
hyssop— The cedar here meant was certainly 
not the famous tree of Lebanon, and it is 
generally supposed to have been the juniper, 



taws concerning leprosy 



LEVITICUS, XV. 



and uncleanness. 



the priest shall wave them/or a wave otter- 
ing before the Lord: 

-o And he shall kill the lamb of the tres- 
pass ottering, and the priest shall take some 
of the x blood of the trespass ottering, ;md 
put it upon the tip of the right ear oi' him 
that is to be cleansed, and upon the thumb 
01 his right hand, and upon the great toe 
of his right foot: 

2b' And the priest shall pour of the oil into 
the palm of his own left hand: 

'21 And the priest shall sprinkle with his 
right finger some of the oil that is in his left 
hand seven times before the Lord: 

28 And the priest shall put of the oil that 
is in his hand upon the tip of the right 
ear of y him that is to be cleansed, and 
upon the thumb of his right hand, and 
upon the great toe of his right foot, upon 
the place of the blood of the trespass 
ottering: 

'19 And the rest of the oil that is in the 

Eriest's hand he shall put upon the head of 
im that is to be cleansed, to make an 
atonement for him before tne Lord. 

30 And he shall offer the one of z the tur- 
tle-doves, or of the young pigeons, such as 
he can get; 

31 Even such as he is able to get, the 
one for a sin ottering, and the other for a 
bunit ottering, with the meat ottering: 
and the priest sh;.ll make an atonement 
for him that is to be cleansed before the 
Lord. 

32 This is the law of him in whom is the 
plague of leprosy, whose hand is not able 
to get that which pertaineth to his cleans- 
ing. 

33 fl And the Lord spake unto Moses and 
unto Aaron, saying, 

34 When a ye be come into the land of 
Canaan, which 1 give to you for a posses- 
sion, and b 1 put the plague of leprosy in a 
house of the land of your possession; 

35 And he that owneth the house shall 
come and tell the priest, saying. It seemeth 
to me tiiere is as it were c a. plague in the 
house: 

36 Then the priest shall command that 
they 6 empty the house, before the priest 
go into it to see the plague, that d all that 
is in the house be not made unclean ; and 
afterward the priest shall go in to see the 
house: 

37 And he shall look on the plague: and, 
behold, if the plague be in the walls of the 
house with hollow strakes, greenish or 
reddish, which in sight are lower than the 
wall; 

3i> Then the priest shall go out of the house 
to the door of the house, and shut up the 
house seven days: 

3y And the priest shall come again the 
seventh day. and shall look: and, behold, 
if the plague be spread in the walls of the 
house; 

40 Then e the priest shall command that 
they take away the stones in which the 
plague is y and they shall cast them into an 
unclean place without the city: 

41 And he shall cause the "house to be 
scraped within round about, and they shall 
pour out the dust that they scrape off 
without the city into an unclean place: 

42 And they shall take other stones, and 

Em than hi the place oi those stor 
e shall take other mortar, and shall plas- 
ter the house. 



chap. u. 

Xl John 1.7. 

1 Thess. 5. 

£3. 

Rev. 1. 5. 

Rev. 7. 14- 
V 1 Cor. 6. 

11. 
2 ch. 15. 15. 
a Geo. 17. 8. 

Num. 32. 

M 

Deut. 7. 1. 
Deut. 32. 
49. 

6 Deut. 32. 
c9. 

Is. 45. 7. 
Amos 3. 6. 
ML ah 6. 9. 
c Ps. 91. 10. 
Prov. 3. 
33. 
Zech. 5. 4. 

Or. -pre- 
pare. 

d Is. b-2. 11. 
1 Cor. 5. 
6,7. 

1 Cor. 15. 
33. 

2 Cor. S. 
17. 

2 Thess. 

3.6. 

1 Tim. 5. 

22. 

Rev. 18.4. 
e Jer. 15 19. 

Ezek. 22. 

26. 

Ezek. 44. 

S& 
/ch. 13.51. 

Zech. 6. 4. 
g 1 Cor. 15. 

33. 

7 in coming 
in shall 
come in, 
etc 

h Deut. 32. 

Job 5. IS. 

Hose* 6. 1. 
t 1 Kings 4. 

33. 

Ps. 51. 7. 
/ ch. 13. 30. 
k ch. 13. 47. 

1 ch. 13. 2. 
wDeu.24.8. 

Ezek. 44. 
23. 

8 in the day 
of the uu- j 
clean, and | 
in the day 
of the 



CHAP. 15. 
a ch. 22. 4. 

Nu. 5. 2. 

2 Sam. 3. 

29. 

Matt. 9. 

20. 

Mark 5. 

25. 

Luke 8. 

43. 

1 Or, run- 
ning of the 

2 vessel. 

b eh. 11. 25. 
ch. 17. 1». 



43 And if the plague come again, and 
break out in the house, alter that he hath 
taken away the stoues. and after he hatb 
scraped the house, and after it is plas- 
tered • 

44 Then the priest shall come and look, 
and. behold, 2/ the plague be spread in the 
house, it is / a fretting leprosy in the house : 
it is unclean. 

45 And he shall break down the house, 
the stones of it. and the timber thereof, 
and ail the mortar of the house ; and he 
shall carry them forth out of the city into 
an unclean place, 

46 Moreover he that goeth into the house 
all the while that it is shut up shall be 
unclean ,J until the even. 

47 And he that lieth in the house shall 
wash his clothes; and he that eateth in the 
house shall wash his clothes. 

48 And if the priest • shall come in, and 
look upon it, and, behold, the plague hath 
not spread in the house, after the house 
was plastered; then the priest shall pro- 
uounce the house clean, because the plague 
is * heakd. 

49 And he shall take to cleanse the house 
two birds, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and 
hyssop: 

50 And he shall kill the one of the birds in 
an earthen vessel over running wafer 

51 And he shall take the cedar wood, and 
the » hyssop, and the scarlet, and the living 
bird, and dip them in the blood of the slain 
bird, and in the running water, and sprinkle 
the house seven times: 

52 And he shall cleanse the house with the 
blood of the bird, and with the running 
water, and wiih the living bird, and witn 
the cedar wood, and with the hyssop, and 
with the scarlet: 

53 But he shall let go the living bird out 
of the city into the open fields, and make 
an atonement tor the house: and it shall be 
clean. 

54 This is the law for all manner of plague 
of leprosy, and.? scall, 

bo And for the k leprosy of a garment, and 
of a house ? 

56 And l for a rising, and for a scab, and for 
a bright spot; 

57 1 ■ teach 8 when it is unclean, and 
when it is clean: this is the law of leprosy. 

CHAPTER XV. 
I, 19 The uncleanmss of men and women by their 

issues, lb, -t Their fUa*smg. 
A KD the Lord spake unto .Moses and to 
■"- Aaron, saying, 

2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and 
say unto them, a When any man hath a 
3 running issue out of his flesh, because of 
his issue he is unclean. 

3 And this shall be his uncleanness in his 
issue: whether his flesh run with his issue, 
or his flesh be stopped from his issue, it is 
his uncleanness. 

4 Every bed whereon he lieth that hatb 
the issue is unclean; and every 2 thin? 
whereon he sitteth shall be unclean. 

5 And whosoever toucheth his bed shal 
wash his clothes, b and bathe himself ii 
water, and be unclean until the even. 

6 And he that sitteth on any thing where- 
on he sat that hath the issue shall wash hh 
clothes, and bathe himself in water, and b€ 
unclean until the even. 

7 And he that toucheth the flesh of him 
that hath the issue shall wash his cloihi-s, 



The Rites and Sacrifices in 



LEVITICUS, XIV. 



Cleansing of the Leper. 



as several varieties of that shrub are found 
growing abundantly in the clefts and crevices 
of the Sinaitic mountains. A stick of this 



necessary from the inherent sin of his na- 
ture, or from his defilement of the camp by 
his leprosy previous to his expulsion; and it 



shrub was bound to a bunch of hyssop by a i is remarkable that the blood of the trespass- 
scarlet ribbon, and the living bird was to be j offering was applied exactly in the same par- 
so attached to it, that when they dipped the ticular manner to the extremities of the 
branches in the water, the tail of the bird i restored leper, as that of the ram in 
might also be moistened, but not the head I the consecration of the priests. The parts 
nor the wings, that it might not be impeded i sprinkled with this blood were then anoint- 
in its flight when let loose. 5. one of the birds I ed with oil— a ceremony which is supposed 
be killed over running- water— as the blood of j to have borne this spiritual import : that 
a single bird would not have been sufficient while the blood was a token of forgiveness, 



to immerse the body of another bird, it was 
mingled with spring water to increase the 
quantity necessary for the appointed sprink- 
lings, which were to be repeated seven times, 
denoting a complete purification. :See 2 Ki. 
5. 10; Ps. 51. 2; M. 8. 4; L. 5. 14.) The living 
bird being then set free, in token of the 
lepers release from quarantine, the priest 
pronounced him clean; and this official de- 
claration was made with all solemnity, in 
order both that the mind of the leper might 
be duly impressed with a sense of the Divine 



the oil was an emblem of healing— as the 
blood of Christ justifies, the influence of the 
Spirit sanctifies. Of the other two lambs— 
the one was to be a sin-offering, and the 
other a burnt-offering, which had also the 
character of a thank-offering for God's mercy 
in his restoration. And this was considered 
to make atonement "for him:" i.e., it re- 
moved that ceremonial pollution which had 
excluded him from the enjoyment of re- 
ligious ordinances, just as the atonement 
of Christ restores all wmo are cleansed 



goodness, and that others might be satisfied j through faith in his sacrifice to the privi- 
they might safely hold intercourse with him. i leges of the children of God. 21-32. If he be 
Several other purifications had to be gone ; poor— a kind and considerate provision for 
through during a series of seven days, and I an extension of the privilege to lepers of the 
the whole process had to be repeated on the i poorer class. The blood of their smaller 
seventh, ere he was allowed to re-enter the offering was to be applied in the same pro- 
camp. The circumstance of a priest being cess of purification, and they were as pub- 
employed seems to imply that instructions | licly and completely cleansed as those who 
suitable to the newly recovered leper would j brought a costlier offering. A. 10. 34. 34-48. 
be given, and that the symbolical ceremonies leprosy in a house— This law was prospective, 
used in the process of cleansing leprosy ; not being to come into operation till the set- 
would be explained. How far they were tlement of the Israelites in Canaan. The 
then understood we cannot tell. But we words " I put the leprosy," has led many to 
can trace some instructive analogies between think that this plague was a judicial infliction 
the leprosy and the disease of sin, and be- \ from heaven for the sins of the owner; while 
tween the rites observed in the process of others do not regard it in this light, it being 
cleansing leprosy and the provisions of the ! common in Scripture to represent God as 
Gospel. The chief of these analogies are, that '. doing that which He only permits in His 
as it was only when a leper exhibited a cer- j providence to be done. Assuming it to have 
tain change of state, that orders were given by ■ been a natural disease, a new difficulty arises 
the priest for a sacrifice, so a sinner must be as to whether we are to consider that the 
in the exercise of faith and penitence ere the house had become infected by the contagion 
benefits of the Gospel remedy can be en- j of leprous occupiers; or that the leprosy was 

i'oyed by him. The slain bird and the bird j in tne house itself. It is evident that the 
et loose are supposed to typify, the one the latter was the true state of the case from the 
death and the other the resurrection of furniture being removed out of it on the 
Christ; while the sprinklings on him that first suspicion of disease on the walls. Some 
had been leprous typified the requirements have supposed that the name of leprosy was 
which led a believer to cleanse himself from . analogically applied to it by the Hebrews, as 
all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, and to we speak of cancer in trees, when they ex- 



perfect his holiness in the fear of the Lord. 
10-20. Two he-lambs and one ewe-lamb— The 
purification of the leper w T as not completed 
till at the end of seven days, after the ce e 
monial of the birds, and during whicu, 
though permitted to come into the camp, 
he had to tarry abroad out of his tent, 
from which he came daily to appear 
at the door of the tabernacle with the 
offerings required. He was presented before 
the Lord by the priest that made him clean. 
And hence it has always been reckoned 



hibit corrosive effects similar to what he 
disease so named produces on the human 
body; while others have pronounced it a 
mural efflorescence, or species of mil-dew on 
the wall, apt to be produced in very damp 
situations, and which was followed by effects 
so injurious to health as well as to the sta- 
bility of a house, particularly in warm coun- 
tries, as to demand the attention of a legis- 
lator. Moses enjoined the priests to follow 
the same course and doling the same period 
of time for ascertaining the true character 



amongst pious people the first duty of a pa- ! of this disease as in human leprosy, in case 
tient newly restored from a long and danger- 1 of being found leprous, to remove the in- 
ous sickness to repair to the Church to offer ! fected parts, or if afterwards there appeared 
his thanksgiving, where his body and soul, in a risk of the contagion spreading, to destroy 
order to be an acceptable offering, must be the house altogether, and remove the mate- 
presented by our great Priest, whose blood rials to a distance. The stones were probably 
alone makes any clean. The offering was to rough unhewn stones, built up without ce- 
consist of 3 lambs, 3 tenth-deals, or decimal ment in the manner now frequently used in 
parts of an ephah of fine flour— 2 pints , and fences, and plastered over, or else laid in 



one log-f pint of oil. 



l. One of the mortar. The oldest examples of architecture 



iambs was for a trespass-offering, which was are of this character. The very same thing has 
an 



Of undeanness bv issues. 



LEVITICUS, XVI. 



■\ng the holy place* 



and bathe himself in water, and be unclean 
until the even. 

B And if he that hath the issue e spit upon 
him that is clean ; then he shall wash his 
5, and d bathe himself in water, and 
be unclean until the even. 

9 And what saddle soever he rideth upon 
that hath the issue shall be unclean. 

IB And whosoever toucheth any thing 
that was under hi:., andean until 

the even: and he that beareth any or" those 
things shall wash his clothes, ana bathe 
f in water, and be unclean until the 
even. ' 

11 And whomsoever he toucheth that 
hath the issue, and hath not rinsed his 
hands in water, he shall wash his clothes, 
and bathe himself in water, and be unclean 
until the even. 

12 And the / vessel of earth that he 
toucheth which hath the issue shall be 
broken: and every vessel of wood shall be 
rinsed in water. 

13 And when he that hath an issue is 
cleansed of his issue ; then iJ he shall 
number to himself seven days for his 
cleansing, and wash his clothes." and bathe 

lb in running water, and shall be 
dean. 

14 And on the eighth day he shall take 
to him * two turtle- h-es. ur two young 

a, and come before the Lord ante 
r of the tabernacle of the congrega- 
tion, and give them onto the priest: 

15 And the priest shall offer them. » the 
one/./- a sin offering, and the other f?r a 
burnt offering;, audthe priest shall make 

at fin him before the Lord for 
his issue 

16 And ■ if any man's &eed of copulation 
co out from bun, then he shall wash all 

-h in water, and be unclean until the 

17 And every garment, and everv skin. 
whereon is the Seed of copulation, sliall be 
wasned with water, and be unclean until 
the even. 

IS The woman also with whom man shall 
lie \rv - ^illation, thev shall toil 

bathe themmivti in water, and J be unclean 
until the even. 

19 r And w if a woman have an issue, 
and her issue in her flesh be bloc 
•hall be 3 put apart seven days ; and who- 
soever toucheth her shall be unclean until 
the even. 

l\i And even- thins that she lieth upon 
in her separation shall be unclean: everv 
thing also that she sitteth upon shall be 
one lean. 

"21 And whosoever toucheth her bed shall 
wash his clothes, and bathe himself in 
water, and be unclean until the even. ' 

22 And whosoever toucheth anv thins that 
she sat upon shall wash his clothes, and 
bathe " himself in water, and be unclean 
until the even.' 

£& V. 4 ■-. a h,r ted. or oo a ■ 
wherrun she sitteth, when he toucheth it, 
he shall be unclean until the even. 

*• An . mm her at all. and 

wen he upon 'aim. he shall 
clean seven days; and all the bed whereon 
he lieth shaii be unclean. 

25 And » if a woman bare an issue of her 

blood many days out oi the tune of her 

s< -p.iriti.>n. or if it run beyond the tune of 

her >c, .~..iion; all the days of the Issue of 

fi 



CHAF Id. 

: N- 12. 5. 
I Job 30. 10. 

.; 2C:r. 7.1. 

e 1 Cor. 15. 
I S3. 
I /eh. 6. 28. 
i eh. 11. 32, 

3a. 

! g eh. 14. 8. 
h ch. 14. 22, 



i ch. 14. 30. 
SL 

j ch. 14. 19, 
31. 

H*b. 9. 1. 
Ee: 10,1. 

I :h. '22. 4. 

Dfj •.::'.". \ 



23. 

eh. 20. 18. 
P M«t. 9. 20. 

Mark 5-25. 
Luke 8. 43. 

1 R: LSfc, 
£v... : 7. 
Bet 9. i. 

Hi: u l 

Heb. 13 

20. 

1 John 1.7. 
! 1 John 2. 1. 
j r ch 11. 47. 
! Deu. 24. 8- 

Ese. 23. 26. 

fj*.44.23. 
• • Num. 5. 3. 

Nu. 19. 13. 

E:lk 5 11. 
E:-i. 23. 



CHAP. ML 
a ch. 10.1.2. 

I Ex. an i... 

eh. 23. 27. 
Bch a 7. 

Heb. 10. 
| g 
■ Ex. El 22. 

Kx a .it. 

1 Ki. 8. 10, 

n. 12. 

i Heb. 9. 

7-2..' 
« eh. 4. 3. 

•'£i :> 33. 

ElrJL. 44. 

17. 
g P=. 93. 5. 
h Ex. a\9DL 

Heb. 10. 

i :.-. 4. 14. 
Num. 29. 
11. 
£Chr. 29. 

a. 

Err- 6. 17. 

Ei.i 4o '-2 
;' d_ 9. 7. 

Be*, 5 2. 

Heh. 7. 27, 

28. 
1 AokI. 
k Pro. 16. 33. 
'. »u_u up 



her unoleanness shall be as the days of her 
separation: she aboil be unclean. 

2o Every bed whereon she lieth all the 
days of her issue shall be unto her 
. her separation: and whats :• .- ■ 

n shall be unclean, as the uu- 
| cleanness of her Bepamf 

27 And whosoever toucheth those things 
shall be unclean, and shall wash his 
clothes, and bathe himself in water, and 
be unclean until the even.' 

25 But if she be cleansed 'if her issue, then 
she shall number to herself seven day 
after that she shall be clean. 

29 And on the eighth day she shall take 
unto her two turtles, or two young pigeons, 
and brin_: them unto the priest, to the door 
of the tabernacle of the congregation. 

90 And the priest shall offer the on I 
sin offering, and the other for a 
otTering: and the priest shall make q an 
tent for her before the Lord for 
the i-sue of her uncleanness. 

31 Tons shall ve r separate the children oi 
Israd bora their uncleanness; that they die 
not in their uncleanness. when the} ■ 

my tabernacle that is among them. 

32 This is the law of him that hatb an 
issue, and of him whose seed goeth from 
him. and is 'denied therewith: 

33 And of her that is nek of her flowers, 
and of him that hath an issue, of the man, 
and of the woman, and of him that lieth 
with her that is unclean. 

CHAPTER XVI. 
1 Hew the h ich priest must enter into the koiv pi it*, 
11 The ■£ :un<eU. 15 The si* 

offering for the people. 'JO The scape-goat. 29 
The yt'arlv /east of the expiations. 

A HD the Lord spake unto Moses, after 

*•--- the a death of the two sons of Aaron. 
when they ordered before the Lord, and 
died; 
2 And the Lord said unto Moses, Speak 

' unto Aaron thy brother, that he * come 

mot at all times" into the hoij place wit tun 

'the veil before the mercyseat. which is 
upon the ark, that he die not: for e I will 
appear in the cloud upon the mercyseat. 
1 Thus shall Aaron d come into the holj 

i place : e with a young bullock for a sin 
ag, and a ram for a burnt ottering. 

; 4 He shall put on /the holy linen coat, 

' and he shall have the linen bi I 
his Sean, and shall be girded with a linen 
girdle, and with the linen mitre shall he be 
attired: these are • holy garments ; there- 

; fore ; ' shiili he wash his fleah in water, and 

i as put them on. 
5 And he shall take of l the congregation 
of the children of Israel two kids of the 
goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a 

; burnt ottering. 

! 6 And Aaron shall offer his bullock of the 

; sin offering which u* for himself, and 
make - an atonement for himself, and 9ia 

. his house. 

j 7 And he shall take the two goats, and 

; present them before the Lord a* the door 
of the tabernacle of the congregation. 

8 And Aarc-n shall cast lots upon the two 

one lot Gar the Lord, and the other 
lot for the * scape-goat 

9 And Aaron shall bring the goat upon 
; which the Lord's * lot 2 fell, and offer him 
for a sin offering: 

10 But the goat, on which the lot : 

be the scape-goat, shall be presenurd aiiVe 



Laws Concerning Uncleanness 

to be done still with houses infected with 
mural salt. The stones covered with the 
nitrous incrustation must be removed, and 
if the infected walls is suffered to remain, it 
must be plastered all over anew. 48-57. The 
priest shall pronounce the house clean— The 
precautions here described show that there 
is great danger in warm countries from the 
house leprosy, which was likely to be in- 
creased by the smallness and rude architec- 
ture of the houses in the early ages of the 
Israelitish history. As a house could not 
contract any impurity in the sight of God, 
the "atonement which the priest was to 
make for it must either have a reference to 
the sins of its occupiers, or to the ceremo- 
nial process appointed for its purification 
the very same as that observed for a leprous 
person. This solemn declaration that it 
was "clean," as well as the offering made on 
the occasion, were admirably calculated to 
make known the fact, to remove apprehen- 
sion from the public mind as well as relieve 
the owner from the aching suspicion of 
dwelling in an infected house. 
CHAPTER XV. 
Ver. 1-18. Uncleanness op Men. 2. 
when any man hath a running issue— This 
chapter describes other forms of unclean- 
ness, the nature of which is sufficiently 
intelligible in the text without any explana- 
tory comment. Being the enects of licen- 
tiousness, they properly came within the 
notice of the legislator, and the very strin- 
gent rules here prescribed both for the sep- 
aration of the person diseased, and for 
avoiding contamination from anything con- 
nected with him, were well calculated not 
only to prevent contagion, but to discourage 
the excesses of licentious indulgence. 9. 
saddle he rideth upon. (See on Ge. 31. 34.) 
12. the vessel of earth shall be broken— It is 
thought the pottery of the Israelites, like 
the earthenware jars in which the Egyptians 
kept their water was unglazed, and conse- 
quently porous, and that it was its por- 
ousness which, rendering it extremely 
liable to imbibe small particles of impure 
matter, was the reason of the vessel touched 
by an unclean person being ordered to be 
broken. 13, 14. number to himself seven days 
—Like a leprous person he underwent a 
week's probation, whether he was completely 
healed, and then with the sacrifices pre- 
scribed the priest made an atonement for 



LEVITICUS, XV, XVI. 0/ Entering the Holy Place. 



cal. The better to mark out that people as 
his family, his servants and priests, dwell- 
ing in the camp as in a holy place, conse- 
crated by his presence and his tabernacle, 
he required of them complete purity and did 
not allow them to come before him when 
defiled, even by involuntary or secret imi u- 
rities, as a want of respect due to his ma- 
jesty. And when we bear in mind that God 
was training up a people to live in his pre- 
sence in some measure as priests devoted to 
his service, we shall not consider these 
rules for the maintenance of personal purity 
either too stringent or too minute, il Thess. 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Ver. 1-34. How the High Priest must 

ENTER INTO THE HOLY PlACE. 1. After the 

death of the two sons of Aaron— It is thought 
by some that this chapter has been trans- 
posed out of its right place in the sacred re- 
cord, which was immediately after the nar- 
rative of the deaths of Nadab and Abihu. 
That appalling catastrophe must have filled 
Aaron with painful apprehensions, lest the 
guilt of those two sons might be entailed 
on his house, or that other members of 
his family might share the same fate by some 
irregularities or defects in the discharge of 
their sacred functions. And, therefore, this 
law was established, by the due observance 
of whose requirements the Aaronic order 
Would be securely maintained and accepted 
in the priesthood. 2. not come at all times, 
<fec-Common priests went everyday to burn 
incense on the golden altar into the part of 
the sanctuary without the veil. But none 
except the high priest was allowed to en- 
ter within the veil, and that, only once a 
year with the greatest care and solemnity. 
This arrangement was evidently designed to 
inspire a reverence for the most holy place, 
and the precaution was necessary, at a time 
when the presence of God was indicated by- 
sensible symbols, the impression of which 
might have been diminished or lost by daily 
and familiar observation. I will appear in 
the cloud— i.e., the smoke of the incense 
which the high priest burnt on his yearly 
entrance into the most holy place: and 
this was the cloud which at that time co- 
vered the mercy- seat. 3, 4. Thus shall 
Aaron come— As the duties of the great day 
of atonement led to the nearest and most 



solemn approach to God, the directions as to 
him, i.e., offered the oblations necessary for i the proper course to be followed were minute 



the removal of his ceremonial defilement, 
well as the typical pardon of his sins. 

19-33. Uncleanness of Women. If a 
woman have an issue— Though this, like the 
leprosy, might be a natural affection, it was 
anciently considered contagious, and en- 
tailed a ceremonial defilement which typi- 
fied a moral impurity. This ceremonial 
defilement had to be removed by an 



and special, with a young bullock and a ram- 
These victims he brought alive, but they 
were not offered in sacrifice till he had gone 
through the ceremonies described between 
this and the 11th verse. He was not to attire 
himself on that occasion in the splendid robes 
that were proper to his sacred office, but in 
a plain dress of linen, like the common Le- 
vites,— for, as he was then to make atone- 



pointed method of ceremonial expiation, | ment for his own sins, as well as for those of 
and the neglect of it subjected any one to ! the people, he was to appear in the humble 
the guilt of defiling the tabernacle, and to ; character of a suppliant. That plain dress 



death as the penalty of profane temerity 
31-33. Tnus shall ye separate . . . from their 



was moreiin harmony with a season of humil- 
iation, as well as lighter and more convenient 



uncleanness— The divine wisdom was mani- 1 for the duties which on that occasion he had 
fested in inspiring the Israelites with a pro- 1 singly to perform, than the gorgeous robes of 
found reverence for holy things; and nothing I the pontificate. It shewed that when all ap- 
was more suited to this purpose than to de- peared as sinners, the highest and lowest 
bar from the tabernacle all who were pol- j were then on a level, and that there is no 
luted by any kind of uncleanness, ceremonial j distinction of persons with God. 5-10. shall 
as well as natural, mental as well as physi- j take of the congregation two kids of the goat 
8* 



Sacrifices omtf C'rtmonics 



LEvnicrs, xvn. 



cm entering the holy plsest 



. the Lord, to make I an atonement B c. 1490. 

him, and to let him go for a scape- 

goat into the wilderness. 

11 And Aaron shall bring the bullock of 

in offering which is for himself, and 
shall make an atonemc If. and 

tor his house, and shall kill the bullock of 
ferine which ii for himself: 

12 And he shall take "* a eenstr full of 
burning coals of tire from off the altar be- 
fore the Lord, and his hands full of n sweet 
incense beaten small, and bring it within 
the veil: 

1-3 And ■ he shall put the incense upon 
the nre before the Lord, * that the cloud 
of the incense may cover the 3 mereyseat 
that u upon the testimony, that he die not: 

11 And y he shall take of the blood of the 
bullock, and sprinkle it with hi- 
upon the merevseat eastward; and beiore 
the mercyseal shall he sprinkle of the blood 
with his linger seven times, 

L3 Then 3 shall he kill the goat of the sin * Lul - 10 
offering that is for the people, and bring " 
his blood t within the veil, and do with that 
'blood as he did with the blood of the bul- 
lock, and sprinkle it upon the niercyseat, 
and before the niercyseat : 

16 And he shall u make an atonement for 
the holy place, because of the uncleanness 
of the children of Israel, and because of 
their transgressions in all their sins: and so 
shall he do for the tabernacle of the con- 
gregation that 3 remaineth among them 
in the midst of their uncleanness. 

17 And v there shall be no man in the ta- 
bernacle of the congregati m when he goeth 
in to make an atonement in the holy 
place, until he come out, and have muue 
an atonement for himself, and for his 
household, and for all the congregation of I ■* . 
Israeh ***•**■ 

18 And he shall go out unto the altar that is ' t ch \ 10 . 
before the Lokd. and u make an atonement d *. 15. L 
for it; and shall take of the blood of the Ha>. 9. 10 
bullock, and of the blood of the goat, and * ch - 6 - '&■ 
put it upon the horns of the altar round .^^'J- 3 "™ 
about. f**J*l 

19 And he shall sprinkle of the blood upon 
it with his finger seven times, and cleanse. 
it, and ■ hallow it from the uncleanness of 
the children of Israel, 

- ; r . And when he hath made an end ■ of 
reconciling the holy glace, and the taber- 
nacle of the congregation, and the altar, he 
shall bring the live goat: 

21 And Aaron shall lay both his hands 
upon the head of the live goat, and confess I 
over him all the iniquities of the children ** ~ * 
of Israel, and all their transgressions in all * v x ' .- .'■' 
their sins, * putting them upon the head of g finW 
the goat, and shall send him away by the i h*Dd. 
hand of * a tit man into the wilderness. ! i eh. 23. zl 

22 And the goat shall a bear upon him all * u - *■_ 
their iniquities unto a land 5 not inhabited: 
and he snail let go the goat in the wilder- 
ness. 

21 And Aaron shall come into the taber- ( 
node of the congregation, fc and shall put - 
on" the linen garments which he put on £ jj°' g; 
when he went into the holy place, and shall | 13. 
leave them there: c g^. 17. 

24 And he shall wash his flesh with water **• 
in the holy place, and put on his garments, d ^f^ ^ 
- . me forth, and orier his burnt offer- i^Wi- 17 
d the burnt offering of the people, : io 
and make an atonement lor himself, and « >iim. is. 
lor the people. 1 17. 



CHAP. 16. 

I Is. 5ft 4-10. 

Ro. 3. 25. 

SCor.S SL 

i Mall 

m cb. 1?. 1. 

Num. 16. 

18. 

Rer. 8. 5. 
N £1 > i4 

Ex. 30. 1, 

; B. 

Km. 16. 7, 
IS, 4,. 

R«t 5 3.1 
P 1 Tim. c. 

16. 
? £x. 25. 21. 
r Heb. 10. 4. 

1 Hd I 1". 

* Heb. 6. 19. 

• Km I X 



tr Urb. 9.22. 

* Ezek. 43. 
2". 

I £zek. 45. 

* L.' 53. G. 

4 a HOI :f 
rte- 

r ::v. 
o Ps.' 1'.3. 

1-13. 

>ia-.l. 8. 

17 

John 1.29. 

Eeb. 9. 28. 

1 Pe:. 2. 

24 

UOD. 

6£zek. 42. 



10. 
ch. 23. 27. 

Nu. -:v. 7. 

Is. 5c. 3. 5. 
Dm. 10. 3. 
g¥s. 51.2. 

1*. ss.a 

£ he. 5. 

28. 

Heb. 10. 

1,2. 

I ;:h:l, 

7. 9. 



25 And c the fat of the sin oflering shall he 
burn upon the altar. 

; 26 And he that let go the goat for the 
' scape-goat shall wash his clothes, d and 
'■ bathe his flesh in water, and alterward 
come into the camp. 

-'7 And ■ the tiering, 

and the goat fat the sin offering, 
blood was brought in to makeaton 
in the holy place, shall one carry 
without the camp; and they shall burn in 
the tire their skins, and their nesh, and 
their dung. 

. 1 he that burneth them shall wash 
fches, and bathe his flesh in water, 
and alterward he shall come into the camp. 
2y % And this shall be a statute for ever 
unto you, that / in the seventh month, on 
the tenth day of the month, ye shall afflict 
your souls, and do no work at all, u-htih^r 
U be one of your own country, or a stranger 
that sujourneth among you: 

30 Pear on that day shall the priest make 
an atonement for yon, to g cleanse you, 
that ye may be clean from all your "sins 
before the Lord. 

31 It * shall be a sabbath of rest unto you, 
and ye shah afflict ;cur souls, by a : 

Mr ever. 

v. And the priest whom he shall anoint, 
and whom he l shall * consecrate to min- 
ister in the priest s office in his lather's 
stead, shall make the atonement, and shall 
put on the linen elotnes, even tne holy 
garments. 

■>j And he shall make an atonement for 
the holy sanctuary, and he shail make an 
atonement lor the tabernacle of the con- 
- n, and for the altar, and he shall 
make an atonement lor the priests, and for 
ail the people of the congregation. 

Si And i this shall be an everlasting sta- 
tute unto you, to make an atonen. 

ildren of Israel, for ail their sins, 
a year. And he did as tne Lord 
commanded Aloses, 

CHAPTER XVII. 

1 Blood of beasts must tx offered at the tabernaeU 

dwr. iu L. i forbidden. 

A >"D the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 

■^ 2 Speak unto Aaron, and unto his 

sons, and unto all the children 01 Israel, 

unto them, This 11 the thing 
tne Lord hath commanded, saying, 
o "What man soever ihtre be of the house 
of Israel a that kiileth an ox, or lamb, or 
1 goat, in the camp, or that kiileth it out of 
the camp, 

4 And bringeth it not unto the door of the 
tabernacle of the congregation, to offer an 
offering unto the Lord beiore the taberna- 
cle of "the Lord, blood shall be l imiutcd 
unto that man; he hath shed blood; aid 
that man e shall be cut on iroin aiti 1 
people: 

5 To the end that the children of - 
may bring their sacrifices, * which thef 
oner in the open field, even that they maj 
brin^ them unto the Lord, unto the ao^r ol 

; the tabernacle of the congregation, unto 
, the priest, and offer them jur peace d.er- 
| ings unto the Lord. 

I tf And the priest shall sprinkle the blood, 

1 upon the altar of the Lord at the dour ot 

the tabernacle of the congregation, and 

j burn * the lat for a sweet savour unto the 



The Sacrifices and Cer emoni es LEVITIC US, XVI. 

and a ram— The sacrifices were to be offered 
by the high priest respectively for himself 
and the other priests, as well as for the 
people. The bullock {v. 3) and the goats were 
for sin offerings, and the rams for burnt 
offerings. The goats, though used in different 
ways, constituted only one offering, They 
were both presented before the Lord, and the 
disposal of them determined by lot, which 
Jewish writers have thus described:— The 

Eriest, placing one of the goats on his right 
and, and the other on his left, took his 
station by the altar, and cast into an urn two 
pieces of gold exactly similar, inscribed, the 
one with the words " for the Lord," and the 
other for '* Azazel," (the scape-goat.) Alter 
having well shaken them together, he put 
both his hands into the box and took up a 
lot in each: that in his right hand he put on 
the head of the goat which stood on his right, 
and that in his left he dropt on the other. 
In this manner the fate of each was decided. 
11-14. Aaron shall bring the bullock, &c— The 
first part of the service was designed to 
solemnize his own mind, as well as the minds 
of the people, by offering the sacrifices for 
their sins. The sin offerings being slain had 
the sins of the offerer judicially transferred 
to them by the imputation of his hands on 
their head, (ch. 4.) and thus the young bul- 
lock, which was to make atonement for him- 
self and the other priests, called his house, 
Ps. 135. 19,) was killed by the hands of the 
high priest. "While the blood of the victim 
was being received into a vessel, taking a 
censer of live coals in his right hand, and a 
platter of sweet incense in his left, he, amid 
the solemn attention and the anxious prayers 
of the assembled multitude, crossed the 
porch and the Holy Place, opened the outer 
veil which led into the holy of holies, then 
the inner veil, and, standing before the ark, 
deposited the censer of coals on the floor, 
emptied the plate of incense into his hand, 
poured it on the burning coals, and the apart- 
ment was filled with fragrant smoke, in- 
tended, according to Jewish writers, to pre- 
vent any presumptuous gazer prying too 
curiously into the form of the mercy seat, 
which was the Lord's throne. The high priest 
having done this, perfumed the sanctuary, 
returned to the door, took the blood of the 
slain bullock, and carrying it into the Holy 
of Holies, sprinkled it with his finger once 
upon the mercy seat "eastward,"— i.e., on 
the side next to himself; and seven times 
"before the mercy seat,"— i.e., on the front 
of the ark. Leaving the coals and the incense 
burning, he went out a second time, to sacri- 
fice at the altar of burnt offering the goat 
which had been assigned as a sin offering for 
the people; and carrying its blood into the 
Holy of Holies, made similar sprinklings 
as he had done before with the blood of the 
bullock. While the high priest was thus 
engaged in the most holy place, none of the 
ordinary priests were allowed to remain 
within the precincts of the tabernacle. The 
Sanctuary or Holy place, and the altar of 
burnt offering were in like manner sprinkled 
seven times with the blood of the bullock 
and the goat. The object of this solemn cere- 
monial was to impress the minds of the 
Israelites with the conviction that the whole 
tabernacle was stained by the sins of a guilty 
people, that by their sins they had forfeited 
the privileges of the divine presence and 
88 



on Entering the Holy Place. 



worship, and that an atonement had to be 
made as the condition of God's remaining 
with them. The sins and shortcomings of 
the past year having polluted the sacred 
edifice, the expiation required to be annually 
renewed. The exclusion of the priests indi- 
cated their un worthiness, and the impurities 
of their service. The mingled blood of the 
two victims being sprinkled on the horns of 
the altar indicated that the priests and the 
people equally needed an atonement for their 
sins. But the sanctuary being thus cere- 
monially purified, and the people of Israel 
reconciled by the blood of the consecrated 
victim, the Lord continued to dwell in the 
midst of them, and honour them with his 
gracious presence. 20-22. he shall bring the 
live goat— Having already been presented 
before the Lord, (v. 10,) it was now brought 
forward to the high priest, who, placing his 
hands upon its head, and " having confessed 
over it all the iniquities of the people of 
Israel, and all their transgressions in all their 
sins," transferred them by this act to the 
goat as their substitute. It was then de- 
livered into the hands of a person, who was 
appointed to lead him away into a distant, 
solitary, and desert place, where in early 
times he was let go, to escape for his life, but 
in the time of Christ, was carried to a high 
rock 12 miles from Jerusalem, and there, be- 
ing thrust over the precipice, he was killed. 
Commentators have differed widely in their 
opinions about the character and purpose 
of this part of the ceremonial; some cons ; d- 
ering the word Azazel, with the Seventy; 
and our translators to mean " the scape 
goat;" others, " a lofty, precipitous rock," 
[Bochart] ; others, " a thing separated to 
God" [Ewald, Tholuck]; while others 
think it designates Satan, [Gesenius, Heng.] 
This last view is grounded on the idea of 
both goats forming one and the same sacri- 
fice of atonement, and it is supported 
by Zech. 3. which presents a striking com- 
mentary on this passage. Whether there 
was in this peculiar ceremony any refer- 
ence to an Egyptian superstition about 
Typhon, the spirit of evil, inhabiting the 
wilderness, and the design was to ridicule it 
by sending a cursed animal into his gloomy 
dominions, it is impossible to say. The sub- 
ject is involved in much obscurity. But in 
any view there seems to be a typical refer- 
ence to Christ who bore away our sins. 
23-28. Aaron shall come into the tabernacle- 
On the dismissal of the scape-goat, the high 
priest prepared for the important parts of 
the service which still remained; and for 
the performance of these he laid aside his 
plain linen clothes, and having bathed him- 
self in water, he assumed his pontifical dress. 
Thus gorgeously attired, he went to present 
the burnt-offerings which were prescribed 
for himself and the people, consisting of the 
two rams which had been brought with the 
sin-offerings, but reserved till now. The fat 
was ordered to be burnt upon the altar; the 
rest of the carcases to be cut down and given 
to some priestly attendants to burn without 
the camp, in conformity with the general 
law for the sin-offerings, (ch. 4. 8-12; 8. 14-17.) 
The persons employed in burning them, as 
well as the conductor of the scape-goat, were 
obliged to wash their clothes and bathe their 
flesh in water before they were allowed to 
return into the camp. 29-34. This shall be a 



Eating of Uood forbidden. 



LEVITICUS. XVIII. Unlawful marriages and huts. 



B. C. 1490. 

CHAP. 17. 

/Deu. 32.17. 

2 Chr. 11. 

15. 

Vs. 106. 37. 

Acts 7. 42, 

43. 

1 Cor. 10. 

XK 

9 Ex. 34. 15. 

Deu. 31.16. 

h Gen 9. 4. 

1 Sam. 14. 

33. 

i Jer. 44. 11. 

Eaek. 15. 7. 
;M.rk 14.24. 

Rom. 5. 9. 

£;.h. 1. 7. 

Col. 1. 14. 

1 Pet. 1. 2. 

1 John 1.7. 
* Heb. 9. 22. 
1 Uiat hunt- 

e'.h any 

bunting. 

1 Deu. 12.16. 
'«£zek^4.7. 
» Gen. 9. 4. 
o Ex 22 31 

D c u. 14.21. 
Ezek. 4.14. 

2 a carcase. 
\p Nu. 19.20. 



7 Ami they shall no more offer their sac- 
rifices /unto devils, after whom they * have 
gone awhoring. This shall he a statute for 
ever unto them throughout their genera- 
tions. 

8 And thou shalt say unto them. Whatso- 
ever man there be of the house of Israel, or 
of the strangers which sojourn among you, 
that oftcreth a burnt offering or sacrifice. 

9 And bringeth it not unto the door of the 
tabernacle of the congregation, to offer it 
unto the Lord, even that man shall be cut 
off from among his people. 

10 r And * whatsoever man there be of the 
house of Israel, or of the strangers that so- 
journ among you. that eateth any manner 
of blood: » I will even set my face against 
tfiat soul that eateth blood, and will cut 
him off from among his people. 

11 Fur the lite of the flesh is in the blood: 
and I have &vea it to you upon the altar ;' to 
make an atonement for your souls: for * it 
is the blood that maketh an atonement for 
the soul. 

12 Therefore I said unto the children of 
Israel, No soul of you shall eat blood, 
neither shall any stranger that sojourneth 
among you eat blood. 

13 And whatsoever man there be of the 
children of Israel, or of the strangers that 
Bojonni among you, * which hunteth and 
catcheth any beast or fowl that mav be 
eaten ; he shall even l pour out the blood 
thereof, and m cover it with dust. 

14 For n it is the life of all flesh ; the blood 
of it is for the life thereof: therefore I said 
unto the children of Israel, Ye shall eat the 
blood of no manner of flesh: for the life of 
all flesh is the blood thereof: whosoever 
eateth it shall be cut off. 

15 And ■ every soul that eateth - that 
which died of itself, or that which was torn J mm. V& 
with beasts, iclietfter it be one of your own 1 1 remainde 
country, or a stranger, he shall both wash 
his clothes, and bathe himself in water, 
and be unclean until the even; then shall 
he be clean. 

16 But if he wash them not, nor bathe 
his flesh, then -Phe shall bear his iniquity. 

CHAPTER XVIII. 
6 rnlaufulma-riigts. 19 Unlawful lusts. 

A ND the' Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 
■"• 2 i?peak unto the children of Israel, 
and say unto them, a I am the Lord vour 
God. 

3 After * the doings of the land of Egypt, 
wherein ye dwelt, shall ve not do:' and! 
after c the doings of the land of Canaan. 
whither I bring you. shall ye not do ; neither I 
shall ye walk m their ordinances. 

4 Ye shall do my judgments, and keep I 
mine ordinances, to walk therein: lam the 
Lord your G-od. 

5 Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and 
my Judgments; d which if a man do, he 
shall live in them: e 1 am the Lord. 

6 f None of you shall approach to anv 
that is i near of kin to him, to uncover 
their nakedness- 1 am the Lord. 

7 The nakedness of thv father, or the ' 
nakedness of thy mother* shalt thou not ' 
uncover: she is thy mother; tnou shalt not ! 
uncover her nakedness, 

8 The / nakedness of thy father's wife j 
shalt thou not uncover: it is thy father's ■ 
nakedness. 

The J nakedness of thv sister, the daucm 



CHAP. IS. 
a Ex. 6. 7. 

Exek. 20. 5. 
6 Exek 23. 3. 
c Ex. 23. 24. 
d Lu. 10. 28. 

Rom. 10.5. 

Gal 3. 12. 
e Is. 44. 6. 
Jer. 9 24. 



nder 

of hia 

flesh. 
f Gen. 49. 4. 

1 Cor. 5. 1. 
3 2 Sam. 13. 

12. 
h Gen. 3818. 

Ezek 22.11. 
i Ma:. 88. St 
3 Or. om 

wife to 

another. 

1 Tim. 3. 2. 
j 1 Sam. 1. 

6. 8. 
*Ezek.l8.6. 
I Pro. 6. 29. 

Mai. 3. 5. 

Mat. 5. 27. 

1 Cor. 6. 9. 

Heb. 13. 4. 
m2KJ 16.3. 

Jer. 19. 5. 
nlKi.11.7, 

33. 
o Ezek. 36. 

20. 

Mai 1. 12. 
P Is. 42. S. 
q Ro. 1. 27. 

1 Tim. 1. 
10. 
r Mat. 15.18. 

1 Cor. 3.17. 
S Deut. 13. 

12. 
t Num. 35. 

34 



whetlier she be born at home, or born 
abroad, even their nakedness thou shaio 
not uncover. 

10 The nakedness of thv son's daughter, 
or of thy daughter's daughter, men their 
nakedness thou shalt not uncover: for theirs 
is tuine own nakedness. 

11 The nakedness of thy father's wife's 
daughter, begotten of thy father, (she is 
thy sister,) tnou shalt not uncover her 
nakedness. 

12 Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness 
of thy father's sister: she is thy father's 
near kinswoman. 

13 Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness 
of thy mothers sister: for she is thy mo- 
ther's near kinswoman. 

14 Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness 
of thy father's brother, thou shalt not ap- 
proach to his wife: she is thine aunt. 

15 Thou h shalt not uncover the naked- 
ness of thy daughter-in-law: she is thy 
son's wife ; thou shalt not uncover her 
nakedness. 

16 Thou * shalt not uncover the nakedness 
of thy brother's wife : it is thy brothers 
nakedness. 

17 Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness 
of a woman and her daughter, neither shalt 
thou take her son's daughter, or her 
daughter's daughter, to uncover her na- 
kedness: for they are her near kinswomen: 
it is wickedness. 

IS Neither shalt thou take 2 a wife to her 
sister, i to vex her, to uncover her naked- 
ness, besides the other in her life-fim*. 

ly Also k thou shalt not approach unto a 
woman to uncover her nakedness as long 
as she is put apart for her uncleanness. 

20 Moreover * thou shalt not lie carnally 
with thy neighbour's wife, to defile thyself 
with her. 

21 And thou shalt not let anv of thy seed 
pass ,r * through thejire to " Molech. neither 
shalt thou ° profane the name of thy (jod: 
I-p am the Lord. 

22 Thou q shalt not lie with mankind as 
with womankind: it is abomination. 

23 Neither shalt thou lie with any beast 
to defile thyself therewith ; neither shall 
any woman stand before a beast to lie 
down thereto: it is confusion. 

24 Defile r not ye yourselves in any of 
these things: * for in all these the nations 
are defiled which I cast out before you: 

25 And ' the land is defiled: therefore i do 
visit u the iniquity thereof upon it. and the 
land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants. 

26 Ye shall therefore keep my statutes 
and my judgments, and shall not commit 
any of these abominations; neither any 
of your own nation, nor any stranger that 
sojourneth among you; 

27 (Fur ail these abominations have the 
men of the land done which were before 
you, and the land is defiled;) 

28 That the land spue not you out also, 
when ve defile it, as it spued out the na- 
tions that ice re before you. 

2y For whosoever shall commit any of 
these abominations, even the souls that 
commit them shall be cut off from among 
then- people. 

30 Therefore shall ye keep mine ordinance, 
that ye commit not a n y one of these abo- 
minable customs, which were committed 



Jer. 16. 18. , £ 

. is 26. 2i. : before you. and that ve defile not yourselves 
ter ot thy lather, or daughter of thy mother, Jw. 9. 9. therein; I am the Lord your Goo. 
6J ' 



The Place of Sacrifice. 



LEVITICUS, xvii, xvin. 



Unlawful Marriages. 



statute for ever unto you— This clay of annual 
expiation for all the sins, irreverences and 
impurities of all classes in Israel during the 
previous year, was to be observed as a so- 
lemn fast, in which " they were to afflict their 
souls;" it was reckoned a Sabbath— kept as a 
season of " holy convocation," or assembling 
for religious purposes, and the persons who 
performed any labour were subject 'o the 
penalty of death. It took place on the tenth 
day of the seventh month, corresponding to 
our 3rd of October, and this chapter, together 
with ch. 23. 27-32, as containing special allusion 
to the observances of the day were publicly 
read. The rehearsal of these passages ap- 
pointing the solemn ceremonial was very 
appropriate, and the details of the succes- 
sive parts of it— above all the spectacle of the 
public departure of the scape-goat under the 
care of its leader, must have produced salu- 
tary impressions both of sin and of duty that 
would not be soon effaced. 

CHAPTEE XVII. 
Ver. 1-16. Blood of Beasts must be 
Offered at the Tabernacle Door. 3. 
What man killeth an ox ?— The Israelites, like 
other people, living in the desert, would not 
make much use oi animal food, and when 
they did kill a lamb or a kid for food, it 
would almost always be as in Abraham's 
entertainment of the angels, on occasion of 
a feast, to be eaten in company. This was 
what was done with the peace-offerings, and 
accordingly it is here enacted, that the same 
course shall be followed in slaughtering the 
animals as in the case of those offerings, 
viz., that they should be killed publicly, and 
after being devoted to God, partaken of by 
the officers. This law, it is obvious, could 
only be observable in the wilderness, while 
the people were encamped within an acces- 
sible distance from the tabernacle. The rea- 
son of it is to be iound in the strong addict- 
edness of the Israelites to idolatry at the 
time of their departure from Egypt; and as 
it would have been easy for any by kiDing 
an animal, to sacrifice privately to a favour- 
ite object of worship, a strict prohibition 
was made against their slaughtering at home. 
(See on Deut. 12. 13.) 5. they offer in the open 
field— "they" is supposed by some commen- 
tators, to refer to the Egyptians, so that the 
verse will stand thus: " the children of Israel 
may bring their sacrifices which they (the 
Egyptians) offer in the open field." The law 
is thought to have been directed against 
numbers whose Egyptian habits led them 
to imitate this idolatrous practice. 7. 
devils— lit. "goats." The prohibition evi- 
dently alludes to the worship of the hirei- 
footed kind such as Pan, Faunus, and 
Saturn, whose recognised symbol was a goat. 
This was a form of idolatry enthusiasti- 
cally practised by the Egyptians, particu- 
larly in the nome or province of Mendes. 
Pan was supposed especially to preside 
over mountainous and desert regions, and 
it was while they were in the wilderness 
the Israelites seem to have been powerfully 
influenced by a feeling to propitiate this 
idol. Moreover, the ceremonies observed 
in this idolatrous worship, were extreme- 
ly licentious and obscene, and the gross 
impurity of the rites gives great point and 
significance to the expression of Moses, 
"they have gone a whoring." 8, 9. Whatso- 
ever mail offereth, and bringeth it not unto the 
89 



door— Before the promulgation of the lav/, 
men worshipped wherever they pleased or 
pitched their tents. But after that event the 
rites of religion could be acceptably per- 
formed only at the appointed place of wor- 
ship. This restriction with respect to olace 
was necessary as a preventive of idolatry; 
for it prohibited the Israelites, when at a 
distance from repairing to the altars of the 
heathen, which were commonly in groves 
or fields. 10. 1 will set my face against that 
soul that eateth blood— The face of God is often 
used in scripture to denote his anger, (Ps. 34. 
16; Kev. 6. 16; Ez. 38. 18 J and the manner in 
which God's face would be set against such an 
offender, was, that if the crime were public 
and known, he was condemned to death; if 
it were secret, vengeance would overtake 
him. (See on Gen. 9. 4.) But the practice 
against which the law is here pointed was an 
idolatrous rite. The Zabians, or worshippers 
of the heavenly host, were accustomed, in 
sacrificing animals, to pour out the blood, 
and eat a part of the flesh at the place where 
the blood was poured out, and sometimes the 
blood itself, believing that by means of it, 
friendship, brotherhood and familiarity were 
contracted between the worshippers and the 
deities. They, moreover, supposed that the 
blood was very beneficial in obtaining for 
them a vision of the demon during their 
sleep, and a revelation of future events. The 
prohibition against eating blood, viewed in 
the light of this historic commentary, and 
unconnected with the peculiar terms in which 
it is expressed, seems to have been levelled 
against idolatrous practices, as is still farther 
evident from (Ez. 33. 25, 26; 1 Cor. 10. 20, 21.) 
11. I have given it to you upon the altar— God, 
as the sovereign author and proprietor of 
nature, reserved the blood to nimself, and 
allowed men only one use of it— in the way of 
sacrifices. 13, 14. whatsoever man hunteth— 
It was customary with heathen sportsmen, 
when they killed any game or venison, to 
pour out the blood as a libation to the god 
of the chase. The Israelites, on the contrary, 
were enjoined, instead of leaving it exposed, 
to cover it with dust, and, by this means, 
were effectually debarred from all the super- 
stitious uses to which, the heathen applied it. 
15, 16. Every soul that eateth that which died 
of itself— Ex. 22. 31; ch. 11. 39; Acts, 15. 20. 
shall be unclean until the even— i.e., from the 
moment of his discovering his fault, until 
the evening. This law, however, was binding 
only on an Israelite. ( See Deu. 14. 21.) 
CHAPTEE XVIII. 
Vor. 1-30. Unlawful Marriages. 2-4.1 
am the Lord your God— This renewed mention 
of the divine sovereignty over the Israelites 
was intended to bear particularly on some 
laws that were widely different from the social 
customs, that obtained both in Egypt and 
Canaan; for the enormities which the laws 
enumerated in this chapter were intended 
to put down, were freely practised or pub- 
licly sanctioned in both of those countries; 
and, indeed, the extermination of the ancient 
Canaanites is described as owing to the abo- 
minations with which they had polluted the 
land. 5. which if a man do, he shall live in 
them— A special blessing was promised to the 
Israelites on condition of their obedience to 
the divine law; and this promise was re- 
markably verified at particular eras of their 
history, when pure and undefiled religion 



A repetition 



LETITICUS, XIX, XX. 



Cf sundry laws. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

A repetition of sundry laws. 

A NT) the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 
xx 2 Speak unto all the congregation of 
the children of Israel, and say unto them, 
Ye a shall be holy; for I the Lord your 
God am holy. 

3 H Ye shall fear every man his mother 
and his lather, and b keep my sabbaths: I 
am the Lord your God. 

4 X Turn c ye not unto idols, nor make to 
yourselves molten gods: I am the Lord 
your God. 

5 f And if ye offer a sacrifice of peace 
offerings unto the Lord, ye shall offer it at 
your own will. 

t> It shall be eaten the same day ye offer 
it, and on the morrow: and if ought remain 
mi til the third day, it shall be burnt in the 
hie. 

7 And if it be eaten at all on the third 
day, it is abominable; it shall not be ac- 
cepted. 

8 Therefore every one that eateth it shall 
bear his iniquity, because he hath profaned 
the hallowed thing of the Lord ; and that 
soul shall be cut off from among his people. 

y If And d when ye reap the harves* of 
your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the 
corners of thy field, neither shalt thou 
gather the gleanings of thy harvest. 

10 And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, 
neither shalt thou gather every grape of 
thy vineyard ; thou shalt leave them e for 
the poor and stranger: 1 am the Lord your 
God. 

11 tf Ye shall not steal, neither deal falsely, 
neither /lie one to another. 

1J 1 And ve shall not swear by my name 
falsely, neither shalt thou profane the name 
oi thy God: I am the Lord. 

13 I Tbou shalt not defraud thy neigh- 
bour, neither rob him: * the wages of him 
that is hired shall not abide with thee all 
night until the morning. 

14 1 Thou shalt nut curse the deaf, h nor 
put a stumbhngblock before the blind, but 
shalt ' fear thy God: I am the Lord. 

15 I Ye i shall do no unrighteousness in 
judgment: thou shalt not respect the per- 
bou. of the poor, nor honour the person of 
the mighty :but in righteousness shalt thou 
judge thy "neighbour. 

16 11 Thou shalt not go up and down as a 
tale-bearer among thy people • neither shalt 
thou k stand against the blood of thy neigh- 
bour: I am the Lord. 

17 I Thou 1 shalt not hace thy brother in 
thine heart: m thou shalt in any wise rebuke 
thy neighbour, ' and not suiter sin upon 
him. 

16 11 Thou n shalt not avenge, nor bear 
any grudge against the children of thy 
people ; v but thou shalt love thy neighbour 
as thyself: I am the Lord. 

19 1 Ye shall keep my statutes. Thou 
shalt not let thy cattle gender with a di- 
verse kind: thou shalt not sow thy field 
with mingled seed: neither shall a garment 
mingled of linen and woollen come upon 
thee. 

20 f And whosoever lieth carnally with a 
woman that is a bondmaid, - betrothed to 
an husband, and not at all redeemed, nor 
freedom given her; a she shall be scourged; 
they shall not be put to death, because she 
was not free. 

21 And he ghaJl bring bis trespass offer- 

W 



CHAP. 19. 

« Eph. 1. 4. 

b Ex. SL 13. 

Is. 56. 2. 

c 1 Cor. 10. 
1*. 

d Ex. 23.11. 

ch. 23. 22. 

Deu;. 15. 

1-18. 

Dcut. 24. 

10. 

Ba. 2. 15. 

Job. 20.17, 

20. 
« Ps. 41. 1. 

Ps. 140.12. 

Pro. 14.31. 

Pro. 22.16. 

Pro. 29. 7- 

Ec. 5. 8. 

Is.3.12-15. 

Jam.2.1-9. 
/Ep. 4. 25. 
g De. 24. 14. 

Ma!. 3. 5. 

Jam. 5. 4. 
h Ro. 14. 13. 
i\ Pet. 2.17. 
§ Ps. 82. 2. 
Pro. 24. 23. 
Jam. 2. 9. 
* 1 Kin. 21. 

13. 

Mat. 26.60. 
H John 3.15. 
•nLu.17.3. 

1 Or, that 
thou bear 
not sin for 
him. 

1 Cor. 5. 2. 
n Ro. 12. 17. 
o Mat. 5. 43. 

2 reproached 
by, or, for 
man. or, 
abused by 
any. 

3 there 
shaUbea 
scou.-ging, 
or, they 
timU be 
seourjed. 

4 holiness of 
praises to 
theLORD. 

PDcu. 12.17. 
q 2 Ein. 17. 

I 17 - 

I r Jer. 9. 26. 
| 8 Deu. 14. 1. 
| t Deu. 2317. 
[ 5 profane. 

u ch. 26. 2. 
! ■ Ec. 5. 1. 
"' 1 Sa. 28. 7. 

Is. 8. 19. 

x 1 Ki. 2. 19. 

Pro. 20. 29. 

Pro. 23. 22. 

1 Tim. 5.1. 

V Ex- 22. 21. 

I 6 Or, oppress. 

« Ex. 12. 48. 

I a De. 10. 19. 

b Deu. 25. 
; 13. 15. 

Pro. 20. 10. 
j 7 stones. 
c Deu. 0. 25. 



CHAP. 20. 

a2Ei.17.17. 

2 Ki. 23.10. 

2 Chr. 33.6. 

6E«ek.6.11. 



ing unto the Lord, unro the tloor of the 
tabernacle of the congregation, even a ram 
for a trespass offering, 

22 And the priest shall make an atone- 
ment for him with the ram of the trespass 
offering before the Lord for his sin wnieh 
he hath done: and the sin which he hath 
done shall be forgiven him. 

23 It And when ye shall come into the 
land, and shall have planted all manner of 
trees for food, then ye shall count the fruit 
thereof as uncircumcised: three years shail 
it be as uncircumcised unto you: it shall 
not be eaten of, 

24 But m the fourth year all the fruit 
thereof shall be 4 holy, p to praise the Lord 
withal. 

25 And in the fifth year shall ve eat of the 
fruit thereof, that it may yield unto you 
the increase thereof: I am the Lord your 
God. 

26 f Ye shall not eat any thing with the 
blood ; q neither shall ye use encnantment, 
nor observe times. 

27 Ye r shall not round the corners of 
your heads, neither shalt thou mar the 
corners of thy beard. 

28 Ye shall not * make any cuttings in 
your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks 
upon you: I am the Lord. 

29 If Do * not 5 prostitute thy daughter, to 
cause her to be a whore; lest the land fall 
to whoredom, and the land become lull of 
wickedness. 

30 If Y'e u shall keep my sabbaths, and 
reverence l mv sanctuary: lam the Lord. 

31 f Regard & not them that have familiar 
spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be de- 
filed bv them: I am the Lord your God. 

32 I Thou z shalt rise up before the hoary 
head, and honour the face of the old man, 
and fear thy God: I am the Lord. 

33 I And » if a stranger sojourn with thee 
in your land, ye shall not 6 vex him. 

34 But z the stranger that dwelleth with 
vou shall be unto you as one born among 
you, and a thou shalt love him as thyself ; 
for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: 
I am the Lord your God. 

35 % Ye shall do no unrighteousness in 
i judgment, in mete-yard, in weight, or in 

measure. 

36 Just * balances, just " weights, a just 
: ephah, and a just hin, shall ye have: I am 

the Lord your God, which brought you 
out of the land of Egypt. 

37 Therefore c shall ye observe all my st&- 
tutes, and all my judgments, and do them: 

i 1 am the Lord. 

CHAPTER XX. 

1 Of him that gixeth of his se<d unto MoUch: 4 of 
him that favoureth such an one: 6 of ooing to 
wizards i 7 of sanctiji cation : 9 cf him tuat 
curseth his parents : 10 of adultery ; 11, 14, 17, 19 
cf incest : la of sodomy, etc. 

AND the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 
2 Again, thou shalt say to the children 

of Israel, a Whosoever he be of the children 

of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn 
, m Israel, that sriveth any of his seed unto 
I Molech. he shall surely De put to death: 
1 the people of the land shall stone him with 

stones. 

i 3 And I will set my face agamst that man, 
1 and will cut him off from among his people ; 

because he hath given of his seed unto 
j Molech, to » defile my sanctuary, and to 
| profane my holy name. 



Unlmvfal Lusts. 



LEVITICUS, XIX. A Repetition of Sundry Laws. 



prevailed among them, in the public pro- 
sperity and domestic happiness enjoyed by 
them as a people. Obedience to the divine 
law always, indeed, ensures temporal advan- 
tages; and this, doubtless, was the primary 
meaning of the words, " which if a man do, 
he shall live in them." But that they had a 
higher reference to spiritual life is evident 
from the application made of them by our 
Lord, (L. 10. 28,i and the apostle, (Eo. 10. 5.) 
6. None of you shall approach any that is near 
of kin— Very great laxity prevailed amongst 
the Egyptians in their sentiments and prac- 
tice about the conjugal relation, as they not 
only openly sanctioned marriages between 
brothers and sisters.but even between parents 
and children. Such incestuous alliances 
Moses wisely prohibited, and his laws form 
the basis on which the marriage regulations 
of this and other Christian nations are chiefly 
founded. 21. Thou shalt not let any of thy seed 
pass, &c— Molech, or Moloch, which signifies 
king," was the idol of the Ammonites. His 
statue was of brass, and rested on a pedestal 
or throne of the same metal. His head, re- 
sembling that of a calf, was adorned with a 
crown, and his arms were extended in the 
attitude of embracing those who approached 
him. His devotees dedicated their children 
to him; and when this was to be done, they 
heated the statue to a high pitch of intensity 
by a fire within; and then the infants were 
either shaken over the flames, or passed 
through the ignited arms, by way of lustra- 
sion to ensure the favour of the pretended 
deity. The fire-worshippers asserted, that 
all children who did not undergo this puri- 
fying process would die in infancy; and the 
influence of this Zabian superstition was still 
so extensively prevalent in the days of Moses, 
that the divine law-giver .judged it necessary 
to prohibit it by an express statute, neither 
shalt thou profane the name of thy God— by giv- 
ing it to false or pretended divinities; or, 
perhaps, from this precept standing in close 
connection with the worship of Molech, the 
meaning rather is— do not, by devoting your 
children to him, give foreigners occasion to 
blaspheme the name of your God as a cruel 
and sanguinary deity, who demands the 
sacrifice of human victims, and who en- 
courages cruelty in his votaries. 24-30. in 
all these the nations are defiled, &c— Ancient 
history gives many appalling proofs that the 
enormous vices described in this chapter 
were very prevalent, nay, were regularly 
practised from religious motives in the tem- 
ples of Egypt and the groves of Canaan, and 
it was these gigantic social disorders that 
occasioned the expulsion, of which the Is- 
raelites were, in the hands of a righteous and 
retributive providence, the appointed instru- 
ments. (Gen. 15. 16.) The strongly figurative 
language of " the land itself vomiting out 
her inhabitants," shows the hopeless depth of 
their moral corruption. 30. Therefore ye shall 
keep mine ordinances— In giving the Israelites 
these particular institutions, God was only 
re-delivering the law imprinted on the natu- 
ral heart of man; for there is every reason to 
believe that the incestuous alliances and un- 
natural crimes prohibited in this chapter 
were forbidden to all men by a law expressed 
or understood, from the beginning of the 
world, or at least from the era of the flood; 
since God threatens to condemn and punish 
in a manner so sternly severe, these atroci- 
i)0 



ties in the practice of the Canaanites and 
their neighbours, who were not subject to 
the laws of the Hebrew nation. 
CHAPTER XIX. 
I Ver. 1-37". A Repetition of Susroity 
! Laws. 2. Speak unto all the congregation- 
Many of the laws enumerated in this chapter 
had been previously announced. As they were, 
however, of a general application,not suited to 
! particular classes, but to the nation at large, 
: so Moses seems, according to divine instruc- 
I tions, to have rehearsed them, perhaps on 
| different occasions, and to successive divi- 
sions of the people, till "all the congregation of 
the children ol Israel" were taught to know 
them. The will of God in the Old as well as 
the New Testament Church was not locked 
j up in the repositories of an unknown tongue, 
i but communicated plainly and openly to the 
| people, ye shall be holy: fori am holy— Separ- 
I ated from the world, the people of God re- 
j quired to be holy, for his character, his laws 
j and service were holy. (See 1 Pe. 1. 15.) 3. 
i ye shall fear every man— The duty of obedience 
| to parents is placed in connection with the 
proper observance of the sabbaths, as both 
! of them lying at the foundation of practical 
I religion. 5-8. If ye offer a sacrifice of peace 
offerings— Those which included thank offer- 
; ings, or offerings made for vows, were always 
free-will offerings. Except the portions 
| which, being waved and heaved, became the 
property of the priests, (see ch. 3.) the rest 
of the victim was eaten by the offerer and 
his friend, under the following regulations, 
however, that, if thank offerings, they were 
to be eaten on the day of their presentation; 
and if a free-will offering, although it 
might be eaten on the second day, yet if any 
remains of it were left till the third day, it 
was to be burnt, or deep criminality was in- 
curred by the person who then ventured to 
Eartake of it. The reason of this strict pro- 
ibition seems to have been to prevent any 
mysterious virtue being superstitiously at- 
tached to meat offered on the altar. 9, 10. 
j When ye reap the harvest of your land— The 
right of the poor in Israel to glean after 
i reapers, as well as to the unreaped corners of 
the field, was secured by a positive statute, 
land this, in addition to other enactments 
connected with the ceremonial law, formed 
a beneficial provision for their support. At 
; the same time, proprietors were not obliged 
i to admit them into the field until the grain 
had been carried off the field; and they seem 
also to have been left at liberty to choose the 
i poor whom they deemed the most deserving 
or needful, (Ruth, 2. 2, 8.) This was the 
earliest poor-law that we read of in the code 
of any people; and it combined in admirable 
union the obligation of a public duty with 
the exercise of private and voluntary ben- 
evolence at a time when the hearts of the 
rich would be strongly inclined to liberality. 
11-16. Ye shall not steal— A variety of social 
duties are inculcated in this passage, chiefly 
in reference to common and little-thought-of 
I vices to which mankind are exceedingly 
prone; such as committing petty frauds; or 
not scrupling to violate truth in transactions 
of business; ridiculing bodily infirmities; or 
circulating stories to the prejudice of others. 
In opposition to these bad habits, a spirit 
of humanity and brotherly kindness is 
strongly enforced. 17. Thou shalt in any 
wise rebuke thy neighbour — Instead of 



Of incest-, sodomy, etc. 



LEVITICUS, XXI. 



Ordinances for the priests. 



4 And ii' the people of the land do any 
ways hide then- eyes from the man, when 
he giveth of his seed unto Molech, and kill 
him not; 

5 Then I will set my face against that 
man, and e against his family, and will cut 
him off, and all that d go awhoring after 
him, to commit whoredom with Molech, 
from among their people. 

6 1T And e the soul that turneth after such 
as have familiar spirits, and after wizards, 
to go awhoring after them, I will even set 
my face against that soul, and will cut him 
oti' from among his people. 

7 Sanctify / yourselves therefore, and be 
ye holy: for I am the Lord your God. 

8 And ye shall keep my statutes, and do 
them: g I am the Lord wnich sanctify you. 

9 f For h every one that curseth his father 
or his mother shall be surely put to death: 
he hath cursed his father or his mother; 
his ■ blood shall be upon him. 

10 1i And 3 the man that committeth 
adultery with another man's wife, even he 
that committeth adultery with his neigh- 
bour's wife,the adulterer and the adulteress 
Bhall surely be put to death 

11 And * the man that lieth with his 
father's wife hath uncovered his father's 
nakedness : both of them shall surely be 
put to death; their blood shaU be upon 
them. 

12 And if a man lie with his daughter-in- 
law, both of them shall surely be put to 
death: they have wrought contusion; their 
blood shall be upon them, 

13 Ii If { a man also lie with mankind, as 
he lieth with a woman, both of them have 
committed an abomination : they shall 
surely be put to death; their blood shaU be 
upon them. 

14 And m if a man take a wife and her 
mother, it is wickedness: they shaU be 
burnt with lire, both he and they; that 
there be no wickedness among you. 

15 And * if a man lie with a beast, he 
shall surely be put to death : and ye shall 
slay the beast. 

16 And if a woman approach unto any 
beast, and lie down thereto, thou shalt 
kill the woman and the beast: they shall 
surely be put to death; their blood shall be 
upon them. 

17 And ° if a man shall take his sister, his 
father's daughter, or his mother's daugh- 
ter, and see her nakedness, and she see his 
nakedness; it is a wicked thing; and they 
shall be cut off in the sight of their people: 
he hath uncovered his sister's nakedness ; 
he shall bear his iniquitv. 

18 And p if a man snail lie with a woman 
having her sickness, and shall uncover her 
nakedness, he hath i discovered her foun- 
tain, and she hath uncovered the fountain of 
her blood: and both- of them shall be cut | 
oti* from among their people. 

19 And q thou shalt not uncover the na- 1 
kedness of thy mother's sister, nor of thv 
father's sister; for he uncovereth his near 
kin: they shall bear their iniiiuitv. 

20 And if a man shall lie with his uncle's 
wife, he hath uncovered his uncle's naked- 
ness: they shall bear then sin; they shall 
die childless. 

21 And r if a man shall take his brother's 
wife, it is 2 an unclean thing; he hath un- 
covered his brother's nakedness ; they shall 
be childless, 

91 



CHAP. 20. 
c Ex. 20. 5. 
d ch. 17. 7. 
e ch. 19. 31. 

2 Ki. 23.24. 
/ Ex. 22. 31. 

Mat. 5. 48. 

Eph. 1. 4. 

Col. 3. 12. 

1 Thess. 6. 

23. 

1 Pet. 1.16. 
g Ex. 31. 13. 

Ere. 37.28. 
h Ex. 21. 17. 

Deu. 27.16. 

Pro. 20. 20. 

Mat. 15. 4. 
t 2 Sa. 1. 16. 
j Deu. 22.22. 

Jer. 29. 23. 

John 8. 4.5. 

1 Cor. 6. 9. 

Heb. 13. 4. 
ft eh. 18. 8. 

Deu. 27.23. 
» ch. 18. 22. 

Gen. 19. 5. 

Deu. 23.17. 

Jud. 19. 22. 

Rom. 1. 25, 

32. 
m ch. 18. 17. 
» Deut. 27. 

21. 

Gen. 20.12. 
p ch. 15. 24. 

1 made 
naked. 

q ch. 18. 12. 
r eh. 18. 16. 

2 a separa- 
tion. 

a ch. 19. 37. 
t Deut. 9. 5. 
w Ex. 3. 17. 
" Ex. 19. 5. 

Deut. 7. 6. 

Deu. 14. 2. 

1 Ki. 8. 53. 

Ps. 135. 4. 

1 Pet. 2. 9. 
w Deu. 14.4. 

3 Or, mov- 
eth. 

x 1 Pet. 1.16. 
V Tit. 2. 14. 
« Ex. 22. 18. 

Deu. 18.10. 

1 Sa. 28. 7. 



CHAP. 21. 

a Esek.44.25. 

1 Or .being aa 
husband 
among his 
people, bo 
shall not 
defile him- 
self/or 
his uife, 
etc. 
Ezek.24.16. 

6 Deu. 14. 1. 
Ezek.44.20. 

c ch. 18. 21. 

d ch. 3. 11. 

« Ezek 44.22. 

/Deu. 24 .1.2. 

g ch. 20. 7, 8. 
Is. 43. 15. 

h Gen. 38.24. 

t Ex. 29. 29. 
Xu. oo. 25. 

j Ex. 28. 2. 

ft ch. 10. 6. 

I Nu. 19. 14. 

*» ch. 10. 7. 



22 H Ye shall therefore keep all my a sta- 
tutes, and all my judgments, and do them: 
that the land, whither I bring you to dwell 
therein, spue vou not out. 

23 And ye shall not walk in the manners 
of the nations which I cast out before vou: 
for they committed all these things, "and 
therefore e I abhorred them. 

24 But u I have said unto j-ou, Ye shall 
inherit their land, and I will give it unto 
you to possess it, a land that floweth with 
milk and honey: I am the Lord vour God, 
which v have separated you from other 
people. 

25 Ye w shall therefore put difference be- 
tween clean beasts and unclean, and be- 
tween unclean fowls and clean: and ye shall 
not make your souls abominable by beast, 
or by fowl, or by any manner of living tiling 
that 3 creepeth on the ground, which I 
have separated from you as unclean. 

26 And ye shall be holy unto me: * for I 
the Lord am holy, and y have severed you 
from other people, that ye should be mine. 

27 1T A z man also or woman that hath a 
familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall 
surely be put to death: they shall stone 
them with stones ; their blood shall be 
upon them. 

CHAPTER XXI. 

1 Of the priests' mourning .• 6 of their holiness ; 7, 
13 of their marriages. 16 The priests that have 
blemishes must not minister in the sanctuary. 

A ND the Lord said unto Moses, Speak 
-"■ unto the priests the sons of Aaron, and 
say unto them, a There shall none be de- 
filed for the dead among his people: 

2 But for his kin that is near unto him, 
that is, for his mother, and for his lather, 
and for his son, and for his daughter, and 
for his brother, 

3 And for his sister a virgin, that is nigh 
unto him, which hath had no husband; tor 
her may he be defiled. 

4 But 1 he shall not defile himself, being a 
chief man among his people, to profane 
himself. 

5 They * shall not make baldness upon 
their head, neither shall they shave off the 
corner of their beard, nor make any cut- 
tings in their flesh. 

6 They shall be holy unto their God, and 
not c profane the name of their God: for 
the offerings of the Lord made by fire, and 
the d bread of their God, they do offer: 
therefore they shall be holy. 

7 They * shall not take a wife that is a 
whore, or profane; neither shall they take 
a woman/ put away from her husband: for 
he is holy unto his God. 

8 Thou shalt sanctify him therefore; for 
he offereth the bread of thy God: he shall 
be holy unto thee: • for I the Lord, which 
sanctifv you, am holy. 

9 And h the daughter of any priest, if she 
profane herself by playing the whore, she 
profaneth her father: 'she shall be burnt 
with fire. 

10 f And i he that is the hisrh priest among 
his brethren, upon whose head the anoint- 
ing oil was poured, and i that is conse- 
ciated to put on the garments, * shall not 
uncover his head, nor rend his clothes ; 

11 Neh her shall he l go in to any dead body, 
nor defile himself for his father, or for his 
mother; 

12 Neither m shall he go out of the sanc- 
tuary, nor prolane the sanctuary of his 



A Repetition of 



LEVITICUS, XIX. 



Sundry Laws. 



cherishing latent feelings of malice, or employed in this operation." [Michaelis.] 
meditating purposes of revenge against a 26. Ye shall not eat any thing with the blood- 
person who has committed an insult or in- j (See on ch. 17. 10.) neither use enchantments, 
jury against them, God's people were taught ! nor observe times— The former refers to divi- 
to remonstrate with the offender, and en- nation by serpents— one of the earliest forms 



deavour, by calm and kindJy reason, to bring 
him to a sense of his fault, not suffer sin 
upon him— lit. that ye may not participate in 
his sin. 18. thou shalt love thy neighbour as 
thyself— The word "neighbour" is used as 
synonymous with fellow creature. The Is- 
raelites in a later age restricted its 
meaning as applicable only to their own 
countrymen. This narrow interpretation 
was refuted by our Lord in a beautiful para- 
ble, (L. 10. 30.) 19. thou shalt not let 
thy cattle gender with a diverse kind— This 
prohibition was probably intended to dis- 
courage a practice which seemed to infringe 
upon the economy which God has established 
in the animal kingdom, thou shalt not sow 
thy field with mingled seed— This also was di- 
rected against an idolatrous practice, viz., 
that of the ancient Zabians, or fire- worship- 
pers, who sowed different seeds, accompany- 
ing the act with magical rites and invoca- 
tions ; and commentators have generally 
thought the design of this and the pre- 
ceding law was to put an end to the 
unnatural lusts and foolish superstitions 
which were prevalent amongst the hea- 
then. But the reason of the prohibi- 
tion was probably deeper; for those who 
have studied the diseases of land and vege- 
tables tell us, that the practice of mingling 
seeds is injurious both to flowers and to 
grains. " If the various genera of the 
natural order Graminese, which includes 
the grains and the grasses, should be 
sown in the same field, and flower at the 
same time, so that the pollen of the two 
flowers mix, a spurious seed will be the con- 
sequence, called by the farmers chess, and is 
always inferior, and unlike either of the two 
grains that produced it, in size, flavour, and 
nutritious principles. Independently of con- 
tributing to disease the soil, they never fail 
to produce the same in animals, and men 
that feed on them." [Whitlaw.] neither 
shall a garment of linen and woollen come upon 
thee— although this precept.like the other two 
with which it is associated, was in all proba- 
bility designed to root out some superstition, 
it seems to have had a farther meaning. The 
law, it is to be observed, did not prohibit the 
Israelites wearing many different kinds of 
cloths together, but only the two specified; 
and the ooservations and researches of mo- 
dern science have proved that " wool, when 
combined with linen, increases its power of 
passing off the electricity from the body; in 
not climates, it brings on malignant fevers, 
and exhausts the strength, and when passing 
off from the body, it meets with the heated 
air, inflames and excoriates like a blister." 
[Whitlaw.] (see Ez. 44. 17, 18.) 23-25. 
fruit; three years it shall not be eaten— "The 
wisdom of this law is very striking. Every 
gardener will teach us not to let fruit trees 
bear in their earliest years, but to pluck off 
the blossoms: and for this reason, that they 
will thus thrive the better, and bear more 
abundantly afterwards. The very expres- 
sion, "to regard them as uncircumcised " 
suggests the propriety of pinching them off; 
1 do not say cutting them off, because it is 
generally the liana, and not a knile, that is 
VL 



of enchantment, and the other means the 
observation lit. of clouds, as a study of the 
appearance and motion of clouds was a 
common w T ay of foretelling good or bad 
fortune. Such absurd but deep-rooted 
superstitions often put a stop to the prose- 
cution of serious and important transactions, 
but they were forbidden especially as imply- 
ing a want of faith in the being, or of reliance 
on the providence of God. 27. Ye shall not 
round, &c. — It seems probable that this 
fashion had been learned by the Israelites in 
Egypt, for the ancient Egyptians had their 
dark locks cropped short or shaved with great 
nicety, so that what remained on the crown 
appeared in the form of a circle surrounding 
the head, whilst the beard was dressed into a 
square form. This kind of coiffure had a highly 
idolatrous meaning ; and it was adopted, 
with some slight variations, by almost all 
idolaters in ancient times. (Jer. 9. 25, 26; 25. 
23, where " in the utmost corners " means 
having the corners of their hair cut.) 
Frequently a lock or tuft of hair was 
left on the hinder part of the head, the rest 
being cut round in the form of a ring, as the 
Turks, Chinese, and Hindoos do at the pre- 
sent day. neither shalt thou mar, <fec— The 
Egyptians used to cut or shave off their 
whiskers, as may be seen in the coffins of 
mummies, and the representations oi 
divinities on the monuments. But the 
Hebrews, in order to separate them 
from the neighbouring nations, or perhaps 
to put a stop to some existing supersti- 
tion, were forbidden to imitate this prac- 
tice, it may appear surprising that 
Moses should condescend to such minutiae 
as that of regulating the fashion of the hair 
and the beard— matters which do not usually 
occupy the attention of a legislator— and 
which appear widely remote from the pro- 
vince either of government or of a religion. 
A strong presumption, therefore, arises that 
he had it in view by these regulations to com- 
bat some superstitious practices of the Egyp- 
tians. 28. Ye shall not make any cuttings, &c.— 
The practice of making deep gashes on the 
face and arms and legs, in time of bereave- 
ment, was universal among the heathen, and 
it was deemed a becoming mark of respect 
for the dead as well as a sort of propitiatory 
offering to the deities who presided over 
death and the grave. The Jews learned this 
custom in Egypt, and though weaned from 
it, relapsed in a later and degenerate age 
into this old superstition. (Is. 15. 2; Jer. 16. 
6; 41. 5.) nor print any marks upon you— 
by tatooing— imprinting figures of flowers, 
leaves, stars, and other fanciful devices 
on various parts of their person — the 
impression was made sometimes by means 
of a hot iron, sometimes by ink or paint, 
as is done by the Arab females of the 
present day and the different castes ox' 
the Hindoos. It is probable that a strong 
propensity to adopt such marks in hon- 
our of some idol gave occasion to the 
prohibition in this verse ; and they were 
wisely forbidden, for they were signs of. 
apostacy, and, when once made, were in*u 
perable obstacles to a return, ^ee allusion . 



O -d> nance? for the priests. 



LEVITICUS, XXII. 



Laws concerning sacrifices. 



God; for n the crcun of the anointing oil 
01" his God is upon him : 1 a m the Lord. 

13 And ° he shall take a wile in her vir- 
ginity. 

14 A widow, or a divorced woman, or pro- 
fane, or an harlot, these shall he not take; 
but he shall take a virgin of his own people 
to wife. 

15 >■ either shall he profane his seed among 
his people: for * I the Lord do sanctify 
hmi. 

16 IT And the Lord spake unto Moses, 
sa\ Lag, 

17 Speak unto Aaron, saying, "Whosoever 
h* be of thy seed in their generations that 
hath any blemish, let him not 9 approach 
to oiler the - bread of his God: 

18 For whatsoever man he be that hath a 
blemish, he shall not approach ; a blind 
man, or a lame, or he that liath a Hat nose, 
or any thing r superfluous, 

ly Or a man that is broken-footed, or 
broken-hanaed, 

20 Or crook-baekt, or a 3 dwarf, or that 
hath a blemish in his eye, or be scurvy, or 
Scabbed, or s hath his stones broken: 

21 .No man that hath a blemish of the seed 
of Aaron the priest shall come nigh to 
oner the offerings of the Lord made by 
tire: he hath a blemish; he shall not come 
nigh to ofier the bread of his God. 

22 He shall eat the bread of his God, both 
of the * most holv, and of the " holy ; 

23 Only he shall not go in unto the veil, 
nor come nigh unto the altar, because he 
hath a blemish; that he profane not my 
sanctuaries: for I the Lord do sanctify 
tnem. 

24 And Moses told it unto Aaron, and to 
his sons, and unto all the children of 
lsiaeL 

CHAPTER XXH. 

1 The priests in their uncleanness must abstain 
from holy things. 10 Who of the priest's fwuse 
may eat of tnem. 17 The sacrifices must be 
witiiout blemish. 26 The age of the sacrifice. 

A 2s L) the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 
** rx 2 Speak unto Aaron and to his sons, 
that they u separate themselves from the 
holy things of the children of Israel, and 
that they profane not my holy name in 
tliose things which they b hallow unto me: 
1 am the Lord. 

3 Say unto them, Whosoever he be of all 
your seed among your generations, that 
goeth unto the holy things, which the 
children of Israel nallow unto the Lord, 
having c his uncleanness upon him, that 
soul shall be cut off from my presence: I 
am the Lord. 

4 What man soever of the seed of Aaron 
is a leper, or hath d a i running issue, he 
shall not eat of the holy things, e until he 
be clean. And /whoso toucheth any thing 
that is unclean by the dead, or a man whose 
seed goeth Irom him ; 

5 Or" whosoever toucheth any creeping 
thing, whereby he may be made unclean, 
or * a man of whom he may take unclean- 
ness. whatsoever uncleanness he hath; 

6 The soul which hath touched any such 
shall be unclean until even, and shall not 
eat of the holy things, unless he * wash his 
flesh with water. 

7 And when the sun is down, he shall be 
clean, and shall afterward eat of the holy 
things, because J it is his food. 

8 That * which dieth of itself, or is torn 

92 



CHAP. 21. 
n Ex. 23. 36. 

ch.8.9,12, 

30. 
o EtekM.22. 
P Rom. 12.1. 

1 Cor. 3. 

16. 

Eph. 5. 17. 

1 Thess. 4. 

1-8. 
q Nu. 16. 5. 

Ps. 64. 4. 

2 Or, food. 
r ch. 22. 23. 

3 Or, too 
slender. 

8Deut.23.1. 
t ch. 24. 9. 
w ch. 22. 10. 
Nu. 18.19. 



CHAP. 22. 

a Num. 6. 3. 
6Deu.15.19. 
c ch. 7. 20. 
d ch. 15. 2. 
1 running 

of the 

reins. 
e ch. 15. 13. 
/ Num. 19. 

11,22. 
9 ch. 11. 24. 
h ch. 15. 7, 

19. 
i Heb. 10. 22. 
j Nu. 18. 11. 
k Ex. 22. 31. 

ch. 17. 15. 

Ezek.44. 

31. 

1 Ex. SB. 43. 
Nu. IS. 22. 

to one not a 
priest. 
Ex. 29.33. 
Nu. 3. 10. 
1 Sa. 21. 6. 

2 •with the 
purchase 
of his 
money. 

3 a man a 
stranger. 

n Gen. 38.11. 

Nu. 18. 11. 
P ch. 5. 15, 

Id. 

1 Nu. 18. 32. 

4 Or, lade 
themselves 
with the 
iniquity of 
trespass in 
their 
eating. 

r Nu. 15. 14. 
« Deu. 15.21. 

Deu. 17. 1. 

Mai. 1. 8, 

14. 

Eph. 5. 27. 

Heb. 9. 14. 

1 Pet. 1.19. 
t Num.15. 

3,8. 

Deut. 23. 

21. 

Ps. 61. 8. 

Ps. 65. 1. 

Ec. 5. 4, 5. 

5 Or, goats. 

6 Or, kid. 

u ch. 21. 18. 
v Nu. 15. 15. 
■ Mai. 1. 14. 
X Ex. 22. 30. 



with beasts, he shall not eat to defile him. 
self therewith: 1 am the Lord. 
y They shall therefore keep mine ordi- 
nance, l lest they bear sin for it, and die 
therefore, if they profane it: I the Lord do 
sanctify them. 

10 There shall no m stranger eat of the 
holv tiling: a sojourner of the priest, or 
an hired servant, shall not eat of the holy 
thing. 

11 But if the priest buy any soul 2 with 
his money, he shall eat of it," and he that 
is born in his house: they shall eat of his 
meat. 

12 If the priest's daughter also be married 
unto 3 a stranger, she may not eat of an 
offering of the Uoly things. 

13 But if the priest's daughter be a widow, 
or divorced, and have no child, and n is 
returned unto her father's house, ° as in 
her youth, she shall eat of her father's 
meat; but there shall no stranger eat 
thereof. 

14 And P if a man eat o/the holy thing 
unwittingly, then he shall put the fifth part 
thereof unto it. and shall give it untu the 
priest with the holy thing. 

15 And q they shall not profane the holy 
things of the children of Israel, which they 
offer unto the Lord; 

16 Or * suffer them to bear the iniquity of 
trespass when they eat their holy things: 
for 1 the Lord do sanctify them. 

17 IF And the Lord spake unto Moses, 
saying, 

18 Speak unto Aaron, and to his sous, 
and unto all the children of Israel, and say 
unto them, r "Whatsoever he be of the house 
of Israel, or of the strangers in Israel, that 
will otter his oblation for all his vows, and 
for all his free-will offerings, which they 
will oiler unto the Lord for a burnt oiler 
hig; 

19 Ye shall offer at your own will a male 
without blemish, of the beeves,of the sheep, 
or of the goats. 

20 But * whatsoever hath a blemish, that 
shall ye not offer; for it shall not be accep- 
table for you. 

21 And whosoever offereth a sacrifice of 

Eeace offerings unto the Lord to t accomp- 
sh his vow, or a free-will offering in beeves 
or & sheep, it shall be perfect to be accepted; 
there shall be no blemish therein. 

22 Blind, or broken, or maimed, or having 
a wen, or scurvy, or scabbed, ye shall not 
offer these unto the Lord, nor make an 
ottering by fire of them upon the altar unto 
the Lord. 

23 Either a bullock or a 6 lamb that hath 
any thing u superfluous or lacking in his 
parts, that mayest thou offer for a tree-will 
offering; but for a vow it shall not be ac- 
cepted. 

24 Ye shall not offer unto the Lord that 
which is bruised, or crushed, or broken, or 
cut; neither shall ye make any offering 
thereof in your land. 

25 > i either v from a stranger's hand shall 
ye otler the bread of your God of any of 
these ; because their w corruption is in 
them, and blemishes be in them: they shall 
not be accepted for you. 

26 % And the Lord spake unto Moses, 
sarins, 

27 W hen x a bullock, or a sheep, or a goat, 
is brought forth, then it shall be seven 
days under the dam; and from the eighth 



Giving One's Seed to Mohch. LEVITICUS, XX, XXI. 



Of the Priests' M our win 



to the practice Is. 44. 5: Re. 13. 17; 14. tuous and unnatural crimes here enumerated 

l.i 30. Keen my sabbaths and reverence my shows their sad prevalence amongst the ktoi 

sanctuary— This precept is frequently repeat- atrous nations around, and the extreme 

ed along with the prohibition of idolatrous proneness of the Israelites to follow the 

practices, and here it stands closely connected customs of their neighbours. It is to ho 

with the superstitions forbidden in the pre- understood, that, whenever mention is made 

vious verses. 31. Regard not them that nave that the offender was " to be put to death " 

faniliar spirits— The Heb. word, rendered without describing the mode, stoning is 

''familiar spirit," signifies the belly, and meant. The only instance of another form 



sometimes a leathern bottle, from its simi- 
larity to the belly. It was applied in the 
sense of this passage to ventriloquists, who 
pretended to have communication with the 
invisible world ; and the Hebrews were 
strictly forbidden to consult them ; as the 
vain but high pretensions of those impos 
tors were derogatory to 
God, and subversive of 



of capital punishment occurs in v. 14, that of 
being burnt with fire: and yet it is probable 
that even here death was first inflicted by 
stoning, and the body of the criminal after- 
wards consumed by fire. (Josh. 7. 15.) 20. 
They 'shall die childless— Either by the judg- 
ment of God they shall have no children, or 
the honour of their spurious offspring shall be denied I y 
their covenant human authority the ordinary privileges of 



seek after wizards— fortune-tellers, who pre- you— Their selection from the rest of the na- 
tended, as the Heb. word indicates, to j tions was for the all-important end of pre- 
prognosticate by palmistry, or an inspec- (serving the knowledge and worship of the 
tion of the lines of the hand, the future ■ true God amidst the universal apostacy; and 
fate of those who applied to them. 33, 34. If as the distinction of meats was one great 
a stranger sojourn with you— The Israelites j means of completing that separation, the 
were to hoi 1 out encouragement to strangers to law about making a difference between clean 
settle among them,that they rright be brought I and unclean beasts is here repeated with em- 
to the knowledge and worship of the true phatic solemnity. 



God; and with this view, they were enjoined 
to treat them not as aliens, but as friends, 
on the ground that they themselves, who 
were strangers in Egypt, were at first kindly 
and hospital ly received in that country. 37. 
I ?m the Lord— This solemn admonition, by 
which these various precepts are repeatedly 
sanctioned, is equivalent to " I, your Creator 
—your Deliverer from bondage, and your 
Sovereign, who have wisdom to establish 
laws, have power also to punish the violation 
of them." It was well fitted to impress the 
minds of the Israelites with a sense of their 
duty, and God's claims to obedience. 
CHAPTER XX. 
Ver. 1-24. Giving One's Seed tclMolech. 
2. Whosoever . . . giveth ... to Mole ch— See on 
ch. 18. 21. The people of the land shall stone, 
&c— Criminals who were condemned to be 
stoned were led, with their hands bound, 
without the gates to a small eminence, where 
was a large stone placed at the bottom. 
When they had approached within 10 cubits 



CHAPTER XXI. 
Ver. 1-24. Oe the Priests' Mourning. 
1. There shall none be defiled for the dead— The 
obvious design of the regulations contained 
in this chapter was to keep inviolate the 
purity and dignity of the sacred oflice. Con- 
tact with a corpse, or even contiguity to 
the place where it lay, entailing ceremonial 
defilement, (N\x. 19. 14,) all mourners were 
debarred from the tabernacle for a week; 
and as the exclusion of a priest during 
that period would have been attended with 
great inconvenience, the whole order w ere 
enjoined to abstain from all approaches to 
the dead, except at the funerals of rela- 
tives, to whom affection or necessity might 
call them to perform the last offices. Those 
exceptional cases, which are specified, were 
strictly confined to the members of their 
own family, within the nearest degrees of 
kindred. 4. But he shall not defile himself— 
" tor any other," as the sense may be fully 
expressed. The priest, in discharging his 



of the spot, they were exhorted to confess, sacred functions, might well be regarded as 
that, by faith and repentance, their souls \ a chief man among his people, and by these 



might be saved. When led forward to with- 
in 4 cubits, they were stripped almost naked, 
and received some stupefying draught, 
during which the witnesses prepared, by 
laying aside their outer garments, to carry 
into execution the capital sentence which 
the law bound them to do. The criminal, 
being placed on the edge of the precipice, 
was then pushed backwards, so that he fell 
down the perpendicular height on the stone 
lying below: if not killed by the fall, the 
second witness dashed a large stone down 
upon his breast, and then the " people 



defilemeuts might be said to profane himself. 
[Bishop Patrick.] The word rendered 
" chief man" signifies also il a husband;" and 
the sense according to others is, " But he 
being a husband, shall not defile himself by 
the obsequies of a wife." Ez. (44. 25.) 5. 
They shall not make baldness ... nor cutties 
in tneir flesh— The superstitious marks of sor- 
row, as well as the violent excesses in which 
the heathen indulged at the death of their 
friends, were forbidden by a general law to 
the Hebrew people, (ch 19. 28.) But the 
priests were to be laid under a special in- 



of the land," who were bystanders, rushed I junction, not only that they might exhibit 






forward, and with stones completed the 
work of death. (M. 21. 44; A. 7. 58.) 4. If 
the people of the land, &c. —i.e., connive 
at their countrymen practising the horrid 
rites of Molech. Awful was it that any Hebrew 
parents could so violate their national cove- 
nant; and no wonder that God denounced 
the severest penalties against them and their 
families. 7-20. Sanctify yourselves, and be ye 
holy— The minute specification of the inces- 
92 



examples of piety in the moderation of their 
grief, but also by the restraint of their pas- 
sions, be the better qualified to administer 
the consolations of religion to others, and 
show, by their faith in a blessed resurrec- 
tion, the reasons for sorrowing not as those 
who have no hope. 7-9. They shall not take 
a wife — Private individuals might form 
several connections, which were forbidden 
as inexpedient or improper in priests. The 



Of sundry fe asts. 

day and thenceforth it lecepted 

for an offering made t\ fire unto the 
Lord. 

2? And whether 3 be cow or " ewe. ye shall 
not kill it * and her young both in i ::. 

\nd when ye wiU ; . irice of 

. onto the Lord, b Set it at your 
own will. 

30 On the same day it shall be eaten up; 

Ie shall leave none of it until the morrow; 
am the Lord. 

31 Therefore a shall ye keep my command- 
Brents, and do them: I m the Lord. 

o-' .Neither shall ye profane my hoi* name; 
but * I will be hallowed among the chil- 
dren of Israel; 1 am the Lord Which hal- 
low YOU, 

33 That c brought you out of the land of 
Egvpt, to be Your God: I am the Lord. 

CHAPTER XXIII. 
1 OfntndnfeasU. 3 T e sabbath. 4 The pass- 
oxer. ' 2A The d>jy of atonement, etc. 

A XD the Lord spake onto Moses, savins, 

2 Speak onto the children of Isr.ul. 

and say unto them. ComeernhM the feasts 

o:' the Lord, which ye shall' 3 proclaim 

to be holy convocations, own these are my 
feasts. 

3 >ix b days shall work be done ; but the 
seventh day u the sabbath of rest, an holy 
convocation; ye shall do no work Cfteretn.' 
it is the c sabbath of the Lord in all your 
dwellings, 

4 r These d are the feasts of the Lord. 
even holy convocations, which ye shall pro- 
claim in their seasons. 

5 In e the fourteenth day of the first 
month at even is the Lord's passover. 

G And on the fifteenth day of the same 
month is the feast of unleavened bread 
unto the Lord: seven days ye must eat un- 
leavened bread. 

7 In / the hrst day ve shall have an holv 
.ation; ye shall do no servile iron 
therein. 

S But ye shall offer an offering made by 
tire unto the Lord seven days : in the 
seventh day is an holy convocation: ye 
shall do no senile work therein. 

9 r And the Lord spake unto Moses. 
saying, 

10 Speak unto the children of Israel, and 
say unto them. • vY~hen ye be come into 
the land which 1 give unto you. and shall 
reap the harvest thereof, then vc 
bring a i sheaf of ■ the frst-fruits'of your 
harvest unto the priest: 

11 And he shall 5 wave the sheaf before 
the Lord, to be accepted for you: on the 

"■ after the sabbath the priest shall 
wave it, 

12 And ye shall offer that day when ye 
wave the sheaf an he-lamb without blem- 
ish of the first year for a burnt offering 
unto the Lord. 

13 And the meat offering thereof shall be 
two tenth ueals of fine : led with 
oil, an offering made by fire unto the Lord 
for a sweet savour: and the drink . 
thereof shall be of wine, the fourth part oi 
an him 

14 And ye shall eat neither bread, nor 
parched corn, nor green ears, until the 
selfsame cay thac ve have brought an oTfer- 

ii God: i: aA 
ever throughout your generations in all 
j m dwell 

lot And; ye shall count unto you from the 
V6 



LEVITICUS, XXIII. 



taw of atonement. 



CHAP. 22. 
i 7 Or, she 
I goat. 
y D-=u. 22. 6. 

: Ps l"7.22. 

, Pa. llo. 17. 

Amos 4. 5. 

: a eh. 19. 37. 

, Xu 16. ML 

D-eu. 4. 4o. 

5 Is. e. 3 

I Mat. 6. 9. 

J .-.;. ISA 
C£x 6. 7. 



CHAP. 23. 

a. 2 Kin. 10. 

an. 

Ps. si. 3. 

b Ex. S . 9. 
Ex. 23. 12. 
Deu. b. 13. 

CNeh.13.ai. 
1= .?: 2. 
Is. hH. 13. 
Is. 60- S3. 

Em*js :■: 

d Ex. 23. 14. 

e Ex. 12. B. 

Xu. 28. 16. 

Den. 16. 1. 

Mk i n 

fEx. 12. Ml 

' " Xu. 23. IS. 

g Ex. 23. 16. 

Xu. 13. i, 

IS. 

Den. 16. 9. 
Josh. 3. 15. 
1 : — ;r :r, 

haatfWL 

h Pro. 3. 9. 

| Ro. 11. 16. 

I 1 Cor. 15. 

30. 

Jam. 1.15, 

! Rer. 14. 4. 

i Ex. 29. 24. 

;' Ex. 34. 22. 

! Deu. 16. 9. 

1 Acta I 1. 

i I Ex. 23. 16. 
. Ex. 22. 29. 
1 Ex. 34. 22. 
Xu 15. 17. 
Xu 25. 2rf. 
Den. 26. 1. 
■ ■:.-. 4. B, 
S3. 
I Num. 28- 

n 

n Num. IS. 
12. 
Deu. IS. 4, 

2 r.-.:s: -/.v. 
o Ex. 23. l'L 

Deut. 15. 
1-1S. 
J:- 2. 19 
Pro. 14 SI. 

r«m a - 

Pro. 22.16. 
Ec. 5.S. 

tat a i. 

r neat. SL 

| 19. 

. q Nu. 29. 1. 

r :: . B 9. 
8 Xu 29. 7. 

.-. U M 
Km 5. 2. 
SChrJBJQ 

2The».3.6. 

i» r**t. 



morrow after the sabbath, from the day thai 
; ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; 

seven sabbaths shall be com} I 

16 Even unto the mom ; eventh 

sabbath shall ye number « fifty days 

ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the 

Lord. 

17 Ye shall bring out of your habitations 
two wave loaves of two tenth deals: they 
shall be of fine hour; they shall be 

' with leaven; they arc < the first-Iruits unto 
I the Lord. 
IS And ye shall offer with the bread seven 
without blemish of the nrst year, 
r young bullock, and two ranis: they 
shall be "for a burnt offering unto the Lord, 
with their meat offering and then 
offerings, even an offering made by hre, of 
sweet savour unto the Lord. 
19 Then ye shall sacrifice m one kid of 
its for a sin ofieringj and two lambs 
of the first year for a sacrifice of peace of- 

id the priest shall wave them with 

the bread of the first-fraits. for a wave 

offering before the Lord, with the two 

■ they shall be - holy to the Lord 

for the priest*. 

21 And ye shall proclaim on the selfsame 

st it may be an holy convocation 

: unto you : ye "shall do no senile work 

thereir..: it shall be a statute for ever hi 

all your dwellings throughout your genera- 

. tions. 

j 22 *" And ° when ve reap the harvest of 
your land, thou shalt not make dean rid. 
: dance of the con rs of thy field whe 
reapest. * neither shalt thou gather any 
gleaning of thy harvest: thou shalt leave 
them unto the "poor, and to the stranger: I 
am the Lord yon God. 

23 1 And the Lord spake unto Moses, 
saying, 

24 S^peak unto the children of Israel, say- 
ins. In the ■ seventh month, in the first 

: day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, 
a ' memorial of blowing of trumpets, an 
I holy con\ ocatiom 

i 25 le shall do no senile work therein; 
i but ye shall oner an offering made by fire 
i unto the Lord. 

1 2t3 r And the Lord spake unto Moses, 
saying; 

i 27 Also 8 on the tenth day of this seventh 
i month there snail be a day of atonem 
shall be ar. holy convocation unto you: and 
I ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offer- 
i ie by fire unto the Lord. 
2? And ve" shall do no weak in that same 
day; for it is a day of atonement, to make 
an"atonement for vou before the Lord your 
God. 

2y For whatsoever soul it be that shall not 
ted in that same day, ■ he shall be 
cut off rrom among his people. 
10 And whatsoever soul if be that doeth 
any work in that same day, the same soul 
will I destroy from among Ms people. 
31 Ye shall "do no manner of work: ii shall 
be a statute for ever throughout your gene- 
rations in all vour dwellings. 
S3 l: tkaQ be unto you a sabbath of rest, 
and ye shall afllkt your souls: in the : 
dag of tne month at even, from even unto 
even, shall ve 3 celebrate your sab"; 
33 r And "the Lord spake u 

U 6peak unto the children of Israel, 



7%e Priests in their Uncleanness. LEVITICUS, XXII. Laics Concerning Sacrifices. 



respectability of their office, and the honour 
of religion, required unblemished sanctity in 
their families as well as themselves, and de- 
partures from it in their case were visited 
with severer punishment than in that of 
others. 10-15. He that is the high priest—The 
indulgence in the excepted cases of family 
bereavement, mentioned above, which was 
granted to the common priests, was ienied 
to him; for his absence from the sanctuary 
for the removal of any contracted defilement 
could not have been dispensed with, neither 
could he have acted as intercessor for the 
people, unless ceremonially clean. More- 
over, the high dignity of his office demanded 
a corresponding superiority in personal 
holiness, and stringent rules were prescribed 
for the purpose of upholding the suitable 
dignity of his station and family. The same 
rules are extended to the families of Christian 
ministers. (1 Tim. 3. 2; Tit. 1. 6.) 16-24. Any 
blemish— As visible things exert a strong in- 
fluence on the minds of men, any physical 
infirmity or mal-formation of body in the 
ministers of religion, which disturbs the 
associations or excites ridicule, tends to 
detract from the weight and authority of the 
sacred office. Priests labouring under any 
personal defect were not allowed to officiate 
m the public service ; they might be employed 
in some inferior duties about the sanctuary, 
but could not perform any sacred office. In 
all these regulations for preserving the un- 
sullied purity of the sacred character and 
office, there was a typical reference to the 
priesthood of Christ. (He. 7, 26.) 
CHAPTER XXII. 
Ver. 1-9. The Priests in their Un- 
cleanness. 2. Separate themselves from the 
holy things — "To separate" means, in the 
language of the Mosaic ritual, " to abstain;" 
and therefore the import of this injunction 
is, that the priests should abstain from eat- 
ing that part of the sacrifices which, though 
belonging to their order, was to be partaken of 
only by such of them as were free from legal 
impurities, that they profane w t my holy name, 
&c— i. e., let them not, by their want of due 
reverence, give occasion to profane my holy 
name. A careless or irreverent use of things 
consecrated to God, tends to dishonour the 
name and bring disrespect on the worship of 
God. 3. Whosoever hejbe . . . tMt goeth unto 
the holy things— The multitude of minute 
restrictions to which the priests, from acci- 
dental defilement, were subjected, by keep- 
ing them constantly on their guard, lest they 
should be unfit for the sacred service, tended 
to preserve in full exercise the feeling of awe 
and submission to the authority of God. 
The ideas of sin and duty were awakened in 
their breasts by every case to which either 
an interdict or an injunction was applied. 
But why enact an express statute for priests 
disqualified by the leprosy or polluting touch 
9 of a carcase, when a general law was already 
in force which excluded from society all per- 
sons in that condition? Because priests 
might be apt, from familiarity to trifle with 
religion, and in committing irregularities or 
sins, to shelter themselves under the cloak 
of the sacred office. This law, there- 
fore, was passed, specifying the chief 
forms of temporary defilement which ex- 
cluded from the sanctuary, that priests 
might not deem themselves entitled to greater 
license than the rest of the people; and that 
93 



so far from being in any degree exempted 
from the sanctions of the law, they were 
under greater obligations, by their priestly 
station, to observe it in its strict letter and 
its smallest enactments. 

10-16. Who or the Priests' House may 
Eat of Them. 10. There shall no stranger eat 
the holy thing— The portion of the sacrifices 
assigned for the support of the officiating 
priests was restricted to the exclusive use of 
his own family. A temporary guest or a 
hired servant was not at liberty to eat of 
them; but an exception was made in favour of 
a bought or home-born slave, because such 
was a stated member of his household. On 
the same principle, his own daughter, who 
married a husband not a priest, could not eat 
of them; though, if a widow and childless, she 
was reinstated in the privileges of her father's 
house as before her marriage. But if she 
had become a mother, as her children had no 
right to the privileges of the priesthood, she 
was under a necessity of finding support 
for them elsewhere than under her father's 
roof. 13. There shall no stranger eat thereof— 
The interdict recorded {v. 10) is repeated to 
show its stringency. All the Hebrews, even 
the nearest neighbours of the priest, the 
members of his family excepted, were con- 
sidered strangers in this respect that they 
had no right to eat of things offered at the 
altar. 14. Eat of the holy things unwittingly 
—A common Israelite might unconsciously 
partake of what had been offered as tithes, 
first-fruits, <fcc, and on discovering his unin- 
tentional error, he was not only to restore as 
much as he had used, but be fined in a fifth 
part more for the priest to carry into the 
sanctuary. 15, 16. They shall not profane- 
There is some difficulty felt in determining 
to whom "they" refers. The subject of the 
preceding context being occupied about the 
priests, it is supposed by some that this re- 
lates to them also; and the meaning is, that 
the whole people would incur guilt through 
the fault of the priests, if they should defile 
the sacred offerings, which they would have 
done had they presented them while under 
any defilement. [Calvin.] According to 
others, "the children of Israel" is the no- 
minative in the sentence; which thus sigi. .- 
fies, the children of Israel shall not proiane 
or defile their offerings, by touching them or 
reserving any part of them, lest they incur 
the guilt of eating what is divinely appointed 
to the priests alone. [Calmet.] 

19-33. The Sacrifices must be without 
Blemish. 19. Ye shall offer at your own will- 
rather, to your being accepted, a male with- 
out blemish— This law (ch. 1. 3,) is founded on 
a sense of natural propriety, and hence the 
reasonableness of God's strong remonstrance 
with the worldly-minded Jews, (Mai. 1. 8.) 
23. that mayest thou offer, &c— The passage 
should be rendered thus: if thou offer it 
either for a free-will offering, or for a vow, it 
shall not be accepted. This sacrifice being 
required to be "without blemish," symboli- 
cally impl : 2d that the people of God were to 
dedicate themselves wholly with sincere pur- 
pose of heart, and its being required to be 
" perfect to be accepted," led them typically 
to Him, without whom no sacrifice could be 
offered acceptable to God. 27-28. it shall be 
seven days under the dam— Animals were not 
considered perfect nor good for food till the 
eighth day. As sacrifices are called the bread 



The feast of tabernacles. 



LEVITICUS, XXIV, XXV. 



The bhisph.em.er stove/f. 



saying, u The fifteenth day of this seventh 
month shall be the feast of tabernacles for 
seven days unto the Lord. 
3d On the first day shall be an holy con- 
vocation : ye shall do no servile work 
therein. m n • „ . 

36 Seven days ye shall offer an offering 
made by tire unto the Loud : " on the 
eighth day shall be an holy convocation 
unto you ; and ye shall oiler an offering 
made by lire unto the Lord: it is a 4 so- 
lemn assembly ; and ye shall do no servile 
work therein. „ . . 

37 These are the feasts of the Lord, which 
ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, 
to offer an offering made by lire unto the 
Lord, a burnt offering, and a meat ottering, 
a sacrifice, and drink offerings, every thing 
upon his day: 

38 Beside the sabbaths of the Lord, and 
beside your gifts, and beside all your vows, 
and beside all your free-will offerings, 
which ye give unto the Lord. 

39 Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh 
month, when ye have w gathered in the 
fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto 
the Lord seven days: on the lirst day shall 
be a sabbath, and on the eighth day sluitt be 
a sabbath. 

40 And x ye shall take you on the first day 
the 5 boughs of goodly trees, branches of 
palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, 
and willows of the brook; y and ye shall 
rejoice before the Lord your God seven 
days. 

41 And ye shall keep it a feast unto the 
Lord seven days in the year. It si dl be a 
statute for ever in your generations: ye 
shall celebrate it in the seventh month. 

42 Ye shall dwell in booths seven days; 
all that are Israelites born shall dwell in 
booths ; 

43 That z your generations may know that 
I made the children of Israel to dwell in 
booths, when I brought them out of the 
land of Egvpt: 1 am the Lord your God. 

44 And Moses declared unto the children 
of Israel the feasts of the Lord. 

CI1 AFTER XXIV. 
1 The oil for the lamps 5 The showbread. 10 
Shelomith's son blasphenxeth. 17 Of murder: 
18 of damage. 'Lv The blasphemer stoned. 

A ND the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 
-^ 2 Command a the children of Israel, 
that they bring unto thee pure oil olive 
beaten for the light, i to cause the lamps 
to burn continually. 

3 Without the veil of the testimony, in the 
tabernacle of the congregation, shall Aaron 
order it from the evening unto the morning 
before the Lord continually: it shall be a 
statute for ever in your generations. 

4 He shall order the lamps upon & the pure 
candlestick before the Lord continually. 

5 *i\ And thou shalt take fine Horn-, and 
bake twelve c cakes thereof: two tenth deals 
shall be in one cake. 

6 And thou shalt set them in two rows, 
six on a row, d upon the pure table before 
the Lord. 

7 And thou shalt put pure frankincense 
upon each row. that it may be on the bread 
for a memorial, even an offering made by 
fire unto the Lord. 

8 Every e sabbath he shall set it in order 
before the Lord continually, being taken 
from the children of Israel by an everlast- 
ing covenant. 

94 



CHAP. 23. 
v- Ex. 23. 10. 

Deu. 16.13. 

Ezra 3. 4. 

Zech. 14. 

16. 

John 7. 2. 
VNu. 29.35. 

John 7. 37. 

4 day of 
restraint. 
Deu. 16. 8. 
2 Chr. 7. 9. 

w Ex. 23.16. 
x Neh. 8. 15. 

5 fruit. 

V Deu. 16.14. 

* Deu. 31.13. 

Ps. 78. 5, 6. 



CHAP. 24. 
a Ex. 27. 20. 

1 to cause to 
ascend. 

b Ex. 31.8. 

Ex. 39. 37. 
c Ex. 26. 30. 
d 1 Ki. 7. 48. 

2 Chr. 4. 

19. 

Heb. 9. 2. 
e Nu. 4. 7. 

1 Chr. 9.32. 

2 Chr. 2. 4. 
/ISa. 21.6. 

Mat. 12. 4. 

Mark 2. 26. 

Luke 6. 4. 
g Ex. 29. 33. 

ch. 8. 3. 

ch. 21. 22. 
h Job 1. 5. 

Job 2.5,9. 

Is. 8 21. 
i Ex. 18. 22. 
j Nu. 15. 34. 

2 to expound 
unto them 
according 
to the 
mouth of 
the LORD. 
Ex. 18. 15, 
16. 

k Deu. 17. 7. 
I ch. 5. 1. 

Nu. 9. 13. 
mlKi.21.10. 

Ps. 74. 10, 

18. 

Mat.12.31. 

Mark 3.28. 

Jam. 2. 7. 
n Gen. 9. 6. 

Ex. 21. 12. 

Nu. 35. 31. 

Deu.19.11. 

Mat. 20.52. 

Rev. 13.10. 

3 smiteth the 
life of a 
man. 

4 life for 
life. 

o Mat. 7. 2. 
p Ex. 21. 33. 
q Ex. 12. 49. 
Nu. 15. 16 



CHAP. 25. 

1 rest. 

O Ex. 23. 10. 

2 Chr. 36. 
21. 
b 2 Ki. 19.29. 

2 of thy se- 
paration. 



9 And /it shall be Aaron's and his stirs'; 
and v they shall eat it in the holy place: i«>r 
it is most holy unto him of the offerings of 
the Lord made by fire by a perpetual 
statute. 

10 H And the son of an Israelitish woman, 
whose father was an Egyptian, went out 
among the children of Israel: and this son 
of the Israelitish ivoman and a man of 
Israel strove together in the camp ; 

11 And the Israelitish woman's son blas- 
phemed the name of the LORD, n and 
cursed. And they • brought him unco 
Moses: (and his mother's name was She- 
lomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe 
of Dan:) 

12 And they i put him in ward, 2 that the 
mind of the Lord might be showed them. 

13 And the Lord spake unto Moses, 
saying, 

14 Bring forth him that hath cursed with- 
out the camp; and let all that heard him 
lay * their hands upon his head, and let all 
the congregation stone him. 

15 And thou shalt speak unto the children 
of Israel, saying, Whosoever curseth his 
God l shall bear his sin. 

16 And he that m blaspheraeth the name 
of the Lord, he shall surely be put to 
death, and all the congregation shall cer- 
tainly stone him: as well the stranger, 
as he that is born in the land, when he 
blasphemeth the name of the LORD, shall 
be put to death. 

17 And n he that 3 killeth any man shall 
surely be put to death. 

18 And he that killeth a beast shall make 
it good ; 4 beast for beast. 

19 And if a man cause a blemish in his 
neighbour; as ° he hath done, so shall it be 
done to him ; 

20 Breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth 
for tooth: as he hath caused a blemish in a 
man, so shall it be done to him again. 

21 And** he that killeth a beastj he shall 
restore it: and he that killeth a man, lie 
shall be put to death. 

22 Ye shall have q one manner of law. as 
well for the stranger, as for one of your own 
country: for I am the Lord your Uod. 

23 H And Moses spake unto the children of 
Israel, that they should bring forth him that 
had cursed out of the camp, and stone him 
with stones. And the children of Israel did 
as the Lord commanded Moses. 

CHAPTER XXV. 

1 Sabbath of the seventh hear, 3 The jubilee. 14 
Of oppression, ltf A blessing of obedience. 35 
Of compassion: 47 of redeeming servants. 

AND the Lord spake unto Moses in 
""■ mount Sinai, saying, 

2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and 
say unto them, When ye come into the 
land which I give you, then shall the land 
1 keep a a sabbath unto the Lord. 

3 Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and 
six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, 
and gather in the fruit thereof; 

4 But in the seventh year shall be a sab- 
bath of rest unto the land, a sabbath lor 
the Lord: thou shalt neither sow thy field, 
nor prune thy vineyard. 

5 That * which groweth of its own accord 
of thy harvest thou shalt not reap, neither 
gather the grapes - of thy vine undressed: 
for it is a year of rest unto the land. 

6 And the sabbath of the laud shall be 
meat for. you; for thee, and for thy servant, 



The Passover. 



LEVITICUS, xxm. 



or food of God, 'v. 25,) to offer them imme- 
diately after birth, when they were unfit to 
he eaten, would have indicated a contempt 
of religion; and besides, this prohibition, as 
well as that contained in the following verse, 
inculcated a lesson of humanity or tenderness 
to the dam, as well as secured the sacrifices 
from all appearance of unfeeling cruelty. 
CHAPTER XXIII. 

Ver. 1-4. Of Sundry Feasts. 2. Speak 
unto the children of Israel concerning the feasts 
—lit, " the times of assembling, or solemni- 
ties, (Is. 33. 20 • and this is a preferable ren- 
dering, applicable to all sacred seasons men- 
tioned in this chapter, even the day of atone- 
ment, which was observed as a fast. They 
were appointed by the direct authority of 
God, and announced by a public proclama- 
tion, which is called "the joyful sound." 
(Ps. 89. 15.) Those "holy convocations," 
were evidences of Divine wisdom, and 
eminently subservient to the maintenance 
and diffusion of religious knowledge and 
piety. 3. seventh day is the sabbath— (See on 
Ex. 20. 8, 9.) The Sal bath has the precedence 
given to it, and it was to be "a holy convo- 
cation, " observed by families " in their 
dwellings;" where practicable, by the people 
repairing to the door of the tabernacle; at 
later periods, by meeting in the schools of the 
prophets, and in synagogues. 4. Feasts of the 
Lord in their seasons— Their observance took 
place in the parts of the year corresponding to 
our March, May, and September. Divine wis- 
dom was manifested in fixing them at those 
periods; in winter, when the days were short, 
and the roads broken up, a long journey was 
impracticable; while in summer, the harvest 
and vintage gave busy employment in the 
fields. Besides, another reason for the 
choice of those seasons probably was to 
counteract the influence of Egyptian associa- 
tions and habits. And God appointed more 
sacred festivals for the Israelites on the month 
of September than the people of Egypt had in 
honour of their idols. These institutions, 
however, were for the most part prospective, 
the observance being not binding on the 
Israelites during their wanderings in the 
wilderness, while the regular celebration was 
not to commence till their settlement in 
Canaan. 

5-8. The Passover, the Lord's passover— 
(See Ex. 12. 2, 14, 18.) The institution of the 
Passover was intended to be a perpetual 
memorial of the circumstances attending 
the redemption of the Israelites, while it 
had a typical reference to a greater re- 
demption to be effected for God's spiritual 
peoyle. On the first and last days of 
this feast, the people were forbidden to 
work; but while on the Sabbath they were 
not to do any work, on feast days they were 
permitted to dress meat— and hence the pro- 
hibition is restricted to "no servile work." 
At the same time, those two days were de- 
voted to " holy convocation"— special seasons 
of social devotion. In addition to the ordi- 
nary sacrifices of every day, there were to be 
" offerings by fire " on the altar, (see on Nu. 
28. 19,) while unleavened bread was to be 
t aten in families all the seven days. (See 1 
Cor. 5. 8.) 

9-14. The Sheaf of First-Fruits. 10. A 

sheaf of the first-fruits— A sheaf, lit. an omer, 

of the first-fruits of the barley harvest. The 

Larley Le.ng sooner ripe than the other 

04 



Feast of Pentecost. 

grains, the reaping of it formed the com- 
mencement of the general harvest season. 
The offering described in this passage was 
made on the 16th of the first month, and the 
day following the first Passover Sabbath, 
which was on the 15th : (corresponding to the 
beginning of our April) ; but it was reaped 
after sunset on the previous evening by 
persons deputed to go with sickles, and 
obtain samples from different fields. These 
being laid together in a sheaf or loose 
bundle, were brought to the court of the 
temple, where the grain was winnowed, 
parched, and bruised in a mortar. Then, 
after some incense had been sprinkled on it. 
the priest waved it aloft before the Lord 
towards the four different points of the com- 
pass, took a part of it and threw it into the fire 
of the altar— all the rest being reserved to 
himself. It was a proper and beautiful 
act, expressive of dependence on the God of 
nature and providence— common amongst 
all people, but more especially becoming the 
Israelites, who owed their land itself as well 
as all it produced to the Divine bounty. 
The offering of the wave-sheaf sanctified the 
whole harvest. (Ro. 11. 16.) At the same 
time, this feast had a typical character, and 
pre-intimated the resurrection of Christ, \l 
Cor. 15. 20,) who rose from the dead on the 
very day the first-fruits were offered. 

15-22. Feast of Pejstecost. Ye shall 
count from the morrow after the Sabbath— i. e., 
after the first day of the passover week, which 
was observed as a Sabbath. 16. Number 
fifty days— The 49th day after the presen- 
tation of the first-fruits, or the 50th, in- 
cluding it, was the feast of Pentecost. (See 
also Ex. 23. 16; Deu. 16. 9.) 17. Ye shall bring 
out of your habitations, &c — These loaves 
were made of "fine" or wheaten flour, the 
quantity contained in them being some- 
what more than 10 lbs. weight. As the 
wave-sheaf gave the signal for the com- 
mencement, the two loaves solemnized the 
termination of the harvest season. They 
were the first-fruits of that season, being 
offered unto the Lord by the priest in name 
of the whole nation. (See on Ex. 34. 22.) The 
loaves used at the Passover were unleaven- 
ed; those presented at Pentecost were leaven- 
ed—a difference which is thus accounted for, 
that the one was a memorial of the bread 
hastily prepared at their departure, while 
the other was a tribute of gratitude to God 
for their daily food, which was leavened. 
21. Ye shall proclaim on the selfsame day. . . an 
holy convocation— Though it extended over a 
week, the first day only was held as a Sab- 
bath, both for the national offering of first- 
fruits, and a memorial of the giving of the 
law. 22. Thou shalt not make clean riddance, 
&c— See on ch. 19. 9. The repetition of this 
law here probably arose from the priests 
reminding the people, at the presentation of 
the first-fruits, to unite piety to God with 
charity to the poor. 

23-25. Feast of Trumpets. In the seventh 
month, the first day of the month— That was 
the first day of the ancient civil year, a me- 
morial of blowing of trumpets— Jewish writers 
say that the trumpets were sounded 30 suc- 
cessive times, and the reason for the insti- 
tution was for the double purpose of 
announcing the commencement of the new 
year, which was {v. 25) to be religiously 
observed, (see Nu. 29. 3,) and of preparing 



Laws concerning 

and for thy maid, and for thy hired ser- 
vant, and for thy stranger that sojourneth 
with thee, 

7 And for thy cattle, and for the beast that 
are in thy land, shall all the increase there- 
of be meat. 

8 11 And thou shalt number seven sab- 
baths of years unto thee, seven times seven 
years ; and the space of the seven sabbaths 
of years shall be unto thee forty and nine 
years. , „ « 

9 Then shalt thou cause the trumpet 3 of 
the jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the 
seventh month: in c the day of atonement 
shall ye make the trumpet sound through- 
out all your land. 

10 And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, 
and d proclaim liberty throughout all the 
land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it 
shall be a jubilee unto you; and e ye shall 
return every man unto his possession, 
and ye shall return every man unto his 
family. 

11 A jubilee shall that fiftieth year be unto 
you: ye shall not sow, neither reap that 
which groweth of itself in it, nor gather the 
g rapes in it of thy vine undressed. 

12 For it is the jubilee ; it shall be holy 
unto you: ye shall eat the increase thereof 
out oi the field. 

13 In / the year of this jubilee ye shall 
return every man unto his possession. 

14 And if thou sell ought unto thy neigh- 
bour, or buyest ought of thy neighbour's 
hand, ye g shall not oppress one another: 

15 According to the number of years after 
the jubilee thou shalt buy of thy neighbour, 
and according unto the number of years of 
the fruits he shall sell unto thee: 

16 According to the multitude of years 
thou shalt increase the price thereof, and 
according to the fewness of years thou shalt 
diminish the price of it: for according to 
the number of the years of the fruits doth 
he soil unto thee. 

17 Ye h shall not therefore oppress one 
another; but thou shalt fear thy God: for 
1 am the Lord your God. 

18 IT Wherefore ye shall do my statutes, 
and keep my .judgments, and do them ; • and 
ye shall dwell in the land in safety. 

19 And the land shall yield her fruit, and 
ye shall eat your fill, and dwell therein in 
safety. 

20 And if ye shall say, J What shall we eat 
the seventh year? behold, we shall not sow, 
nor gather in our increase: 

21 Then 1 will k command my blessing 
upon you in the sixth year, and it shall 
bring forth fruit for three years. 

22 And l ye shall sow the eighth year, and 
eat yet of" 1 old fruit until the ninth year; 
until her fruits come in ye shall eat of the 
old store. 

23 IT The land shall not be sold * for ever: 
for n the land is mine ; for ye are ° strangers 
and sojourners with me. 

24 And in all the land of your posses- 
sion ye shall grant a redemption for the 
land. 

25 1T If p thy brother be waxen poor, and 
hath sold away some of his possession, and 
if ^ any of his kin come to redeem it, then 
shall he redeem that which his brother 
sold. 

26 And if the man have none to redeem 
it, and 5 himself be able to redeem it; 

27 Then let him count the years of the sale 

95 



LEVITICUS, XXV. 



the year of juHlee. 



CHAP. 25. 

3 loud of 
sound. 

«ch.23.24. 
d Is. 61. 2. 

Is. 63. 4. 

Jer. 34. 8. 

Lu. 4. 19. 

Gal. 5. 1. 
e Nu. 36. 4. 
/ Nu. 36. 4. 
9 1 Sa. 12. 3. 

Mic. 2. 2. 

1 Cor. 6. 8. 
h Pro. 14 31. 

Pro. 22. 22. 

Jer. 7. 6. 

Ezek. 22. 

29. 

1 Thes.4.6. 
i Pro. 1. 33. 
Jer. 23. 6. 
j Mat. 6. 25. 
k Ex. 16. 29. 
I 2 Kin. 19. 

w» Josh. 5.11. 

4 for cutting 
off, or, to 
bo quite 
cut off. 

n Deu. 32.43. 
Joel 2. 18. 

Ps. 119. 19. 
1 Pet. 2. 11. 

p Ruth 2. 20. 

1 Ruth 3. 2. 

5 his hand 
hath at- 
tained and 
found suf- 
ficiency. 

6 redemption 
belongeth 
unto it. 

r Josh. 21. 2. 

7 or, one of 
the Levite* 
redeem 
them. 

8 Acts 4. 36. 

8 his hand 
faileth. 

9 strengthen. 
t Deu. 15. 7. 

Ps. 37. 26. 
Pro. 14. 31. 
Lu. 6. 35. 
Acts 11. 29. 
Ro. 12. 18 
1 John 3. 
17. 
« Ex. 22.25. 

Deut. 23. 

19. 

Neh. 5. 7. 

Ps. 15. 5. 

Pro. 28. 8. 

V Ex. 21. 2. 
Deu. 15.12. 

1 Kin. 9. 
22. 

2 Kin. 4. 1. 
Jer. 34.14. 

10 serve 
thyself 
with him 
with the 
ser vice, 
etc. 

w Ro. 6. 22. 
1 Cor. 7.23. 

11 with the 
sale of a 
bondman. 

* Eph. 6. 9. 
Col. 4. r. 

V Mai. 3. 5. 



thereof, and restore the overplus unto the 
man to whom he sold it, that he may return 
unto his possession. 

28 But if he be not able to restore it to 
him, then that which is sold shall remain 
in the hand of him that hath bought it un- 
til the year of jubilee: and in the jubilee it 
shall go out, and he shall return unto his 
possession. 

29 And if a man sell a dwelling house in a 
walled city, then he may redeem it within 
a whole year after it is sold; within a full 
year may he redeem it. 

30 And if it be not redeemed within the 
space of a full year, then the house that 
is in the walled city shall be established 
for ever to him that bought it, throughout 
his generations: it shall not go out m the 
jubilee. 

31 But the houses of the villages which 
have no wall round about them shall be 
counted as the fields of the country: <> they 
may be redeemed, and they shall go out in 
the jubilee. 

32 Notwithstanding r the cities of the 
Levites, and the houses of the cities of their 
possession, may the Levites redeem at any 
time. 

33 And if 7 a man purchase of the Levites, 
then the house that was sold, and the city 
of his possession, shall go out in the year of 
jubilee: for the houses of the cities of the 
Levites are their possession among the 
children of Israel. 

34 But • the field of the suburbs of their 
cities may not be sold; for it is their per- 
petual possession. 

35 IT And if thy brother be waxen poor, 
and 8 fallen in decay with thee, then thou 
shalt 9 relieve < him ; yea, though he be a 
stranger, or a sojourner; that he may live 
with thee. 

36 Take M thou no usury of him, or in- 
crease: but fear thy God; that thy brother 
may live with thee. 

37 Thou shalt not give him thy money 
upon usury, nor lend him thy victuals for 
increase. 

38 1 am the Lord your God, which brought 
you forth out of the land of Egypt, to give 
you the land of Canaan, and to be your 
God. 

39 V And v if thy brother that dwelleth by 
thee be waxen poor, and be sold unto thee; 
thou shalt not i° compel him to serve as a 
bond-servant: 

40 But as an hired servant, and as a 
sojourner, he shall be with thee, and shall 
serve thee unto the year of jubilee. 

41 And then shall he depart from thee. 
both he and his children witn him, and 
shall return unto his own family, and unto 
the possession of his fathers shall he re- 
turn. 

42 For they are w my servants, which I 
brought forth out of the land of Egypt: 
they shall not be sold u as bondmen. 

43 Thou * shalt not rule over him with 
rigour, but y shalt fear thy God. 

44 Both thy bondmen and thy bondmaids, 
which thou shalt have, shall be of the hea- 
then that are round about you ; of them 
shall ye buy bondmen and bondmaids. 

45 Moreover of the children of the stran- 
gers that do sojourn among you, of them 
shall ye buy, and of their families that are 
with you, which they begat in your land; 
and they shall be your possession. 



Oil for the Lamps. 



LEVITICUS, XXTV, XXV. Sabbath of the Seventh Year. 



the people for the approaching solemn fast. 
27-32. A duy of atonement— An annual festival, 
at which the sins of the whole year were 
expiated. (See ch. 16. 29-34.) It is here only 
stated that the severest penalty was incurred 
by the violation of this day. 33-44. Thefeast 
of tabernacles— This festival, which was in- 
stituted in grateful commemoration of the 
Israelites having securely dwelt in booths or 
tabernacles in the wilderness, was the third 
of the three great annual festivals, and, like 
the other two, it lasted a week. It began on 
the 15th day of the month, corresponding to 
the end of our September and beginning of 
October, which was observed as a Sabbath; 
and it could be celebrated only at the 
place of the sanctuary, offerings being made 
on the altar every day of its continuance. 
The Jews were commanded during the whole 
period of the festival to dwell in booths, 
which were erected on the flat roofs of 
houses, in the streets or fields; and the trees 
made use of are by some stated to be the 
citron, the palm, the myrtle, and the willow, 
while others maintain the people were al- 
lowed to take any trees they could obtain 
that were distinguished for verdure and 
fragrance. While the solid branches were 
reserved for the construction of the booths, 
the lighter branches were carried by men, 
who marched in triumphal procession, sing- 
ing psalms, and crying " Hosanna !" which 
signifies, "Save, we beseech thee ! " (Ps. 118. 
15, 25, 26.) It was a season of great rejoicing. 
But the ceremony of drawing water from the 
pool, which was done on the last day, seems 
to have been the introduction of a later pe- 
riod. (J. 7. 37.) That last day was the eighth, 
and, on account of the scene at Siloam, was 
called " the great day of the feast." The feast 
of ingathering, when the vintage was over, 
was celebrated also on that day, and as the 
conclusion of one of the great festivals, it 
was kept as a Sabbath. 

CHAPTER XXIV. 
Ver. 1-23. Oil for the Lamps. 2. Com- 
mand the children of Israel— This is the repe- 
tition of a law given. (Ex. 27. 20, 21.) pure oil 
olive beaten— or cold-drawn, which is always 
of great purity. 3, 4. Aaron shall order it from 
the evening unto the morning— The daily pre- 
sence of the priests was necessary to super- 
intend the cleaning and trimming, of the pure 
candlestick— so called because of pure gold. 
This was symbolical of the light which 
ministers are to diffuse through the Church. 
5-9. Take fine flour and bake twelve cakes— for 
the show bread, as previously appointed. (Ex. 
25. 30.) Those cakes were baked by the Levites, 
the flour being furnished by the people, (1 Chr. 
9. 32; 23. 29,) oil, wine, and salt being the other 
ingredients, (ch. 2. 13.) two tenth deals— i.e., 
of an ephah— l?f lbs. weight each; and on 
each row or pile of cakes some irankincense 
was strewed, which, being burnt, led to the 
show bread being called " an offering made 
by fire." Every Sabbath a fresh supply was 
furnished: hot loaves were placed on the 
altar instead of the stale ones which, having 
lain a week, were removed, and eaten only 
by the priests, except in cases of necessity. 
(1 Sa. 21. 3-6; also L. 6. 3, 4.) 10. The son of an 
Israelitish woman, &c— This passage narrates 
the enactment of a new law, with a detail of 
the circumstances which gave rise to it. The 
" mixed multitude" that accompanied the Is- 
raelites in their Exodus from Egypt, creates 
95 



a presumption that marriage connections of 
the kind described were not infrequent. 
And it was most natural, in the relative 
circumstances of the two people, that the 
father should be an Egyptian, and the 
mother an Israelite. 11. Blasphemed the name 
of the Lord— A youth of this half-blood, hav- 
ing quarrelled with a native Israelite, vented 
his rage in some horrid form of impiety. It 
was a common practice among the Egyptians 
to curse their idols, when disappointed in 
obtaining the object of their petitions. The 
Egyptian mind of this youth thought the 
greatest insult to his opponent was to blas- 
pheme the object of his religious reverence. 
He spoke disrespectfully of one who sustain- 
ed the double character of the king as well 
as the God of the Hebrew people; and as the 
offence was a new one, he was put in ward 
till the mind of the Lord was ascertained as 
to his disposal. 14. Bring forth him without 
the camp— All executions took place without 
the camp ; and this arrangement probably 
originated in the idea, that, as the Israelites 
were to be "a holy people," all flagrant offend- 
ers should be thrust out of their society, let all 
that heard him lay, &c— The imposition of 
hands formed a public and solemn testimony 
against the crime, and at the same time made 
the punishment legal. 16. As well the stranger 
as he that is born in the land— Although stran- 
gers were not obliged to be circumcised, yet 
by joining the Israelitish camp they became 
amenable to the law, especially that which 
related to blasphemy. 17 22. He that killeth 
any man— These verses contain a repetition 
of some other laws, relating to offences of a 
social nature, the penalties for which were 
to be inflicted not by the hand of private 
parties, but through the medium of the 
judges before whom the cause was brought. 
23. The children of Israel did as the Lord com- 
manded—The chapter closes with the execu- 
tion of Shelomith's son— and stoning having 
afterwards became the established punish- 
ment in all cases of blasphemy, illustrates 
the fate of Stephen, who suffered under a false 
imputation of that crime. 

CHAPTEE XXV. 

Ver. 1-7. Sabbath of the Seventh 
Year. 2-4. When ye come to the land which I 
give unto you— It has been questioned on 
what year, after the occupation of Canaan, 
the Sabbatic year began to be observed. 
Some think it was the seventh year after their 
entrance. But others, considering that as the 
first six years were spent in the conquest 
and division of the land, (Josh. 5. 12, ) and that 
the Sabbatical year was to be observed after 
six years of agriculture, maintain that the ob- 
servance did not commence till the 14th year, 
the land keep a Sabbath unto the Lord— This 
was a very peculiar arrangement. Not only 
all agricultural processes were to be inter- 
mitted every seventh year.but the cultivators 
had no right to the soil. It lay entirely fal- 
low, and its spontaneous produce was the 
common property of the poor and the stran- 
ger, the cattle and game. This year of rest 
was to invigorate the productive powers of 
the land, as the weekly Sabbath was a re- 
freshment to men and cattle. It commenced 
immediately after the feast of ingathering; 
and it was calculated to teach the people, 
in a remarkable manner, the reality of the 
presence and providential power of God. 

8-23. The Jubilee. Thou shalt number 



LEVITICUS, XXVT. 



B. C. 1490. 



BUssingsfor obedierice. 

4G And ye shall take them us an inheri- 1 
tance for your children after you, to inherit 
tht m for a possession ; 12 they shall be your j chap. 25. 

12 ye sh*n 
serve 

yourselre* 
with thetn. 

13 liia hand 
obtain, 
etc. 

14 Or, by 
these 
meant. 



Curses for disol>ediertce. 



bondmen for ever: but over vour brethren 
the children of Israel ye shall not rule one 
over another with rigour. 

47 r And if a sojourner or stranger 13 wax 
rich by thee, and thy brother that dicelleth 
by him wax poor, and sell himself unto the 
stranger or sojourner by thee, or to the 
stock of the stranger's family: 

48 After that he is sold he may be re- 
deemed again; one of his brethren may 
redeem him: 

4'J Either his uncle, or his uncle's son, may 
redeem him, or any that is nigh of kin unto j 
him or' his family may redeem him; or, if he 
be able, he may redeem himself. 

50 And he shall reckon with him that ! 
bought him from the year that he was sold I 
to him unto the year of jubilee: and the 
price of his sale shall be according unto 
the number of years, according to the 
time of an hired servant shall it be with 
him. 

51 If there be yet many years behind, ac- 1 25. 
cording unto them he snail give again the | ' } <*£- B 
price of his redemption out of the money 
that he was bought for. 

52 And if there remain but few years unto 
the year of jubilee, tuen he shall count with 
him, and according unto his years shall he 
give hirn again the price of his redemp- 
tion. 

53 And as a yearly hired servant shall he 
be with him: and the other shall not rule 
with rigour over him in thy si^ht. 

54 And if he be not redeemed M in these 
ytars, then he shall go out in the year of! £ Kin s* 13 
jubilee, both he, and his children witn 
nim 

55 For unto me the children of Israel are 
servants ; they are my servants whom I 



CHAP. 26. 
a Ex. 20. 4,5, 

Pa. 97. 7. 

1 Or, pillar, 

2 a stone of 
picture, or, 
figured 
stone. 

6 Is. 30. 23. 
c Deu. 11.15. 

Jool 2. 19, 

26. 
d Job 11. 18. 

Ezek. 34. 



Is. 45. 7. 
/Ps. 3.5. 

Jer. 30. 10. 
3 cause to 

cease. 
g 2 Kin. 17. 

25. 

Er.ek.6.17. 

Ezck.14.15. 
h Josh .23.10. 

Ezek. 14 

17. 
% Ex. 2. 25. 



3. 
j Ge. 17. 6, 7. 
k Ezek. 37. 



I Deu. 32.19. 



brought forth out of the land of Egypt: 1 1 ♦» 2 Cor. 6. 
am tne Lord your God. 

CHAPTER XXVI. 
1 Of idolatry. 2 Of religiousness. 3 A blessing to ' n Ezek. 11 



10. 

E r h. 2.21. 

Heb. 3. 6. 



40 



tne obedient 14 A curse to the disobedient, 
A premise to the penitent. 

"yE shall make you a no idols nor graven 
x image, neither rear you upa 1 standing 
image, neither shall ye set up any 2 image 
of stone in your laud, to bow down unto it: 
for I urn the Lord your God. 

2 Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and rever- 
ence my sanctuary: I am the Lord. 

3 H If ye walk in my statutes, and keep 
my commandments, and do them; 

4 Then ' I will give you rain in due sea- 
son, and the land shall yield her increase, 
and the trees of the held shall yield their 
fruit. 

5 And your threshing shall reach unto the 
vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto 
the sowing time; and c ye shall eat your 
bread to the full, and d dwell in your land 
safely. 

6 And e I will give peace in the land, and 
ye / shall lie down, and none shall make 
vou afraid; and 1 will * rid 9 evil beasts out 
of the land, neither shall /l the sword go 
through your land. 

7 And ye shad chase your enemies, and 
the) shall fall before >ou by the sword. 

8 And live of you shall chase an hundred, 
and ;.n hundred of you dial] put ten thou- 
sand to ni^hi: and your enemies shall fall yu,5exis 



20. 
o Ezek. 34. 

27. 
P Deu. 28.15. 
2 2 Kin. 17. 

15. 
4 upon you. 
r Deu. 28.22. 
« 1 Sa. 2. 33. 
t Job 31. 8. 
t« Judg. 2.14. 
» Ps. 106. 41. 
«• Ps. 53. 5. 

* 1 Sa. 2. 5. 
V 1 Sa. 4. 10. 

Is. 25. 11. 

* Ps. 127. 1. 
Is. 49. 4. 

o Deu. 28.18. 

Hag. 1. 10. 
6 Or, at all 

adventures 

with me. 
6 2 Ki. 17. 25. 
c Judg. 6. 6. 

2 Chr. 15.5. 

Zcch. 7. 14. 
d Jer. 5. 3. 
e 2 Sam. 22. 

27. 
/ Ezek.j6. 3. 
g Aro os 4.10. 
h is. 3. 1. 
, >ik. 6. 14. 



beiore jou by the sword. 



k 2 Ki. C. 29. 



9 For I will » have respect unto you, and 
make J vou fruitful, and multiply you, and 
establish my covenant with you. 

10 And ye shall eat old store, and bring 
forth the old because of the new. 

11 And k I will set my tabernacle among 
you, and my soul shall not <■ abhor you. 

12 And m I will walk among vou, and 
will n be your God, and ye shall be my 
people. 

13 1 am the Lord your Gochwftich brought 
you forth out of the land of Egypt, that e 
should not be their bondmen; "and I bate 
broken the bands of your yoke, and made 
you go upright. 

14 1i But *if ye will not hearken unto 
me, and will not do all these command- 
ments; 

15 And if ye shall q despise my statutes, or 
if your soul abhor my judgments, so that 
ye will not do all my commandments, but 
that ye break my covenant: 

lb' 1 also will do this unto yen; I will even 
appoint * over you terror, r consumption, 
and the burning ague, that shall 8 consume 
the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart: and 
ye e shall sow your seed in vain, for your 
enemies shall eat it. 

17 And 1 w ill set my face against you, and 
ye u shall be slain before your enemies: 
they v that hate you shall reign over you; 
and w ye shall flee when none pursueih 
you. 

18 And if ye will not yet for all this hear- 
ken unto me, then I will punish you - seven 
times more for your sins. 

ly And I will v break the pride of your 
power ; and I will make your heaven as 
non, and your earth as brass: 

20 And your * strength shall be spent in 
vain: for ~ a your land shall not yield her in- 
crease, neither shall the trees of the land 
yield their fruits. 

21 And if ye walk 5 contrary unto me, and 
will not hearken unto me; 1 will bring 
seven times more plagues upon you, ac- 
cording to your sins. 

22 1 b will also send wild beasts among 
you, which shall rob you of yoni children, 
and destroy your cattle, and make you lew 
in number; and c your high ways shall be 
desolate. 

2-3 And if ve d will not be reformed by me 
by these things, but will walk conuary 
unto me; 

24 Then e will I also walk contrary unto 
you, and will punish you yet seven times 
for your sins. 

25 And / 1 will bring a sword upon you, 
that shall avenge the quarrel of my c< te- 
nant: and when ye are gathered together 
within your cities, 1 y will send the pesti- 
lence among you; and ye shall be 'delivered 
into the hand of the enemy. 

26 And h when I have broken the staff 
of your bread, ten women shall bake your 
bread in one oven, and they shall deliver 
you your bread again by weight: and l j« 
shall eat, and not be satisfied. 

27 And if ye will not lor all this hear- 
ken unto me, but walk contrary unto 
me; 

28 Then I will walk contrary ui to you 
also i in fury ; and 1, even 1, will chastise 
you seven tiines ior vour sins. 

29 And * ye shall eat the flesh of your 
sons, and tne flesh of your daUiditers shall 
ye eat. 



The Jubilee. 



LEVITICUS, XXVI. 



The Usage of Bondmen. 



seven Sabbaths of years— This most extraor- 1 
dinaryof all civil institutions, which received 
the name of "Jubilee" from a Heb. word 
signifying a musical instrument, a horn 
or trumpet, began on the 10th day of the 
seventh month, or the great day of atone- 
ment, when, by order of the public authori- 
ties, the sound of trumpets proclaimed the 
beginning of the universal redemption All 
prisoners and captives obtained their liber- 
ties, slaves were declared free, and debtors 
were absolved. The land, as on the Sabbatic 
year, was neither sowed nor reaped, but al- 
lowed to enjoy with its inhabitants a Sabbath 
of repose; and its natural produce was the 
common property of all. Moreover, every 
inheritance throughout the land of Judea was 
restored to its ancient owner, hallow the 
fiftieth year— Much difference of opinion ex- 
ists as to whether the jubilee was observed 
on the 49th, or in round numbers, it is 
called the 50th. The prevailing opinion, 
both in ancient and modern times, has been 
in favour of the latter. 12. Ye shall eat the 
increase thereof, &c— All that the ground 
yielded spontaneously during that period 
might be eaten for their necessary subsist- 
ence, but no persons were at liberty to 
hoard or form a private stock in reserve. 
13. Ye shall return, <fec— Inheritances, from 
whatever cause, and how frequently soever 
they had been alienated, came back into the 
hands of the original proprietors. This law 
of entail, by which the right heir could never 
be excluded, was a provision of great wis- 
dom for preserving families and tribes per- 
fectly distinct, and their genealogies faith- 
fully recorded, in order that all might have 
evidence to establish their right to the an- 
cestral property. Heuce the tribe and family 
of Christ were reaaily discovered at his 
birth. 17. Ye shall not oppress one another 
— This, which is the same as v. 14, re- 
lated to the sale or purchase of possessions, 
and the duty of paying an honest and equit- 
able regard, on both sides, to the limited 
period during which the bargain could stand. 
The object of the legislator was, as far as 
possible, to maintain the original order of 
families, and an equality of condition among 
the people. 21, 22. I will command my bless- 
ing 1 , <fcc— A provision was made, by the spe- 
cial interposition of God, to supply the defi- 
ciency of food which would otherwise have 
resulted from the suspension of all labour 
during the Sabbatic year. The sixth year 
was to yield a miraculous supply for three 
continuous years. And the remark is ap- 
plica^e to the year of Jubilee as well as 
the Sabbatic year. (See allusions to this 
extraordinary provision in 2 Ki. 19. 29; Is. 37. 
30.) None but a legislator who was conscious 
of acting under Divine authority would have 
staked his character on so singular an enact- 
ment as that of the Sabbatic year; and none 
but a people who had witnessed the fulfilment 
of the Divine promise would have been in- 
duced to suspend their agricultural prepara- 
tions on a recurrence of a periodical Jubi- 
lee. 23-28. The land shall not be sold for ever— 
or, "be quite cut off," as the margin better 
renders it. The land was God's, and, in 
prosecution of an important design, he gave 
it to the people of his choice, dividing it 
amongst their tribes and families— who, 
however, held it of Him merely as tenants 
at will, and had no right or power of dis- 



posing of it to strangers. In necessitous 
circumstances, individuals might effect a 
temporary sale. But they possessed the 
right of redeeming it, at any time, on pay- 
ment of an adequate compensation to the 
present holder ; and by the enactments of 
the Jubilee they recovered it free— so that 
the land w T as rendered inalienable. (See an ex- 
ception to this law, ch. 27. 20. 29-31. If a man 
sell a dwelling-house— All sales of houses were 
subject to the same condition. But there 
was a difference between the houses of 
villages, which, being connected with agri- 
culture, were treated as parts of the land ; 
and houses possessed by trading people or 
foreigners in walled towns, which could only 
be redeemed within the year after the sale; 
if not then redeemed, these did not revert 
to the former owner at the Jubilee. 32-34. 
Notwithstanding the cities, &c— The Levites, 
having no possessions but their towns and 
their houses, the law conferred on them the 
same privileges that were granted to the 
lands of the other Israelites. A certain 
portion of the lands surrounding the Leviti- 
cal cities was appropriated to them for the 
pasturage of their cattle and flocks. (Nu. 
35. 4, 5.) This was a permanent endow- 
ment for the support of the ministry, and 
could not be alienated for any time. The 
Levites, however, were at liberty to make 
exchanges amongst themselves; and a priest 
might sell his house, garden, and right of 
pasture to another priest, but not to an 
Israelite of another tribe. (Jer. 31. 7-9.) 
35-38. If thy brother be wexen poor, relieve 
him— This was a most benevolent provi- 
sion for the poor and un ortunate, designed 
to aid them or alleviate the evils of their 
condition. Whether a native Israelite or a 
mere sojourner, his richer neighbour was 
required to give him food, lodging, and a 
supply of money without usury. The latter 
was severely condemned, Ps. 15. 5; Ez. 18. 
8, 17,) but the prohibition cannot be con- 
sidered as applicable to the modern prac- 
tice of rren in business borrowing and 
lending at legal rates of interest. 39-46. If 
thy brother be wnxen poor, and be sold unto 
thee — An Israelite n ight be compelled, 
through misfortune, not only to mortgage his 
inheritance, but himself. In the event of his 
being reduced to this distress, he was to be 
treated not as a slave, but a hired servant, 
whose engagement was temporary, and who 
might, through the friendly aid of a relative, 
be redeemed at any time before the Jubilee. 
The ransom money was determined on a 
most equitable principle. Taking account 
of the number of years from the proposal 
to redeem and the Jubilee— of the current 
wages of labour for that time, and multi- 
plying the remaining years by that sum, 
the amount was to be paid to the master for 
his redemption. But if no such friendly in- 
terposition w r as made for a Hebrew slave, he 
continued in servitude till the year of 
Jubilee, when, as a matter of course, he 
regained his liberty, as well as his inherit- 
ance. Viewed in the various aspects in 
which it is presented in this chapter, the 
Jubilee was an admirable institution, and 
subservient in an eminent degree to uphold 
the interests of religion, social order, and 
freedom amongst the Israelites. 
CHAPTER XXVI. 
Ver. 1, 2. Of Idolatry. 1. Ye shall make 



God's promise to the penitent. 



LEVITICUS, XXVII. 



Concerning vows. 



30 And 1 1 will destroy your high places, 
and cut down your images, and m cast your 
carcases upon the carcases of your idols, 
and my soul shall n abhor you. #> 

31 And ° I will make jour cities waste, and 
bring p your sanctuaries unto desolation, 
and 1 will not smell the savour of your 
sweet odours. 

32 And * 1 will bring the land into desola- 
tion: and your enemies which dwell therein 
shall be astonished at it. 

33 And r I will scatter you among the 
heathen, and will draw out a sword after 
you: and your land shall be desolate, and 
your cities waste. 

34 Then 8 shall the land enjoy her sab- 
baths, as long as it lieth desolate, and ye 
be in your enemies' land ; even then shall 
the land rest, and enjoy her sabbaths. 

35 As long as it lieth desolate it shall rest; 
because it did not rest in your sabbaths, 
when ye dwelt upon it. 

36 And upon them that are left alive of 
you I * will send a faintness into their 
hearts in the lands of their enemies ; and 
the u sound of a 6 shaken leaf shall chase 
them ; and they shall flee, as fleeing from a 
sword; and they shall fall when none pur- 
sueth. 

37 And v they shall fall one upon another, 
as it were before a sword, when none pur- 
sueth: and w ye shall have no power to 
stand betore your enemies. 

38 And ye shall perish among the hea- 
then, and the land of your enemies shall 
eat you up. 

30 And they that are left of you * shall pine 
away in their iniquity in your enemies' 
lands; and also in the iniquities of their 
fathers shall they pine away with them. 

40 If y they shall conless their iniquity, and 
the iniquity of their fathers, with their 
trespass which they trespassed against me, 
and that also they have walked contrary 
unto me ; 

41 And that I also have walked contrary 
mito them, and have brought them into the 
laud of their enemies; if then their *uncir- 
cumcised hearts be u humbled, and they 
then accept of the punishment of their ini- 
quity: 

42 Then will I & remember my covenant 
with Jacob, and also my covenant with 
Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham 
will I remember; and I will c remember the 
land. 

43 The land also shall be left of them, and 
shall enjoy her sabbaths, while she lieth 
desolate without them: and they shall ac 
cept of the punishment of their iniquity 
because, even because they despised my 
judgments, and because their soul abhorred 
my statutes. 

44 And yet for all that, when they be in 
the land of their enemies, 1 d will not cast 
them away, neither will 1 abhor them, to 
destroy them utterly, and to break my 
covenant with them: for I am, the Lord 
their God. 

45 But I will e for their sakes remember 
the covenant of then ancestors, / whom I 
brought forth out of the land of Egypt * in 
the sight of the heathen, that 1 might be 
their God: 1 am the Lord. 

46 These h are the statutes and judgments 
and laws which the Lord made between 
him and the children of Israel » in mount 
Sinai by the hand of ivl uses. 

07 



CHAP. 26. 



, 34.3. 
n. 23. 



I 2 Chi 
wi2 K 
20. 
n Pb. 78. 59. 

Neh. 2. 3. 
Jer. 5. 10. 

p Lam. 1.10. 

1 Jer. 9. 11. 
Jer. 25.11. 

r Deu. 4. 27. 

Deu. 28.64. 

Pb. 44. 11. 

Ezek.12.15. 

Ezek. 20. 

23. 

Zech. 7 14. 
« 2 Chr. 36. 

21. 
t Ezek. 21. 7. 
u Pro. 28. 1. 
6 driven. 
v Judg. 7.22. 

Is. 10. 4. 
w Judg. 2.14. 
* Neh. 1. 9. 

Jer. 3. 25. 

Jer. 20. 12. 
y Num. 5. 7. 

lKi.8. 33. 

Neh. 9. 2. 

Job 34. 31. 

Pro. 28.13. 

Jer. 3. 12. 

Lu. 15 18. 

1 John 1.9. 
« Jer. 9. 25. 

Ezek. 44. 7. 
Acts 7. 61. 
Ro. 2. 29. 
Git. 2. 11. 
a 1 Kin. 21. 
29. 

2 Chr .12.6. 
b Ex, 2. 24. 

Ex. 6. 5. 

Ps. 10-. 45. 

E/.ek.l6.6>. 

c Ps. 13o. 23. 

d Deu. 4 31. 

2 Kin. 13. 

23. 

Ro. 11. 2. 
e Ro 11. 28. 
fch. 22. 33. 
g Ps. 98. 2. 

Ezek. 20.9. 
h Deu. 6. 1. 

Deu. 12. 1. 

Deu. 33. 4. 

John 1. 17. 
i ch. 25. 1. 



CHAP. 27. 

a Nu. 6. 2. 
Judg. 11. 
30, 31, 39. 

1 Sam. 1. 
11,28. 

b Ex. 30. 13. 
c Luke 21. 1. 

2 Cor. 8. 
12. 

1 shall be 
sacrificed. 

2 according 
to thy es- 
timation, O 
priest, etc. 

d Nu. 18. 14. 
2 Cor. 9. 
10. 

3 Or, the 
land ot an 
homer, 
etc 

• cu. 25. 15. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

1 Concerning voivs. 26 Of the Lord's ftmtlinas. 
28 iVo devoted thing may be redeemed. iJU '/Vie 
tithe may not be changed. 

AMD the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 
2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and 
say unto them, a When a man shall make a 
singular vow, the person shall be for the 
Lord by thy estimation. 

3 And thy estimation shall be of the male 
from twenty years old even unto sixty 
years old, even thy estimation shall be fifty 
shekels of silver, after b the shekel of the 
sanctuary. 

4 And if it be a female, then thy estima 
tion shall be thirty shekels. 

5 And if it be from five years old <ne i 
unto twenty years old, then thy est : mati ;>n 
shall be of the male twenty shekels, ai d 
for the female ten shekels. 

6 And if it be from a month old even unto 
five years old, then thy estimation shalJ '. e 
of the male five shekels of silver, and tor 
the female thy estimation shall be three 
shekels of silver. 

7 And if it be from sixty years old and 
above; if it be a male, then thy estimation 
shall be fifteen shekels, and for the female 
ten shekels. 

8 But c if he be poorer than thy estimation, 
then he shall present himself before the 
priest, and the priest shall value him ; ac- 
cording to his ability that vowed shall the 
priest value him. 

And if it be a beast, whereof men bring 
an offering unto the Lord, all that axy 
man giveth of such unto the Lord 1 shall 
be holy. 

10 He shall not alter it, nor change it, a 
good for a bad, or a bad for a good: and if 
he shall at all change beast for beast, then 
it and the exchange thereof shall be 
holy. 

11 And if it be any unclean beast, of which 
they do not offer a sacrifice unto the Lord, 
then he shall present the beast before the 
priest: 

12 And the priest shall value it, whether it 
be good or bad: « as thou vaiuest it, who 
art the priest, so shall it be. 

13 But if he will at all redeem it, then he 
shall add a fifth part thereof unto thy esti- 
mation. 

14 H And when a man shall * sanctify his 
house to be holy unto the Lord, then the 
priest shall estimate it, whether it be good 
or bad: as the priest shall estimate it, so 
shall it stand. 

15 And if he that sanctified it will redeem 
his house, then he shall add the fifth part 
of the money of thy estimation unto it, and 
it shall be his. 

16 And if a man shall sanctify unto the 
Lord some part of a field of his possession, 
then thy estimation shall be according to 
the seed thereof: 3 an homer of barley seed 
shall be valued at fifty shekels of silver. 

17 If ne sanctify his field from the year of 
jubilee, according to thy estimation it sliall 
stand. . 

18 But if he sanctify his field after the ju- 
bilee, then the priest shall " reckon unto 
him the money according to the years 
that remain, even unto the year of the 
jubilee, and it shall be abated from thy 
estimation. , , „ , , .„ 

10 And if he that sanctified the field will 
in any wise redeem it, then lie shall add 



A Blessing to the Obedient. 



LEVITICUS, XXVI. 



A Curse to the Disobedient 



you no idols— Idolatry had been previously for- 
bidden, (Ex. 20. 4, 5,) but the law was repeated 
here with reference to some particular forms 
of it that were very prevalent among the 
neighbouring nations, a standing image— 
i.e., upright pillar, the image of stone — 
i.e., an obelisk, inscribed with hieroglyphical 
and superstitious characters. The former 
denoting the common and smaller pillars of 
the Syrians or Canaanites; the latter, pointing 
to the large and elaborate obelisks which the 
Egyptians worshipped as guardian divinities, 
or used as stones of adoration to stimulate 
religious worship. The Israelites were en- 
joined to beware of them. 2. Ye shall keen my 
Sabbaths— Very frequently, in this book of 
the law, the Sabbath and the sanctuary are 
mentioned as antidotes to idolatry. 

B-iS. A Blessing to the Obedient. 3. 1 
If ye walk in my statutes— In that covenant 
into which God graciously entered with the 
people of Israel, He promised to bestow ! 
upon them a variety of blessings, so long as I 
they continued obedient to Him as their j 
Almighty Ruler; and in their subsequent ! 
history that people found every promise 
amply fulfilled, in the enjoyment of plenty, 
peace, a populous country, and victory over 
all enemies. 4. 1 will give you rain in due season 
—Rain seldom fell in Judea except at two sea- 
sons—the former rain at the end of autumn— 
the seedtime; and the latter rain in spring, 
before the beginning of harvest. (Jer. 5. 24.) | 
5. Your threshing shall reach, &c— The barley 
harvest in Judea was about the middle of . 
April ; the wheat harvest about six weeks i 
after, or in the beginning of June. After the 
harvest comes the vintage, and fruit-gather- 
ing towards the latter end of July. Moses 
led the Hebrews to believe, that, provided 
they were faithful to God, there would be no 
idle time between the harvest and vintage, 
so great would be the increase. (See Amos, 
9. 13.) This promise would be very animating 
to a people who had come from a country 
where, for three months, they were pent up 
without being able to walk abroad, from the 
fields being under water. 10. Ye shall eat old 
store— Their stock of old corn would be still 
unexhausted and large when the next har- 
vest brought a new supply. 13. I have 
broken the bands of your yoke— a metaphorical 
expression to denote their emancipation 
from Egyptian slavery. 

14-39. A Curse to the Disobedient. 
But if ye will not, &c— In proportion to the 
great and manifold privileges bestowed upon 
the Israelites, would be the extent of their ! 
national criminality and the severity of their 
national punishments if they disobeyed. 16. 
Terror — the falling sickness. [Patrick.] 
consumption and the burning ague— Some con- 
sider these as symptoms of the same disease; 
consumption followed by the shivering, burn- 
ing, and sweating fits that are the usual 
concomitants of that malady. According to 
the Septuagint, ague is "the jaundice," which j 
disorders the eyes and produces great depres- \ 
sion of spirits. Others, however, consider the ! 
word as referring to a scorching wind;— no 
certain explanation can be given. 18. Punish 
you seven times more— i.e., with far more severe 
and protracted calamities. 19. Will make your 
heaven as iron— No figures could have been 
employed to convey a better idea of severe and 
long-continued famine. 22. I will send wild 
beasts— This was one of the four judgments 
97 



threatened. (Ez. 14. 21; see also 2 Ki, 2. 24.) 
your highways, &c— Trade and commerce will 
be destroyed— freedom and safety w ill be gone 
— neither stranger nor native will be found 
on the roads. (Is. 33. 8.) This is an exact 
picture of the present state of the Holy Land, 
which has long lain in a state of desolation, 
brought on by the sins of the ancient Jews. 
26. Ten women shall bake. <tc— The bread used 
in families is usually baked by women, and at 
home. But.sometimes also, in times of scar- 
city, it is baked in public ovens for want of 
fuel; and the scarcity predicted here would be 
so great, that one oven would be sufficient to 
bake as much as ten women used in ordi- 
nary occasions to provide for family use; and 
even this scanty portion of bread would be 
distributed by weight. (Ez. 4. 16.) 29. Ye 
shall eat the flesh of your sons — The re- 
volting picture was actually exhibited at 
the siege of Samaria, at the siege of Jeru- 
salem by Nebuchadnezzar, (Lam, 4. 10,) and 
at the destruction of that city by the Ro- 
mans. (See on Deu. 28.) 30. I will destroy 
your high places— Consecrated enclosures on 
the tops of mountains, or on little hillocks, 
raised for practising the rites of idolatry. 
Cut down your images— According to some, 
those images were made in the form of 
chariots, (2 Ki. 23. 11 ;) according to others, 
they were of a conical form, like small pyra- 
mids. Reared in honour of the sun, they 
were usually placed on a very high situation, 
to enable the worshippers to have a better 
view of the rising sun. They were *forbid- 
den to the Israelites, and when set up, or- 
dered to be destroyed. Cast your carcases, 
<fec— Like the statues of idols, which, when 
broken, lie neglected and contemned, the 
Jews during the sieges and subsequent cap- 
tivity often wanted the rites of sepulture. 
31. I will make your cities waste— This destruc- 
tion of its numerous and flourishing cities 
which was brought upon Judea, through the 
sins of Israel, took place by the forced re- 
moval of the people during, and long after, 
the captivity. But it is realized to a far 
greater extent now. Bring your sanctuaries, 
&c— The tabernacle and temple, as is evi- 
dent from the tenor of the subsequent 
clause, in which God announces that He will 
not accept or regard their sacrifices. 33. I 
will scatter, &c— as was done when the elite 
of the nation were removed into Assyria, and 
placed in various parts of that kingdom. 34. 
Then shall the land, <fec— A long arrear of 
Sabbatic years had accumulated through the 
avarice and apostacy of the Israelites, who 
had deprived their land of its appointed sea- 
son of rest. The number of those Sabbatic 
years seems to have been 70, as determined 
by the duration of the captivity. This early 
prediction is very remarkable, considering 
that the usual policy of the Assyrian con- 
querors was to send colonies to cultivate and 
inhabit their newly acquired provinces. 38. 
The land of your enemies, &c. — On the re- 
moval of the ten tribes into captivity, they 
never returned, and all traces oi them were 
lost. 40-45. If they shall confess, &c— Ihis 
passage holds out the gracious promise of 
Divine forgiveness and favour on their re- 
pentance, and their happy restoration to 
tneir own land, in memory of the covenant 
made with their fathers. Ro. 2.) 46. These 
are the statutes— It has been thought by some 
that the last chapter was originally placed 



Ixtws ooncei'ning 



NUMBERS I. 



thin as devoted. 



the fifth part of the money of thy estima- 
tion unto it, and it shall be assured to 
him. 

20 And if he will not redeem the field, or 
if he have sold the field to another man, it 
shall not be redeemed any more. 

21 But the field, / when it goeth out in 
the jubilee, shall be holy unto the Lord, 
as a field devoted; y the possession thereof 
shall be the priest's. 

22 And if a man sanctify unto the Lord a 
field which he hath bought, which is not 
of the fields of his possession: 

23 Then the priest shall reckon unto him 
the worth of thy estimation, even unto the 
year of the jubilee: and he shall give thine 
estimation in that day, as a holy thing 
unto the Lord. 

24 In h the year of the jubilee the field 
shall return unto him of whom it was 
bought, even to him to whom the posses- 
sion of the land did belong. 

25 And all thy estimations shall be ac- 
cording to the shekel of the sanctuary: 
twenty * gerahs shall be the shekel. 

26 ft Only the 4 firstling of the beasts, 
which should be the Lord's firstling, no 
man shall sanctify it: whether it be ox or 
sheep, it is the Lord's. 

27 And if it be of an unclean beast, then 
he shall redeem it according to thine esti- 



CHAP. 27. 
/eh. 25. 10. 
g Num. 18. 

14. 

Ezek. 44. 

29. 
h eh. 20. 28. 
i Ex. 30. 13. 

Nu. 3. 47. 

Nu. IS. 16. 

Ezek.45.12. 

4 firstborn, 
etc. 

Ex. 13. 2, 
12. 

Ex. 22. 30, 

Nu. 18. 17. 

Deu. 15.19. 

j Josh. 6. 17. 

5 Persons. 
Ex. 22. 20. 
Nu. 21. 2. 
Deu. 7. 1. 
Deu. 20.10. 
Deu. 25.19. 
Josh o. 17. 
1 Sa. 15. 3 

* Gen. 28.22. 

Nu. 18. 21. 

2Chr.31.5. 

Neh. 13.12. 
I Jer. 33. 13. 

Eeek.2J.37. 



jmation, and shall add a fifth part of it 
thereto: or if it be not redeemed, then ic 
shall be sold according to thy estimation. 
28 Notwithstanding » no devoted thing 
that a man shall devote unto the Lord or 
all that he hath, both of man and beast, 
and of the held of his possession, shall be 
sold or redeemed: every desoted thing is 
most holy unto the Lord. 
2U 5 Xoue devoted, which shall be devoted 
of men, shall be redeemed; but shall surely 
be pat to death. 

oU And *all the tithe of the land, whether 
of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of 
the tree, is the Lord's: it is holy unto the 
Lord. 

SI And if a man will at all redeem ought 
of his tithes, he shall add thereto the tif in 
part thereof. 

' '32 And concerning the tithe of the herd, 
or of the tiock, evtn 01 whatsoever l passeth 

■ under the rod, the tentu shall be holy unto 

I the Lord. 

! oo lie shall not search whether it be good 

! or bad, neither shall he change it: and if 
he change it at all, then both it and the 
change thereof shall be holy ; it shall not be 
redeemed. 

o± These are the commandments, which 
the Lord commanded Moses for the cuil- 

i dien of Israel in mount Sinai. 



THE FOURTH BOOK OF MOSES, GALLKD 



NUMBERS. 



CHAPTER I. 

1, 17 The men of xuar numbered. 47 The Leviies \ 
exempted for the tabernacle sei~vice. 

A ND the Lord spake unto Moses " in the 
-^ wilderness of feinai, b in the tabernacle ! 
of the congregation, on the first day of the 
second month, in the second year after 
they were come out of the land of Egypt, j 
saying, 

2 Take c ye the sum of all the congrega- ! 
tion of the chddren of Israel, after tlieir 
families, by the house of their fathers, with | 
the number of their names, every male by 
their polls; 

6 From twenty years old and upward, all 
that are able to go forth to war in Israel: 
thou and Aaron shall x number them by 
tlieir armies. 

4 And with you there shall be d a man of 
every tribe ; every one head of the house of 
his lathers. 

5 V And these are the names of the men 
that shall stand with you: of e tiie tribe of 
Reuben; Elizur the son of Shedeur. 

t> Of feinieon; Shelunnel the son of Zuri- 
shaddai. 

7 Uf J udah ; / Nahshon the son of Amini- 
nadab. 

6 Uf Issachar; Nethaneel the sou of Zuar. 

9 Of Zebulun; Eliao tne son ol Helon. 

10 Of the children of Joseph; of Ephraiin; 
Elishama the son of Amnuhud: of Manas- 
sen; Gamaliel the son of reuahzur. 

11 Of Benjamin; Abidan the son of' 2 Gide- 
oui. 

1.2 Of Dan; Ahiezer the son of Ammi- 
shaddai. 
L> Of Asber; Fagiel the son of Ocran. 
yd 



B. C. 1490. 



CHAP. 1. 
a Ex. 19. 1. 
6 Ex. 25. 22. 
c Ex. 30. 12. 

2 Sa. 24 2. 

1 muster. 
d rh. 2. 2. 

lChr.27.1. 
6 Gen. 29. 32. 
Ex. 1. 2. 
Deu. 33. 6. 
Rev. 7. 4. 
/ Ruth 4. 20. 
1 Chr. 2.10. 
Lu. 3. 32. 

2 That is, a 
cutter 
down. 
Judtr 7.18. 

ff ch. 2. 14, 
he is called 
Reuel. 
ft ch. 7. 2, 
Ex. 13. 21. 
Mi. 5. 2. 
Ju. 6. 15. 
1 Chr. 27. 
16. 
t Ex. 18. 21, 

•_5. 

jEzra 2. 59. 

Neh. 7. til. 

Hcb. 7. 3. 

*2S.uu.24.1. 

I Ps. 144. 1. 

1 Cor. 16. 
13. 

2 Cor. 3. 5. 
Epli. 6. 12. 

»>* Josh. 4 12. 
Jer. 49. 1. 
Jos. 13.24. 



If Of Gad; Eliasaph the son of o Deuel. 

15 Of Naphtali; Anna the son of Euan. 

Id These " were the renowned of the con- 
gregation, princes of the t.ibes of thtir 
fat hers, heads " of thousands in Israel. 

17 1, And Moses and Aaron took these 
men which are expressed by their names: 

18 And they assembled all the congrega- 
tion together on tue hist dot/ of the second 
month, and they declared then j pedigrees 
after then families, by the house of their 
fathers, according to the number of the 
names, from twenty years old and upward, 
by their polls. 

19 As k the Lord commanded Moses, so he 
numbered them in the wilderness of Sin.- i. 

20 1i And the children of Reuben, Israel's 
eldest son, by their generations, after their 
families, by the house of their fathers, 
according to the number of the names, by 
their polls, every male from twenty years 
old and upward* all that were able to go 
lorth to war; 

21 'ihose that were numbered of them. 
even of the tribe of Reuben, were forty and 
six thousand and five hundred 

'Jrl \, Uf the children of bimeon. by their 
generations, alter their families, by the 
house of then lathers, those that were 
numbered of them, according to the num- 
ber of the names, by their polis, every 
m.de from twenty years old and upward, 
ail that Were l able to go forth to war; 

2o 'Uiose that were numbered of hem, 
ectn of the tribe of biineun, were fifty and 
nine thousand and three hundred. 

2i 1i Of the children of '" Gad, by their 
generations, after then- laniihes, by me 



Lavis Concerning Voivs 



LEVITICUS, XXVII. 



and Things Devoted. 



after the 25th, [Adam Clarke,] while others 
consider that the next chapter was added as 
an appendix, in consequence of many people 
being influenced by the promises and threats 
of the preceding one, to resolve that they 
would dedicate themselves and their pos- 
sessions to God. [Calmet.] 

CHAPTER XXVII. 
Ver. 1-19. Concerning Vows. 2-8. When 
a man shall make, fee— Persons have, at all 
times and in all places, been accustomed 
to present votive offerings, either from grati- 
tude for benefits received, or in the event 
of deliverance from apprehended evil. And 
Moses was empowered, by Divine authority, 
to prescribe the conditions of this voluntary 
duty, the person shall be for the Lord, fee- 
better rendered thus:— " According to thy 
estimation, the persons shall be for the Lord." 
Persons might consecrate themselves or their 
children to the Divine service, in some in- 
ferior or servile kind of work about the 
sanctuary. (1 Sam. 3. 1.) In the event of 
any change, the persons so devoted had the 
privilege in their power of redeeming them- 
selves; and this chapter specifies the amount 
of the redemption money, which the priest 
had the discretionary power of reducing, 
as circumstances might seem to require. 
Those of mature age, between 20 and 60, be- 
ing capable of the greatest service, were rated 
highest; young people, from 5 till 20, less, be- 
cause not so serviceable; infants, though de- 
votable by their parents before birth, (lSam. 
1. 11,) could not be offered nor redeemed till 
a month after it; old people were valued be- 
low the young, but above children; and the 
poor— in no case freed from payment in order 
to prevent the rash formation of vows— were 
rated according to their means. 9-13. If it be 
a beast— a clean beast, after it had been vow- 
ed, it could neither be employed in common 
purposes nor exchanged for an equivalent- 
it must be sacrificed— or if, through some 
discovered blemish, it was unsuitable for the 
altar, it might be sold, and the money ap- 
plied for the sacred service. If an unclean 
beast— such as an ass or camel, for instance 
—had been vowed, it was to be appropriated 
to the use of the priest at the estimated 
value, or it might be redeemed by the person 
vowing on payment of that value, and the 
additional fine of a fifth more. 14-16. When 
a man, fee— In this case, the house having 
been valued by the priest and sold, the pro- 
ceeds of the sale were to be dedicated to the 
sanctuary. But if the owner wished, on 



second thoughts, to redeem it, he might have 
it by adding a fifth part to the price. 16-24. 
If a man, fee— In the case of acquired pro- 
perty in land, if not redeemed, it returned 
to the donor at the Jubilee: whereas the 
part of a hereditary estate, which had been 
vowed, did not revert to the owner, but re- 
mained attached in perpetuity to the sanc- 
tuary. The reason of this remarkable 
difference was to lay every man under an 
obligation to redeem the property, or stimu- 
late his nearest kinsman to do it, in order to 
prevent a patrimonial inheritance going out 
from any family in Israel. 26, 27. Only the 
firstlings— These, in the case of clean beasts, 
being consecrated to God by a universal and 
standing law, (Ex. 13. 12; 34. 19,) could not be 
devoted; and in that of unclean beasts, were 
subject to the rule mentioned (v. 11, 12.). 28, 
29. No devoted thing . . . shall be sold or re- 
deemed—This relates to vows of the most 
solemn kind — the devotee accompanying 
his vow with a solemn imprecation on him- 
self not to fail in accomplishing his declared 
purpose, shall surely be put to death— This 
announcement imported not that the per- 
son was to be sacrificed or doomed to a 
violent death; but only that he should re- 
main till death unalterably in the devoted 
condition. The preceding regulations were 
evidently designed to prevent rashness in 
vowing, (Ec. 5. 4,j and to encourage serious 
and considerate reflection in all matters 
between God and the soul. (L. 21. 4.) 30-33. 
All the tithe of the land— This law gave the 
sanction of Divine authority to an ancient 
usage. (Ge. 14. 20; 28. 22.) The whole pro- 
duce of the land was subjected to the tithe 
tribute— it was a yearly rent which the Is- 
raelites, as tenants, paid to God. the owner of 
the land, and a thank-offering they rendered 
to Him for the bounties of His providence. 
(See Pro. 3. 9; 1 Co. 9. 11; Gal. 6. 6.) 32. What- 
soever passeth, fee— This alludes to the mode 
of taking the tithe of cattle, which were made 
to pass singly through a narrow gateway, 
where a person with a rod, tipped in ochre, 
stood, and counting them marked the back 
of every tenth beast, whether male or iemale, 
sound or unsound. 34. These are the com man d- 
ments, fee— The laws contained in this book, 
for the most part ceremonial, had an im- 
portant spiritual bearing, the study of 
which is highly instructive. (Eo. 10. 4 ; He. 
4. 2; 12. 18.) They imposed a burdensome 
yoke, (A. 15. 10,) but yet in the infantine 
age of the Church formed the necessary dis- 
i cipline of " a schoolmaster to Christ." 



THE FOURTH BOOK OF MOSES. CALLED 



NUMBERS. 



CHAPTER I. I 

Ver. 1-54. Moses Numbering the Men j 
or War. 1. On the first day, fee— Thirteen 
months had elapsed since the Exodus. About 
one month had been occupied in the journey- ' 
and the rest of the period had been passed 
in encampment amongst the recesses of! 
Sinai, where the transactions took place, | 
and the laws, religious and civil, were pro- 
98 



mulgated, which are contained in the two pre- 
ceding books. As the tabernacle was erected 
on the first day of the first month, and the 
order here mentioned was given on the first 
day of the second, some think the laws in 
Leviticus were all given in one month. The 
Israelites having been formed into a separate 
nation, under the special government or God 
as their king, it was necessary, before re- 



The men of war numbered. 



NUMBERS, II. 



Th e L w& e * exempted. 



house of their latheis, amirding to the 
mimber of the names. from twenty years 
old and upward, all that were able to go 
forth to war: 

25 Those that were numbered of them, 
t Den oi the tribe of Gad. mm n forty and rive 
thousand six hundred and fifty. 

26 r Of the n children of Judah, by their 
generations, after their families, by the 
house of their fathers, according to the 
number of the names, from twenty years 
old and upward, all that were able to go 
foith to war; 

27 Those that were numbered of them. 
evtn of the tribe of Judah. were three- 
score and fourteen thousand and six hun- 
dred. 

28 r . Of the children of Issachar, by their 

generations, after their families, by the 
ouse of their fathers, according to the 
number of the names, from twenty years 
old and upward, all that were able to go 
forth to war: 

29 Those that were numbered of them. 
even of xhe tribe of Issachar. were fifty and 
four thousand and four hundred. 

3u *"" Of the children of Zcbulun, by their 
generations, after their families, by the 
-:ir fathers, according to the 
number of the names, from twenty years 
old and upward, all that were able to go 
forth to war; 

31 Those that were numbered of them, 
even of the tribe of Zebulun. were fifty and 
seven thousand and four hundred. 

32 *" Of the children of Joseph, namely. 
of the ° children of Ephraim, by their 
generations, alter their families, by the 
Bouse of their fathers, according to the 
number of the names, from twenty years 
old and upward, all that were able to go 
forth to war; 

33 Those that were numbered of them. 
even of the tribe of Ephraim, were forty 
thousand and rive hundred. 

34 r Of the children of Manasseh. by their 
generations, alter their families, by the 
house of their fathers, according to the 
number of the names, from twenty years 
old and upward, all that were able to go 
forth to war: 

35 Those that were numbered of them. 
even of the tribe of Manasseh. were thirty 
and two thousand and two hundred. 

36 r Of the p children of Benjamin, by 
their generations, alter their families, by 
the house of then fathers, according to the 
number of the names, from twenty years 
old and upward, all that were able to go 
forth to war; 

37 Those that were numbered of them, 
even of tl -•.-_• tribe of Benjamin, mere thirty 
and five thousand and four hundred. 

3s r Of the a children of Dan, bv their 
generations, after their families, by the 
house of their lathers, according to the 
number of the names, from twenty years 
old and upward, all that were able to go 
lorth to war; 

by Those that were numbered of them. 
even of the tribe of Dan. were threescore 
and two thousand and seven hundred. 

Ifl r Of the children of Asher. bv their 
generations, after their families, by the 
house of their fathers, according to the 
number of the names, from twenty years 
old ;uid upward, all that Were able to go 
fur i.h to war; 

99 



CHAP. 1. 
»GeD. 46.12. 
Gee. 49. 8. 
with 

eh. 2. 3, 4. 
eh. 26. 
19-22. 
2 Sa. 24. 9. 

1 Cbr.5.2. 

2 Cfcr. 17, 
14-16. 

Pi 7:. : s . 
Ma:. 1. 2. 
Hek 7. 14, 
Ker. 5. 5. 
° Gea. 48. 
19.20. 
with 
eh. 2. 18,19. 

C:.. 2>5. 

&3T. 

P=. 60. T. 
p ch. 20. 41. 

44-40. 

2 Chr. 17. 

17. 

Ps. 68. 27. 

Rer. 7. 8 
? Ger.. 46-23 
with 

ch. 36. 42. 
r ch. 26. 64. 
8 Ex. 12. 37. 

Ex. 38. 26. 

eh. 26. 51. 
t eh. 2. 33. 

ch. 3. 1. 

eh. 26. 57. 

1 Cu 6. 1. 

1 Cr.r 21.6. 
M :-.. '.i. -.-I. 

■ Ex. a 2i. 
ch. 3. 7. 8. 
ch. 4. 15, 
2-5. .:. 27, 
33. 

■ ch. 3. 23. 
£9, 35, 38. 

* ch. 10. 17, 

21. 
V Every one 

nut a*Le- 

vi-.e. 

ch. 3. 10, 

38. 

II B 
J ch. 2. 2. 34. 

■ Lev. ML 5. 
eh. 8. 19. 
ch. 16. 46. 
eh. IS. 5. 

1 Sam. 6. 
19. 
b eh. 8. 24. 
ch. 18. 3. 4. 
ch. 31. 3.', 
47. 

1 Chr. 23. 
32. 

2 Chr. 13. 
10. 



CHAP. 2. 
a ch. L 52. 
I Nm.9i.2-4L 

1 o-.cr 
spirit. 
v 1_ .s:. 3 4. 

Ruth 4. 20. 
1 Chr. 2.1'J. 
AI»t 1. 4. 

Lu.o .32.33. 
a cr.. 7. IS, 

«£ 10. 15. 



41 Those that were numbered o: them, 
even of the tribe of Asher. were forty and 
one thousand and rive hundred. 

42 r Of the children of Naphtali. through- 
out their gen ; c r their :,. 

by the house of their fathers, according to 
the number of the names, nom twenty 
years old and upward, all that were abie to 
go forth to war; 

ae that were numbered of them. 
: Naphtali, were fifty and 
three thousand and four hundred. 

44 f These r are those that were num- 
bered, which Moses and Aaron mm. 

and the princes of Israel, being twelve 
men : each one was for the house of his 
fathers. 

45 So were all those that were numbered 
of the children of Israel, by the house of 
their fathers, from twenty years old and 
upward, all that were able to go forth to 
war in Israel ; 

46 Even all they that were numbered, 
were * six hundred thousand and three 
thousand and five hundred and fifty. 

47 r But f the Levites after the tribe of 
their fathers were not numbered among 
them. 

4-S Tor the Lord had spoken unto Moses, 
saying, 

4i> unly u thou shalt not number the tribe 
of Lev£ neither take the sum of them 
anions: the children of Israel: 

50 But v thou shall appoint the Levites 
over the tabernacle of testimony, aua 

all the vessels thereof, ana over ail 
that bdong to it: they shall bear the biber- 
nacle. and all the vessels thereof; and they 
shall minister unto it, u and shall encamp 
round about the tabernacle. 

51 And - when the tabernacle setteth for- 
ward, the Levites shah take it down* and 
when the tabernacle is to be pitched, the 
Levites shall set it up: and ■ the stranger 
that eometh nigh shad be put to death. 

5-' And the children of Israel shall pitch 
their tents, : every man by his own camp, 
and every man by his * own standard, 
throughout their h . 

53 But the Levites shall pitch round about 
the tabernacle of testimony, that there 
be "no wrath upon the eongrega:: 

the children of Israel : * and the Levites 
shall keep the charge of the tabernacle of 
testim 

54 And the children of Israel did according 
to all that the Lord commanded M : 

did thev, 

CHAPTER II. 
The crder of itu tribes m their te-.tts, etc. 

AND the Lord spaxe unto Moses and 
■^ unto Aaron, saying, 

2 Every a man of the children of Israel 
shall b pitch by his own standard, with the 
ensign of their lathers house: l far on' about 
the tabernacle of the congregation shall 
thev pitch. 

3 1 And on the east side toward the rising 
of the sun shall they of the standard oi the 
camp of Jndsh pitch, I their 

and : Nah&hon the son of Ammi- 
nadab shaU be captain of the chilcaen of 
Judah. 

4 And his host, and those that were num- 
bered of them, wen threescore and fourteen 

land and six hunored. 

5 And those that qo pitch next unto 
him tkail be tnc tribe of i*saciiar : d and 



The Order oj the Tribes. 



TJie Men of War Numbered. NU MBEBS, II. 

suming their march towards the promised i 
land, to put them into good order. And 
accordingly Moses was commissioned, along 
with Aaron, to take a census of the people. 
This census was incidentally noticed (Ex. 38. 
26.) in reference to the poll-tax for the works 
of the tabernacle; but it is here described in 
detail, in order to show the relative increase 
and military strength of the different tribes. 
The enumeration was confined to those ca- 
pable of bearing arms, and it was to be made 
with a careful distinction of the tribe, family, 
and household to which every individual 
belonged. By this rule of summation many 
important advantages were secured— an exact 
genealogical register was formed— the rela- 
tive strength of each tribe was ascertained, 
and the reason found for arranging the order 
of precedence in march as well as disposing 
the different tribes in camp around the 
tabernacle. The promise of God to Abraham 
was seen to be fulfilled in the extraordinary 
increase of his posterity, and provision made 
for tracing the regular descent of the Mes- 
siah. 3. By their armies— or companies. In 
their departure from Egypt they were di- 
vided into five grand companies, Ex. 13. 18,) 
but from the sojourn in the wilderness to 
the passage of the Jordan they were formed 
into four great divisions. The latter is here 
referred to. 4-16. With you there shall be a 
man, &c— The social condition of the Israel- 
ites in the wilderness bore a close resem- 
blance to that of the nomad tribes of the 
East in the present clav. The head of the 
tribe was a hereditary dignity, vested in the 
eldest son or some other to whom the right 
of primogeniture was transferred, and under 
whom were other inferior heads, also heredi- 
tary, among the different branches of the 
tribe. The Israelites being divided into 12 
tribes, there were 12 chiefs appointed to 
assist in taking the census of the people. 5. 
These are the names, &c— Each is designated 
by adding the name of the ancestors of his 
tribe, the people of which were called "Beni- 

Eeuben. Beni-Levi," sons of Reuben, sons of) for the twelve large clans of the people; (2.) 
Levi, according to the custom of the Arabs j the standards of the subdivided portions ; 
still, as well as other nations which are di- j and, (3.j those of families or houses. The 
vided into clans, as the Macs of Scotland, 
the Aps of Wales, and the O's and Fitz's of 
Ireland. [Chalmers.] 16-18. These were the 
renowned— lit. the called of the congregation, 



tribes would, under God, depend upon tie 
productiveness of the respective localit < a 
assigned to them. 45, 46. Six hundred then* 
sand, <fec— "What an astonishing increa.-e 
from 75 persons who went down to Egypt 
about 215 years before, and who were sui - 
jected to the greatest privations and hard- 
ships! And yet this enumeration was re- 
stricted to men from 20 years and upwards. 
Including women, children, and old men, to- 
gether with the Levites, the whole population 
of Israel, on the ordinary principles of compu- 
tation, amounted to about 2,400 000. 47-54. 
But the Levites were not numbered— They were 
obliged to keep a register of their own. They 
were consecrated to the priestly office, whfen 
in all countries has been exempted custom- 
arily, and in Israel by the express authority 
of God, from military service. The custody 
of the things devoted to the Divine service 
was assigned to them so exclusively, that 
"no stranger"— i.e., no person, not even an 
Israelite of any other tribe, was allowed, 
under penalty of death, to approach these, 
and hence they encamped round the tater- 
nacle, that there should be no manifes- 
tation of the Divine displeasure among 
the people. Thus the numbering of the 
people was subservient to the separation of 
the Levites from those Israelites who were 
fit for military service, and to the practical 
introduction of the law respecting the first- 
born, for whom the tribe of Levi became a 
substitute. 

CHAPTER II. 
Ver. 1-34. The Order of the Tribes in 
their Tents. 2. Every man shall pitch by 
his own standard— Standards were visible 
signs of a certain recognized form for direct- 
ing the movements of large bodies of people. 
As the Israelites were commanded to encamp 
"each by his own standard, with the ensign 
of their father's house," the direction has 
been considered as implying that they pos- 
sessed three varieties— il.) the great tribal 
standards, which served as rallying points 



! latter must have been absolutely necessary, 
as one ensign only lor a tribe would not have 



summoned by name; and they entered upon 
the survey the very day the order was given, 
by their polls— individually, one by one. 19. 
As the Lord commanded, <fcc— The numbering 
of the people was not an act sinful in itself, 
as Moses did it by Divine appointment; but 
David incurred guilt by doing it without the 
authority of God. (See on 2 Sam. 24. 10.) 
20-44. These are those that were numbered— In 
this registration the tribe of Judah appears 
the most numerous; and accordingly, as the 
pre-eminence had been assigned to it by 
Jacob, it got the precedence in all the en- 
campments of Israel. Of the two half tribes 
of Joseph, who is seen to be " a fruitful 



been visible at the exti emities of so large a 
body. W e possess no auth entic information 
as to their forms, material, colours, and de- 
vices. But it is probable that they might 
bear some resemblance to those of Egypt, 
only stripped of any idolatrous symbols. 
These were of an umbrella or a fan-like form, 
made of ostrich feathers, shawls, &c, lifted 
on the points of long poles, which were borne, 
either like the sacred central one, on a car, 
or on men's shoulders, whilst others might 
be like the beacon lights which are set on 
poles by Eastern pilgrims at night. Jewish 
writers say that the standards of the Hebrew 
tribes were symbols borrowed from the pro- 
phetic blessing of Jacob— Judah's being a 
lion, Benjamin's a wolf, &c; and that the 
bough," that of Ephraim was the larger, as i ensigns or banners were distinguished by 
had been predicted. The relative increase J their colours— the colours of each tribe being 
of all, as in the two just mentioned, was the same as that of the precious stone repre- 
owing to the special blessing of God, con- senting that tribe in the breastplate of the 
formably to the prophetic declaration of the high priest, far off . . . about the tabernacle, 
dying patriarch. But the Divine blessing is &c— i. e., over against at a reverential dis- 
usually conveyed through the influence of.tance. The place of every tribe is successively 
secondary causes ; and there is reason to and specifically described, because each had 
believe that the relative populousness of the a certain part assigned both in the order ol 
99 



Order of Vie tribes in their tents. 



NUMBERS, in. 



Separation of the Levites. 



Kethaueel the son of Zuar shad be captain 
of the children of lssaehar. 
G And his host, and those that were num- 
bered thereof, wen e fifty and four thuu- 
:.a four hundred. 
. en the tribe of/Zebulnn: and Eliab 
the sou of Heion shall be captain of the 
Iren of Zebuiun. 
. ins host, and those that were num- 
bereof, wen fifcy and seven thousand 
aud four hun 

i' All that were numbered in the camp of 

Judah wen an hundred thousand and lonr- 

..'.• jesand and six thousand and four 

hundred, throughout their annies. " These 

shall first set fonh. 

10 1 Un the south side shall be the stand- 
ard of the camp of h Keuben according to 
their amiies: and the captain of the chil- 
dren of Keuben shall be ELzur the son of 
Shedeur. 

11 And his host, and those that were num- 
bered thereof, wen feny and six thousand 
and five hundred. 

li' And those which pitch by him shall be 
the tribe of Simeon : and the captain of 
the children of Simeon shall be Shelumiel 
the son of Zurishaddai. 

13 And his host, and those that were num- 
bered flfthrm. wen fifty and nine thousand 
and three hundred. 

14 Then the tribe of Gad: and the captain 
of the sons of Gad shall be Eliasaph the 
son of- KeueL 

15 And his host, and those that were num- 
bered of them, ivere forty and five thou&and 
and six hundred and fifty. 

16 All that were numbered in the camp of 
Keuben wen an hundred thousand and 

ad one thousand and four hundred 
and fifty, throughout their armies. » And 
they shall set forth in the second rank. 

17" r Then i the tabernacle of the con- 

hi shall set forward with the camp 

oi the Levites in the miast of the camp: as 

they encamp, so shall they set forward, 

every * man m his place by their standards. 

181 Un the west side stall be the stan- 
dard of the camp of l Ephraim according to 
their annies: and the captain of the s.ns 
of Ephraim shall fce Eiishama the son of 
An.n.ihud. 

ly And his host, and those that were 
numbered of them, were forty thousand and 
eve hundred. 

•Jl» And by him shall be the tribe of Ma- 
uasseh: and the captain of the children of 
Manasseh shall be Gamaliel the son of 
ozur. 

21 And his host, and those that were 
cumbered of them, were thirty and two 

.nd and two hundred. 

22 Then the trioe of "* Benjamin: and the 
captain of the sons of Benjamin shall be 
Abidan the son of * Gideoni 

23 And his host, and those that were 
numbered of them, tee re thirty and five 
thousand and four hundred. 

31 All that were numbered of the camp of 
Ephraim tee re an hundred thousand and 
thousand and an hundred, through- 
out their armies. And n they shall go for- 
ward in the third rank. 

." ' The standard of the camp of °Dan 
shall be on the north side by their armies: 
and the captain of the children of Dan stuUl 
it Ahiezer the son of Arnmishaddai. 

2U And his host, and those that were num- 

IvAJ 



B. C. 1490. 



CHAP. 2. 

* eh. 35. 25. 
/ Gen. 49 13. 

Den. bo. 18. 

1 Chr.5.2. 

Ps. 77. r2. 

h Den. 33. 6. 

lC.r.5. 1. 

2 Deul, 
c-. L ML 

- -_ 

47. 

eh 10.20. 
i eh. 10. IS. 

Gen. 49. 3. 

1 Chr. 5. 1. 
;" ch. !•:. 17, 

21. 

Act* 7. 44. 

Hcb. BL I 

HVo. 9. 1-9. 

* 1 Cor. 14, 

-r. . 

I Gen. 43. 

14-20. 

Dcut. 83. 
17. 

Pi. 80. 1. 

™ ?=.<». 27. 

Rev. 7. 8. 

3 That i», 
:. nutoi 

I .- 

"Den. 33.22. 
V Gea.49.2L 

'. .'. 
r Ex. 3S. 26. 

ch. 1. 46. 

ch. 11. 21. 
« ch. 1. 47. 
t eh. ^4. 2. 

Ps. 119. 6. 

la. 45. 12. 
u Nun. 24. 

- . 

Sour C. 10. 

1 Car. 14. 

40. 



CHAP. 3. 

Ex. 6. 23. 
££x. » 41. 

Lev. ;. 1. 

1 v-. :s? 
ii-i he 
fiUed. 

e Ler. 10. L 
ch.26.61. 
Den. 4. 24. 

: □ - M . 

15. 

1.8. 

Heb. 12. 
29. 

d ch. 8- 6. 
UL1 

I ch. 1. 50. 

ch. 8. 11, 

15. 24 26. 
/ ch. 6. 19. 

ch. 18. 6. 
| dk 1:. :. 
A E-.ery one 

■ot a Le- 
! Tite. 

ch. 1. 51. 
1 eh 16. 40. 

1 S*m. 6. 
19. 

2 S*. 6. 7. 
i ch. 8. 16. 



bered of them, wen threescore and two 
thousand and seven hundred. 
87 And those that encamp by him shall 
be the tribe of Asher: and the captain of the 
d of Asher stall be Pauiel the son of 
Ocran. 

. his host, and those that were num- 
bered ol then, and one thousand 
and five hundred. 

29 1 Then the tribe of p Naphtali: and the 
captain of the children of JN aphtali shull be 
Ahii a the son of Euan. 

30 And his host, and those that were 
numbered of them, were fifty and three 
thousand and four hun .. 

31 Ail they that were numbered in the 

: lJan wen an hundred thousand 
; and seven thousand and six hun- 
dred. * They shall go hindmost with their 
standards. 

32 r These are those which were num- 
bered of the children of Israel, by the 

off their fathers: r all those that were nun*, 
bered of the camps, throughout their 
wen six hundred thousand and three thou- 
sand and five hundred and fifty. 

33 But * the Levites were not numbered 
among the children of Israel ; as the Lor.D 
commanded M 

M And the children of Israel did accord- 
ing to all that r the Lord eonrr: 

ao thev u pitched by their stand- 
nd so they set'forward, everv one 
alter their families, according to the house 
of their fathers. 

CHAPTER III. 
1 The Levites' Semite. Mi The jfr.tt- 6on» freed 
■ Lni:<s. ^ redeeinecl. 

TliESE also ore the generations of Aaron 
x and Moses, in the" day that the 
spake with Moses in mount Sinai 

'1 And these are the names of the sons of 
Aaron; >adab the a first-born, and Abihu, 
Eleazar, and ltnamar. 

o These an the names of the sons of 
Aaron, b the priests which were anointed, 
i whom he consecrated to minister in the 

4 And c Nadafa and Abihu died before the 
Lokd, when they ofiered strange lire before 
the Lord, Li tne wilderness of Sana 
they had no children: and Eleazar ana ltn- 
amar ministered in the priest's office in the 

- - sf Aaron their father. 

5 I And the Lord spake unto Mos- 
ing, 

G Bring d the tribe of Levi near, and pre- 
sent them before Aaron the priest, that tUey 
mav minister unto him. 

7 And they shall keep his charge, and the 
charge oi the whole congregation before 
the tabernacle of the congregation, to oo 
the e service of the rabemacic. 

S And thev shall keep all the instruments 
of th-r tabernacle oi the congregation, and 
the charge of the children of Israel, to ao 
the sen ice of the taleniade. 

y And /thou shalt give the Levites unto 
Aaion and to his sons : they an 
given unto him out of the children of 
Israel. 

1U And thou shalt appoint Aaron and his 
.-.nd they shall wait on their priest's 
. office: h and the stranger that cometh nigh 
i shall be put to death. 

11 r And the Lord spake unto Moses, 
saving, 
i li' And 1, behold, » 1 hitve taken the JL<\ iUi 



Th& Order of the Tribes. 



NUMBERS, ni. 



TJie Levites' Serv'ce. 



march and the disposition of the encamp- 
ment. 3. On the east side, &c.— Judah was 
p aced at the head of a camp composed of 
three tribes rallying under its standard, said 
to have combined the united colours in the 
high priest's breastplate, but called by the 
name of Judah. They were appointed to 
occupy the east side, and to take the lead in 
the march, which, for the most part, was in 
an easterly direction. 5. Those that pitch 
next unto him— i. e., on the one side. 7. Then 
the tribe of Zebulun— on the other side. While 
Judah's tribe was the most numerous, those 
of Issachar and Zebulun were also very nume- 
rous; so that the association of those 3 tribes 
formed a strong and imposing van. Nah- 
shon, or Naasson, (M. 1. 4,) shall be captain— It 
ap [Dears that the 12 men who were called to 
superintend the census were also appointed 
to be the captains of their respective tribes— j 
a dignity which they owed probably to the cir- 
cumstances, formerly noticed, of their hold- 1 
ing the hereditary office of head or " prince." j 
10-31. On the south side the standard of the j 
camp of Reuben— The description given of the 
position of Beuben and his attendant tribes '■ 
on the south, of Ephraim and his associates j 
on the west, of Dan and his confederates on j 
the north, with that of Judah on the east, sug- 
gests the idea of a square or quadrangle, which 
allowing one square cubit to each soldier 
whilst remaining close in the ranks, has been ; 
computed to extend over an area of some- j 
what more than 12 square miles. But into 
our calculations of the occupied space must 
be taken not only the fighting men, whose 
numbers are here given, but also the fami- 1 
lies, tents, and baggage. The tabernacle or | 
sacred tent of their Divine King, with the j 
camp of the Levites around it, (see on ch. 3. j 
38,) formed the centre, as does the chief's in j 
the encampments of all nomad people. In • 
marching, this order was adhered to, with i 
some necessary variations. Judah led the i 
way, followed, it is most probable, by Issa- 



char and Zebulun. Reuben, Simeon, and 
Gad, formed the second great division. They 
were followed by the central company, com- 
posed of the Levites, bearing the tabernacle. 
Then the third and posterior squadron con- 
sisted of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Benjamin, 
while the hindmost place was assigned to 
Dan, Asher, and Naphtali. Thus Judah's, 
which was the most numerous, formed the 
van; and Dan's, which was the next in force, 
brought up the rear; while Reuben's and 
Ephraim's, with the tribes associated with 
them respectively, being the smallest and 
weakest, were placed in the centre. (See on 
ch. 10. 14.) 

CHAPTER HI. 
Ver. 1-51. The Levites' Service. 1. 
These are the generations, &c— This chapter 
contains an account of their families; and 
although that of Moses is not detailed like 
his brother's, his children are included under 
the general designation of the Amramites, 
(v. 27,) a term which comprehends all the 
descendants of their common father Amram. 
The reason why the family of Moses was so 
undistinguished in this record is, that they 
were in the private ranks of the Levites, the 
dignity of the priesthood being conferred 
exclusively on the posterity of Aaron ; 
and hence, as the sacerdotal order is the 
subject of this chapter, Aaron, contrary to j 
the usual style of the sacred history, is men- 1 
100 



tioned before Moses, in the day that the 
Lord, &c. — This is added, because at the date 
of the following record the family of Aaron 
was unbroken. 2-4. These are the names— All 
the sons of Aaron, four in number, were 
consecrated to minister in the priest's office. 
The two eldest enjoyed but a brief term of 
office; (Le. 10. 1, 2; ch. 26. 61;) but Eleazar and 
Ithamar, the other two, were dutiful, and 
performed the sacred service during the life- 
time of their father, as his assistants, and 
under his superintendance. 5-10. Bring the 
tribe of Levi near — The Heb. word "* bring 
near" is a sacrificial term, denoting the pre- 
sentation of an offering to God; and the use 
of the word, therefore, in connection with 
the Levites, signifies that they were devoted 
as an offering to the sanctuary, no longer 
to be employed in any common offices. They 
were subordinate to the priests, who alone 
enjoyed the privilege of entering the holy 
place; but they were employed in discharging 
many of the humbler duties which belonged 
to the sanctuary, as well as in various offices 
of great utility and importance to the reli- 
gion and morals of the people. 9. They are 
wholly given, &c— The priests hold the place 
of God, and the Levites are the servants of 
God in the obedience they render to the 
priests. 11-13. 1 have taken the Levites, &c— 
The consecration of this tribe did not origi- 
nate in the legislative wisdom of Moses, but 
in the special appointment of God, who 
chose them as substitutes for the first-born. 
By an appointment made in memory of the 
last solemn judgment on Egypt, from which 
the Israelitish households were miraculously 
exempt, all the first-born were consecrated 
to God, (Ex. 13. 12; 22. 29,) who thus, under 
peculiar circumstances, seemed to adopt the 
patriarchal usage of appointing the eldest to 
act as the priest of the family. But the 
privilege* of redemption that was allowed 
the first-born opened the way for a change- 
and accordingly, on the full organization of 
the Mosaic economy, the administration of 
sacred things formerly committed to the 
first-born was transferred from them to the 
Levites, who received that honour partly as 
a tribute to Moses and Aaron, partly because 
this tribe had distinguished themselves by 
their zeal in the affair of the golden calf, Ex. 
32. 29,) and also because, being the smallest 
of the tribes, they could ill find suitable 
employment and support in the work. (See 
on Deu. 33. 9.) The designation of a special 
class for the sacred offices of religion was a 
wise arrangement; for, on their settlement 
in Canaan, the people would be so occupied 
that they might not be at leisure to wait on 
the service of the sanctuary, and sacred 
tilings might, from various causes, fall into 
neglect. But the appointment of an entire 
tribe to the Divine service insured the 
regular performance of the rites of religion. 
The subsequent portion of the chapter re- 
lates the formal substitution of this tribe. 
I am the Lord— i. e.. I decree it to be so; and 
being possessed of sovereign authority, ex- 
pect full obedience. 14-27. Number the chil- 
dren of Levi— They were numbered as well as 
the other tribes; but the enumeration was 
made on a different principle— for while in 
the other tribes the amount of males was 
calculated from 20 years and upward, in that 
of Levi they were counted from a month old 
and upwards. The reason of the distinction 



The mtmbers and charges 



NUMBERS, TIT. 



Cftliefami'ies af LeH, 



from amons the children of Israel instead 
of all the first-born that openeth the matrix 
among the children of Israel: therefore the 
Levites shall be mine; 

13 Because * all the first-horn are mine: 
for * on the dav that I smote all tne first- 
tK>ni in the land of Egypt I hallowed unto 
me all the first-born in Israel, both man 
and beast; mine they shall be: I am the 
LOKD. 

14 *" And the Lord spake unto Moses in 
thewildenu- 

15 Number the children of Levi after the 
house of their fathers, by their families: 
every m male from a month old and upward 
shalt thou number them. 

16 And Moses numbered them, according 
fto the - word of the Lord, as he was com- 
manded. 

17 And n these were the sons of Levi by 
their names ; Gershon, and Kohath, and 
Merari. 

18 And these are the names of the sons 
of Gershon by their families ; ° Libni, and 
ShimeL 

19 And the sons of Kohath by their 
families ; Anirani, and Izhar, Hebr 
UadeL 

1 the sons of Merari by their fami- 
lies : Mahli. and Mushi. These- are the 
families of the Levites according to the 
house of their fathers. 

.1 r Of Gcfshou uuts the family of the 
Libnites. and the family of the ^himitts: 
these an the families of the G 

22 Those that were numbered of them, 
according to the number of all the males, 
from a month old and upward, evtn those 
that were numbered of them, mere seven 
thousand and five hundred. 

•2o The p fam lies of the Gershoni: 
pitch behind the tabernacle westward. 

. - i t'ne chief oi the house of the father 
of the Gershoiiiu^ shall be Lliasaph the son 
of Lad. 

25 And q the charge of the sons of Gershon 
in the tabernacle of the congregation shall 
be r the tabernacle, and * the tent. * the 
covering thereof, and u the bai - - 

door of the tabernacle of the ecn_Te.ra- 
tion. 

26 And r the hangings of the court, and 
the "" curtain for the door of the court, 
which i? by the tabernacle, and by the altar 
round about, and z the cords of it, for all 
the sen ice the 

27 r AnJ. • of Kohath mas the family of the 
Amramites. and the family of the Izharites. 
and the family of the Hebrouites. and the 
family of the Czzielites: these one the fami- 
lies of the Kohathi 

'J8 In the number of all the males, from a 
month old and upward, km re eight tin u- 
sand and six hundred, keeping the charge 
of the sanctuary. 

of the sons of K 
shall pitch on the side of the tabernacle 
southward. 

of the father 
of the families of the Rohathites shall be 
Elizaphan the son of I zziel. 

31 And ■ their charge stall be * the ark. 
and e the table, and ^ the candlestick, and 
the • altars, and the vessels of the 
tuary wherewith they minister, and /the 
hanging, and all the sendee thereof. 

o2 And Eleazar the son of Aaron the 

priest shall be 9 chief over the chief of the 

lul 



right oi them 
that keep the charge of the sanetuai 

33 1 Of Merari axu the family of the 

Mahlites. and the family of the Mushites: 
these ore the families of Merari. 

34 And those that were numbered of them, 
the number of all the males, 

from a month old and upward, MM 
.nd and two hundred. 

35 And the chief of the house of the father 
of the families of Merari hmu Zuriel the 
son of Abihael: * these shall pitch en the 

ide northward. 

3d And 3 lender the custody and churn af 
the sons of Merari stall be the b 
the tabernacle, and the bars thereof, and 
the pillars thereof, and the sockets thereof, 
and all the vessels thereof, and ad tnat 
sen eth thereto, 

37 And the pillars ot the court round shout) 
and their sockets, and their pins, and their 

3o *" But «" those that encamp before the 
tabernacle toward the east, tr<r*i before the 
tabernacle of the congregation eastward, 
sea, and Aaron and his sous, 
keeping > the charge oi the sanctuary * for 
the charge oi the children af Israel: and 
the ' stranger that eometh nigh shad be 
put to death. 

3£ All ■ that were numbered of the 

», which Mosf 
at the commandment of the Lord, thi 
out their families, all the males, from a 
month old and upward. u\ re twenty and 
two thousand. 

40 c And the Lord said unto 1 
Number n all the first-bom of the nudes of 
the children of Israel from a month old 
and upward, and take the number of their 
names. 

41 And °thou shalt take the Lerrl 
r the Lord instead of all the first- 
born among the children oi Israel; and the 
mule of the Levites instead of all the first- 
lings among the cattle of the children uf 
Israel. 

42 And Moses numbered, as the Lord 
commanded him. all the first-born among 
the chdlrt-n oi Israel. 

43 And all the first-bom males by the 
: of names, from a month OM and 

upward, of those that were numba 
than, were twenty and two thousand two 
hundred and threescore and thirteen. 

44 I And the Lord spake unto - 
saying, 

45 Take * the Levites instead of all the 
first-born among the children of Israel, and 
the catLe of the Levites instead of their 
cattle; and the Levites shall be mine: I 
am the Ix)RD. 

4o And for those that are to be q redeemed 
of the two hundred and threescore and 
thirteen of the first-born of the children of 
Israel. r which arc more than the Levites; 
47 Thou shalt even take * five she 

by the poll: after the shekel of the 
I 2?" I sanctuary shalt thou take tltem; (* the 
shekel is twenty eeraluu) 
u i Th. . 2 ■ he money, where- 

TituiS. with the odd number of them is to be 
sued, unto Aaron and to his sons. 
49 And Moses took the u redemption money 
of them that were over and above them 
that were redeemed bv the Levites: 
90 Of the first-born of the children of Is- 
rael took he the money ; r a thousand three 



CHAP. 3. 

; Ii, IS 2. 

Ex.22. 9. 

: 

eh. 8. 16. 
Keh.10 36. 
Exek. 44. 
3 . 
; Luke 2. 23. 

* Ex. 13. 12. 
15. 

I Ex 19. 1. 
m ch. 26. 62. 
I ■ -J-.':-.. 

■ G B. a\ 

I 11- 

Ex. 6. MV 
cfa. 26. 57. 

I lChr.6.1, 
16. 

! 1 Chr.23.6. 

Ex. 6. 17. 

Vcfc. I Wk, 

■ ... 
r Ex. Cx 9. 

* Ex 26. 1. 
t Ex. 26. 7, 

: I*. 

■ Bx.9fi & 

r Ex n a 

i^Ex.^T. IS. 

y 1 Chr. 26. 
- 

* ch. 1. 53. 
I a ch. 4. 15. 

1 Ba •;:■ : 

: Ex S :1. 

t- Ex •:: :. 
! Ex. an 1. 

g 2 Kin. 25. 

18. 
A ch. I. 53. 
1 dm «n 
:' I H 

I MgC 

Ex. 26. 15. 
ch. 4.31, 

32. 
i eh. 1. 53. 

; : 1; 5. 

■ _ l • - 
.' Dual m 



ch :: ~ . 

1 Sara. 6. 
19. 

2 Sa- 6. 7. 
"»ci.26. 62. 

* Ter. 15. 

- 12 

I ■ 12 U 

1 Sam. L 

? Ex. 13. 13. 

ch. IS- 15. 

r tct. 39. 43. 

* Lev. S3. 6. 

c is. ::, 

t Ex. 3. 13. 
Lev. 27. 25. 
eh 
Exek. 45. 

12. 



14. 

ileb. 9. 

12. 

I Pet. 1. 

15 

Gal. 4. 4.5. 



The First-born Freed by the Levites. NUMBEES, IV. 



Of the Levites' Service. 



is obvious. In the other tribes the survey- 
was made for purposes of war, from which 
the Levites were totally exempt, and were 
appointed to a work on which they entered 
as soon as they were capable of instruction. 
They are mentioned under the names of 
Gershon, Kohath, and Merari, sons of Levi, 
and chiefs or ancestral heads of three subdi- 
visions into which this tribe was distributed. 
Their duties were to assist in the conveyance 
of the tabernacle when the people were 
removing the various encampments, and to 
form its guard whilst stationary—the Ger- 
shonites being stationed on the west, the 



being shaken, he ordered each of the first- 
born to put in his hand and take out a slip. Jf 
it contained the first inscription, the boy was 
redeemed by a Levite ; if the latter, the 
parent had to pay. The ransom money, 
which, reckoning the shekel at half a crown, 
would amount to 12s. 6d. each, was appro- 
priated to the use of the sanctuary. The 
excess of the general over the Leviticai first- 
born is so small, that the only way of account- 
ing for it is, by supposing those first-born 
only were counted as were males remaining 
in their parents' household, or that those 
first-born only were numbered which had 



Kohathites on the south, and the families of been born since the departure from Egypt, 
Merari on the. north. The Kohathites had j when God claimed all the first-born as his 

IfSvitjfifi 

ept to graze on the 

glebes and meadows m the suburbs of their 

cities, and supply their families with dairy 

produce and animal food, were also taken as 

an equivalent for all the firstlings of the 

cattle which the Israelites at that time 

possessed. In consequence of this exchange 

the firstlings were not brought then, as 

afterwards, to the altar and the priests. 

CHAPTER IV. 

Ver. 1-49. Of the Levites' Service. 2, 

3. Sons of Kohath, from thirty years old and up- 



the principal place about the tabernacle, and special property. 41. The cattle of the 
charge of the most precious and sacred j —These, which they kept to graze 
things— a distinction with which they- were 
honoured, probably, from the Aaronic family- 
belonging to this division of the Leviticai 
tribe. The Gershonites being the oldest, had 
the next honourable post assigned them, 
while the burden of the drudgery was thrown 
on the division of Merari. 32. Chief— rather, 
chiefs of the Levites. Three persons are 
mentioned as chiefs of these respective divi- 
sions. And Eleazar presided over them; 
whence he is called "the second priest;" t2 

Ki. 25. 18;) and in case of the high priest's i ward— This age was specifically fixed on, (see 
absence from illness or other necessary j on ch. 8. 24,) as the full maturity of bodily 
occasions, he performed the duties. (1 Ki. | energy to perform the laborious duties as- 
4. 4.) 38. Those that encamp, &c— That being j signed them in the wilderness, as well as of 
the entrance-side, was the post of honour, I mental activity to assist in the management 
and consequently reserved to Moses and the j of the sacred services. And hence it was the 
priestly family. But the sons of Moses had j period of life at which the Baptist and Christ 
no station there. 39. Twenty and two thou- j entered on their respective ministries, even 
sand— The result of this census, though made j until fifty— The term prescribed for active 



on conditions most advantageous to Levi, 
proved it to be by far the smallest in Israel. 



duty was a period of 20 years, at the end of 
which they were exempted from the physical 



The separate numbers stated in v. 22. 28, 34, j labours of the office, though still expected to 
when added together, amount to 22,300. The ; attend in the tabernacle, (ch. 8. 26.) all that 
omission of the 300 is variously accounted j enter into the host — so called from their 



for— by some, because they might be first- 
born who were already devoted to God, and 
could not be counted as substitutes; and by 
others, because, in Scripture style, the sum 
is reckoned in round numbers. The most 
probable conjecture is, that as Heb. letters 
are employed for figures, one letter was, in 
the course of transcription, taken for another 
of like form but smaller value. 40-51. Num- 
ber all the first-born, &c— The principle on 
which the enumeration of the Levites had 
been made was now to be applied to the 
other tribes. The number of their male 
children, from a month old and upwards, 
was to be reckoned, in order that a compari- 
son might be instituted with that of the 



number, the order and discipline maintained 
through their ranks, and their special duty 
as guards of the tabernacle. The Heb. word, 
however, signifies also a station or office; and 
hence the passage may be rendered, "All 
that enter into the sacerdotal office." (v. 23.) 
4-15. This shall be the service, &c— They are 
mentioned first, from their close connection 
with Aaron; and the special department of 
duty assigned to them during the journeyings 
of Israel accorded with the charge they had 
received of the precious contents of the 
tabernacle. But these were to be previously 
covered by the common priests, who, as well 
as the high priest, were admitted on such 
necessary occasions into the holy place. 
Levites, for the formal adoption of the latter j This was an exception to the general rule, 
as substitutes for the first-born. The Levites, which prohibited the entrance of any but 
amounting to 22,000, were given in exchange 'the high priest. But when the cloud re- 
for aa equal number of the first-born from j moved from the tabernacle, the sanctuary 
the other tribes, leaving an excess of 273 ; might be entered by the common priests, as 
and as there were no substitutes for these, to them was reserved the exclusive privilege 
they were redeemed at the rate of 5 shekels of packing the sacred utensils : and it was 
for each. (ch. 18. 15, 16.) Every Israelite not till the holy things were thus ready for 
would naturally wish that his son might be carriage, that the Kohathites were allowed 
redeemed by a Levite without the payment to approach. 5. Covering veil— the inner 
of this tax, and yet some would have to veil, which separated the holy from the most 



incur the expense, for there were not Levites 
enough to make an equal exchange. Jewish 
writers say the matter was determined by 
Jot, in this manner:— Moses put into an urn 
22,600 pieces of parchment, on each of which 
he wrote " a son of Levi," and 273 more, 
containing the words, "five shekels." These 
101 



holy place. (See on Ex. 36. 3.) covering of 
badgers' skins— See on Ex. 25. 5. The cover- 
ing, however, referred to was not that of the 
tabernacle, but one made for the special 
purpose of protecting the ark. put m the 
staves— These golden staves were now taken 
out. (See on Ex. 25. 15, compared with 1 Ki. 



Services of the Kohathites, 



NUMBERS, IV. 



Gershonites, and Mcrarites. 



hundred and threescore and five shekels, \ 
alter the shekel of the sanctuary: 
51 And Moses gave the money of them j 
that were redeemed unto Aaron and to his 
son*, according to the word of the Lord, 
as the Lord commanded Moses. 

CHAPTER IV. 

1 Of the Levitts' service. 17 The office of the 
priests. 34 Tne number of the Kohathitet, 38 of 
the Gershoiiitts, 42 and of the Merarites. 

AND the Lord spake unto Moses and 
•*** unto Aaron, saying, 

2 Take the sum of the sons of Kohath 
from among the sons of Levi, after their 
families, by the house of their fathers, 

3 Erom u thirty years old and upward 
even until fifty years old, all that enter 
into the l host, to do the work in the ta- 
bernacle of the congregation. 

4 1F This b shall be the service of the sons 
of Kohath in the tabernacle of the congre- 
gation, about the most holy things. 

5 And when the camp setteth forward, 
Aaron shall come, and nis sons, and they 
shall take down c the covering veil, and 
cover the d ark of testimony with it: 

6 And shall put thereon the covering of 
badgers' skins, and shall spread over it a 
cloth wholly of blue, and shall put in e the 
staves thereof. 

7 And upon the /table of showbread they 
shall spread a cloth of blue, and put there- 
on the dishes, and the spoons, and the 
bowls, and covers to i cover withal: and 
the continual bread shall be thereon. 

8 And they shall spread upon them a cloth 
of scarlet, and cover the same with a 
covering of badgers' skins, and shall put in 
the staves thereof. 

y And they shall take a cloth of blue, and 
cover the * candlestick of the light, ■ and 
his lamps, and his tongs, and his snuff- 
dishes, and all the oil vessels thereof, 
wherewith they minister unto it: 

10 And they shall put it and all the ves- 
sels thereof within a covering of badgers' 
skins, and shall put it upon a bar. 

U And upon i the golden altar they shall 
spread a cloth of blue, and cover it with a 
covering of badgers' skins, and shall put to 
the staves thereof: 

12 And they shall take all the instruments 
of ministry, wherewith they minister in the 
sanctuary, and put them in a cloth of blue, 
and cover them with a covering of badgers' 
skins, and shall put them on a bar: 

13 And they shall take away the ashes 
from the altar, and spread a purple cloth 
thereon: 

14 And they shall put upon it all the ves- 
sels thereof, wherewith they minister about 
it. evtn the censers, the flesh-hooks, and 
the shovels, and the 2 basins, all the vessels 
of the altar; and they shall spread upon it 
a covering of badgers' skins, and put to 
the staves of it. 

15 And when Aaron and his sons have 
made an end of covering the sanctuary, and 
all the vessels of the sanctuary, as the 
camp is to set forward; after that, i the 
sons of Kohath shall come to bear it: k but 
they shall not touch any holy thing, lest 
they die. l These things are the burden of 
the sons of Kohath in the tabernacle of the 
congregation. 

16 If And to the office of Eleazar the son 
of Aaron the priest pertaineth m the oil for 
the light, and the n sweet incense, and ° the 

102 



B. C. 1490. 

CHAP. 4. 

a ch. 8. 24. 

1 Chr. 23. 
3, 24. 27. 
Erra 3. 8. 

1 Or, war- 
fare. 

2 Cor. 10.4. 

1 Tim. 1. 
18. 

b ver. 15. 
c Ex. 26.31. 
d Ex. 25. 10, 

lb. 
e Ex. 25. 13. 
/Ex.25. 23, 

89, ax 

Lev. 24. 

6,8. 

1 Or, pour 
out withal. 

g Ex. 25. 31. 
h Ex. 25. 37, 

38. 
i Ex. 30. 1. 

2 Or, bowls. 
j ch. 7. 9. 

ch. 10. 21. 
Deu. 31. 9. 

2 Sam. 6. 
13. 

1 Chr. 15, 

2.15. 
k 2 Sam. 6. 

6, 7. 

1 Chr. 13. 

9,10. 
I ch. 3. 31. 
m£x. 25. 6. 

Lev. 24. 2. 
n Ex. 30. 34. 
o Ex. 29. 40. 
P Ex. 30. 23. 
q ver. 4. 
r Ex. 19. 21. 

1 Sam. 6. 

19. 
« 1 Chr. 23. 

3, 24, 27. 

3 to war the 
war. are. 
ls.53.1-12. 
Is. 63. 1-4. 
Rom. 7. 
14 24. 
2Cor.l0.4. 
Gal. 5. 
17-24. 
Eph. 6. 
10-19. 
Col. 2. 14. 

4 Or, car- 
riage. 

t Ex.26.1-14. 
Ex. 38. 9. 
Ex. 40. 19. 
ch. 3. 25,26. 

5 mouth, 
w yer. 3. 

6 warfare. 
Ps.110.1-7. 

1 Tim.6.11. 

2 Tim. 2. 4. 
2 Tim. 4. 7. 

V ch. 3. 36, 
37. 

Ex. 26.15. 

Ex. 38. 10. 

Ex. 39. 3. 
w Ex. 25. 9. 

Ex. 38. 21. 

1 Chr .9.29. 
* ver. 2. 

V 1 Chr. 23. 
24> 

1 Chr. 28. 
13. 

Lu. 3. 23. 
1 Tim. 3.6. 



daily meat offering, and the -P anointing oil. 
and the oversight of all the tabernacle, and 
of all that therein is, in the sanctuary, and 
in the vessels thereof. 

17 IF And the Lord spake unto Moses and 
unto Aaron, savins:, 

18 Cut ye not off the tribe of the families 
of the Kohathites from among the Levites. 

19 But thus do unto them, that they may 
live, and not die, when they approach unto 
the q most holy things: Aaron and his sons 
shall go in, and appoint them every one to 
his service, and to his burden: 

20 But r they shall not go in to see when 
the holy things pre covered, lest thev die. 

21 1F And the Lord spake unto Moses, 
saying, 

22 1 ake also the sum of the sons of Ger. 
shon, throughout the houses of their fa- 
thers^ by their families; 

23 i rom 8 thirty years old and upward 
until fifty years old shalt thou number 
them ; all that enter in a to perform the 
service, to do the work in the tabernacle 
of the congregation. 

24 This in the service of the families of the 
G-ershonites, to serve, and for 4 burdens: 

25 And t they shall bear the curtains of 
the tabernacle, and the tabernacle of the 
congregation, his covering, and the cover- 
ing of the badgers' skins that is above up- 
on it, and the hanging for the door of the 
tabernacle of the congregation, 

26 And the hangings of the court, and the 
hanging for the door of the gate of the 
court, which is by the tabernacle and by 
the altar round about, and then cords, and 
all the instruments of their service, and all 
that is made for them : so shall they serve. 

27 At the 5 appointment of Aaron'and Iris 
sons shall be all the service of the sous of 
the Gershonites, in all their burdens, and 
in all their service: and ye shall appoint 
unto them in charge all tlieir burdens. 

28 This is the service of the families of the 
sons of Gershon in the tabernacle of the 
congregation : and their charge shall be 
under the hand of lthamar the son of 
Aaron the priest. 

2y IF As for the sons of Merari, thou shalt 
number them after their families, by the 
house of their fathers ; 

30 Erom u thirty years old and upward 
even unto fifty years old shalt thou number 
them, every one that entereth into the 
6 service, to do the work of the tabernacle 
of the congregation. 

31 And v this is the charge of their burden, 
according to all their seivice in the taber- 
nacle of the congregation; the boards of 
the tabernacle, and the bars thereof, and 
the pillars thereof, and sockets thereof, 

32 And the pillars of the court round 
about, and their sockets, and their pins, 
and their cords, with all their instruments, 
and with all their service: and by name ye 
shall w reckon the instruments of the 
charge of their burden. 

33 This is the service of the families of 
the sons of Merari, according to alJ their 
service, in the tabernacle of the congrega- 
tion, under the hand of lthamar the son of 
Aaron the priest. 

31 % And x Moses and Aaron and the chief 
of the congregation numbered the sons of 
the Kohathites after their families, and 
after the house of their fathers, 

35 Erom v thirty years old and upward 



TJie Office of the Priests. 



NUMBERS, V. 



The Unclean to be Removed. 



8.8.) The Heb. word rendered "put in " i tenances, which, however, were so important 
signifies also " dispose," and probably refers and necessary, that an inventory was kept 



here to their insertion through the openings ; of them— not only on ac 
in the covering made for receiving them, to j and variety, but of tin 
preserve them from the touch of the carriers 
as well as from the influences of the weather. 



nt of their number 
comparative com- 
monness and smallness, which might have 
led to their being lost or missing through 
It is worthy of notice, that the coverings did | carelessness, inadvertency, or neglect. It 
not consist of canvass or coarse tarpauling, j was a useful lesson, showing that God disre- 



but of a kind which united beautv with 
decency. 7. Continual shew bread— Though 
the people were in the wilderness fed upon 
manna, the sacred loaves were constantly 
made of corn, which was probably raised in 
small quantities from the verdant patches of 
the desert. 10. A bar— or bier, formed of two 
poles fastened by two cross pieces, and borne 
by two men, after the fasliion of a sedan 
chair. 12. Instruments of ministry— the offi- 
cial dress of the priests. (Ex. 31. 10.) 13. 
Shall take away the ashes, &c— The necessity 
of removing ashes from the altar plainly 
implies that sacrifices were offered in the 
wilderness, (cf. Ex. 18. 12; 24. 4,) though that 
rebellious race seem frequently to have ne- 
^xected the duty. (Am. 5 25.) No mention 
is made of the sacred fire; but as, by Divine 
command, it was to be kept constantly 
burnine-. it must have been transferred to 
some pan or brazier under the covering, and 
borne by the appointed carriers. 15. Bear 
it, but shall not touch— The mode of transport 
was upon the shoulders of the Levites, isee 
on ch. 7. 9,1 although afterwards wheeled 
vehicles were employed. (2 Sa. 6. 3 ; 1 Chr. 



gards nothing pertaining to his service, and 
that even in the least and most trivial 
matters he requires the duty of faithful 
obedience. 34-49. Moses and Aaron, &c— 
This enumeration was made on a different 
principle from that which is recorded in the 
preceding chapter. That was confined to the 
males from a month old and upwards, while 
this was extended to all capable of service in 
the three classes of the Levitical tribe. In 
considering their relative numbers, the 
wisdom of Divine Providence appears in 
arranging that, whereas in the Kohathites 
and Gershonites, whose burdens were few 
and easier, there were but about a third 

Sart of them which were fit for service; the 
lerarites, whose burdens were more and 
heavier, had above one half of them fit for 
this work. [Poole.] The small population 
of this tribe, so inferior to that of the other 
tribes, is attempted to be explained, (see on 
ch. 3. 39.) 

CHAPTEE V. 
Ver. 1-4. The Unclean to be Eemoved 
out of the Camp. 2. put out of the camp 
every leper— The exclusion of leprous persons 



15. 12.) And it was allowable to touch the j from the camp in the wilderness, as from 
covering, but not the things covered, on the ! cities and villages afterwards, was a sanatory 
penalty of death, which was more than once i measure taken according to prescribed rules. 
inflicted. (1 Sa. 6. 19; 2 Sa. 6. 6, 7.) This} (Lev. chaps. 13. 14.) This exclusion of lepers 
stern denunciation was designed to inspire I from society has been acted upon ever since; 
a sentiment of deep and habitual reverence j and it affords almost the only instance in 



in the minds of those who were officially 
engaged about holy things. 16. To the office 
of Eleazar, &c. — He was charged with the 
special duty of superintending the squadron 
who were employed in the carriage of the 
sacred furniture; besides, to his personal care 
were committed the materials requisite for 
the daily service, and which it was necessary 
he should have easily at command. (Ex. 29. 
38.) 17-20. Cut ye not off, &c — a solemn 
admonition to Moses and Aaron to beware, 
lest, by any negligence on their part, dis- 
order and improprieties should creep in, and 



which any kind of attention is paid in the 
East to the prevention of contagion. The 
usage still more or less prevails in the East 
among people who do not think the least 
precaution against the plague or cholera 
necessary; but judging from personal obser- 
vation, we think that in Asia the leprosy 
has now much abated in frequency and viru- 
lence. II usually appears in a comparatively 
mild form in Egypt, Palestine, and other 
countries where the disorder is or was, ende- 
mic. Small societies of excluded lepers live 
miserably in paltry huts. Many of them are 



to take the greatest care that all the parts of j beggars, going out into the roads to solicit 

this important service be apportioned to the I alms, which they receive in a wooden bowl; 

>roper parties, lest the Kohathites should j charitable people also sometimes bring 

)e disqualified for their high and honourable 1 different articles of food, which they leave 

duties. The guilt of their death would be j on the ground at a short distance from the 



incurred by the superintending priest, if 
they failed to give proper directions, or al- 
lowed any irreverent familiarity with sacred 
things. 24-28. This is the service, &c— They 
were appointed to carry " the curtains of 
the tabernacle"— i.e., the goats' hair covering 
of the tent— the ten curious curtains and 



hut of the lepers, for whom it is intended. 
They are generally obliged to wear a distinc- 
tive badge, that people may know them at 
first sight and be warned to avoid them. 
Other means were adopted amongst the an- 
cient Jews by putting their hand on their 
mouth and crying, M Unclean, unclean." But 



embroidered hangings at the entrance, with 1 their general treatment, as to exclusion from 
their red morocco covering, &c. 28. Their i society, was the same as now described. 



charge shall be, &c— The Levites were sub- 
ject to the official command of Ithe priests 
generally in doing the ordinary work of the 
tabernacle. But during the journeyings 
Eleazar, who was next in succession to his 
father, took the special charge of the Koha- 
thites, while his brother Ithamar had the 
superintendence of the Gershonites and 
Merarites. 29-33. As for the sons of Merari— 



The association of the leper, however, in this 
passage, with those who were subject only to 
ceremonial uncleanness, shews that one im- 
portant design in the temporary exile of such 
persons was to remove all impurities that 
reflected dishonour on the character and re- 
sidence of Israel's king. And this vigilant 
care to maintain external cleanliness in the 
people was typically designed to teach them 



They carried the coarser and heavier appur- ' the practice of moral purity, or cleansing 
102 



Number of the Levitt*. 



NUMBERS, V. 



The trial of jealousy. 



CHAP. 4. 

* Deu.33 25. 

1 Cor. 12. 

2 Cor. 12.9. 
a R'.m. 12. 

6-8. 
b I Cor. 12. 

4-23. 



CHAP. 5. 
a Lev. 13. 3, 

46. 

ch. 12 14. 

Deti 23.10. 

2 Kings 5. 

27. 

2 Kin. 7. 3. 

2 Chr. 2G. 

20. 

Is. 52. 11. 

Lu 17. 12. 
6 Lev. 15. 2. 
c Lev. 21. 1. 

ch. 9. 6. 10. 

ch. 19. 11, 

13. 

ch. 31. 19. 
a ix.v. 2C.lli 

12. 

2 Cor. 6. 

16. 
e L-v.6.2.3 
f Lev. 5. 5. 

Lev. 26. 40 

Josh. 7. 19 
g Lev. 6. 5. 



even unto fifty years old. everv one that 
entereth into the service, ibr the work in 
the tabernacle of the eongrej nation: 

So" And those that were numbered of them 
by their families were two thousand seven 
hundred and hftv. 

37 These to, re they that were numbered 
of the families of the Kohathites, all that 
might do service in the tabernacle of the 
congregation, which Moses and Aaron did 
number, according to the commandment 
of the Lord by the hand of Moses. 

33 11 And those that were numbered of the 
sons of Gershon, throughout their families, 
and bv the house of their fathers, 

30 From thirty years old and upward even 
unto fifty years old, every one that entereth 
into the "service, for the work in the taber- i 
nacle of the congregation, 

40 Even those that were numbered of! 
them throughout their families, by the 
house of their fathers, were two thousand 
and six hundred and thirty. i 

41 These are they that were numbered of 
the families of the sons of Gershon, of all 
that might do service in the tabernacle of 
the congregation, whom Moses and Aaron 
did number according to the commandment 
of the Lord. 

42 r And those that were numbered of 
the families of the sons of Merari. through- 
out their families, by the house of their 
fathers, 

43 From * thirty rears old and upward 
even unto fifty years old, every one that . 
entereth into the service, for the work in 
the tabernacle of the congregation, 

44 Even those that were numbered of 
them after their families, were three thou- 
sand and two hundred. 

45 These be those that were numbered of 
the families of the sons of Merari, whom 
Moses and Aaron numbered, according to 
the word of the Lord by the hand of 
Moses. 

40 All those that were numbered of the 
Levites. whom Moses and Aaron and the 
chief of Israel numbered, after their fami- 
lies, and after the house of their fathers, 

47 From a thirty years old and upward 
even unto fifty years old. every one that 
came to do the service of the ministry, and 
the service of the burden in the tabernacle 
of the congregation, 

48 Even those that were numbered of them , 
were eight thousand and five hundred and 
fourscore. 

49 According to the commandment of the 
Lord they were numbered by the hand of 
Moses, b every one according to his service, 
and according to his burden : thus were 
they numbered of him, as the Lord com- 
manded Moses. 

CHAPTER V. 

1 The unclean to be removed out of the ramp. 5 
Hestitutic-n enjoined. 9 Hallowed things belong 
to the priest. 11 The trial of jeal usy 

A 2s D the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 
-°- 2 Command the children of Israel," that 
they put out of the camp every a le^er. and 
eveiy one that hath an & issue, and whoso- 
ever is defiled by the c dead: 

3 Both male and female shall ye put out, 
without the camp shall ye put then- ; that 
they defile not their camps, d in the miist 
whereof I dwell. 

4 And the children of Israel did so. and 
put them out without the camp ; as the j i ui. 

103 



1 Or, heave 

offering. 

Ex. 29. 28. 

Ler. 6. 17, 

18,26. 

Lev. 7. 6.7, 

9, 10, 14. 

ch 18. 8, 9, 

19. 

Deut. 18. 

3, 4. 

Ezek. 44. 

29,30. 
i Lev. 10. 13. 
j Pro. 2. 16. 

Prov. 7. 

10-27. 

Hos. 4. 13. 
k Lev. 18. 20. 

Lev.9D.10. 

Pro. 30. 20. 

1 Pro. 0. 34. 
Song 8. 6. 
Is. 19. 14. 

m Lev. 5. 
11. 

Is. 53. 2. 
■ 1 Kin. 17. 

18. 

Exek. 29. 

16. 
o Lev. 1. 3. 

Jer. 17. 10. 

1 Chr. 28.9. 

Mai. 3. 5. 

Heb. 13. 4. 

2 under thy 
husband, 
or, being in 
the power 
of thy hus- 
band" 
Rom. 7. 2. 

p Jo«h. 6. 

26. 

1 Sam. 14. 

24. 

Neh.10.29. 
q Jer. 29. 22. 



Lord spake unto Moses, so did the children 
of Israel. 

5 1 And the Lord spake unto Moses, 
saying, 

6 Speak unto the children of Israel, 
When e a man or woman shall commit any 
sin that men commit, to do a trespass 
against the Lord, and that person be 
guilty; 

7 Then /they shall confess their sin which 
they have done: and he shall recompense 
his trespass ,J with the principal thereof 
and add unto it the fifth part thereof, and 
give it unto him against whom he hath 
trespassed. 

8 Jiut if the man have no kinsman to re- 
compense the trespass unto, let the trespass 
be recompensed unto the Lord, even to 
the priest, beside h the ram of the atone- 
ment, whereby an atonement shall be made 
tor him. 

9 And every * offering of all the holy 
things of the children of Israel, which they 
bring unto the priest, shall be his. 

10 And every man's hallowed things shall 
be his : whatsoever any man giveth the 
priest, it shall be 'his. 

11 IT And the Lord spake unto Moses, 
saying. 

12 Speak unto the children of Israel, and 
say unto them, If any man's wife i go aside, 
and commit a trespass against him, 

13 And a man * lie with her carnally, and 
it be hid from the eyes of her husband, 
and be kept close, and she be defiled, and 
there be no witness against her, neither 
she be taken icith t-lte manner; 

14 And <■ the spirit of jealousy come upon 
him. and he be jealous of his wife, and she 
be defiled: or if the spirit or jealousy come 
upon him, and he be jealous of his wile, 
and she be not defiled: 

15 Then shall the man bring his wife unto 
the priest, and he shall bring her m otterin* 
for ner, the tenth part of an ephah oi 
barley meal; he shall pour no oil upon it, 
nor put frankincense thereon; for it is an 
offering of jealousy, an ottering of memo- 
rial, n bringing iniquity to remembrance. 

16 And the priest shall bring her near, 
and ° set her before the Lord: 

17 And the priest shall take holy water in 
an earthen vessel ; and of the dust that is 
in the floor of the tabernacle the priest 
shall take, and put it into the water: 

18 And the priest shall set the woman be- 
fore the Lord, and uncover the woman's 
head, and put the offering of memorial 
in her hands, which is the jealousy otter- 
ing: and the priest shall have in his hand 
the bitter water that causeth the curse: 

19 And the priest shall charge her by an 
oath, and say unto the woman, If no nuin 
have lain with thee, and if thou hast not 
gone aside to uncleanness 2 with another 
instead of thy husband, be thou free from 
this bitter water that causeth the curse: 

20 But if thou hast gone aside to another 
instead of thy husband, and if thou be de- 
filed, and some man have lain with thee 
besides thine husband: 

21 Then the priest shall P charge the wo- 
man with an oath of cm-sing, and the priest 
shall say unto the woman. q The Lord 
make thee a curse and an oath among thy 
people, when the Lord doth make thy 
thigh to 3 rot, and thy belly to swell; 

22 And this water that causeth the curse 



Restitution Enjoined. 



NUMBERS, VI. 



The Trial of Jealousy, 



themselves from all filthiness of tlie flesh 
and spirit. The regulations made for ensur- 
ing cleanliness in the camp suggest the adop- 
tion of similar means for maintaining purity 
in the church. And although in large com- 
munities of Christians, it may be often diffi- 
cult or delicate to do this, the suspension, or, 
in flagrant cases of sin, the total excommuni- 
cation of the offender from the privileges and 
communion of the church is an imperative 
duty as necessary to the moral purity of the 
Christian as the exclusion of the leper from 
the camp was to physical health and cere- 
monial purity in the Jewish Church. 

5-9. Restitution Enjoined. 6. trespass 
against the Lord— This is a wrong or injury 
done by one man to the property of another, 
and as it is called " a trespass against the 
Lord," it is implied, in the case supposed, 
that the offence has been aggravated by pre- 
varicating—by a false oath, or a fraudulent 
lie in denying it, which is a " trespass" com- 
mitted against God, who is the sole judge of 
what is falsely sworn or spoken. (A. 5. 3, 4.) 
And that person be guilty— i.e., from the ob- 
vious tenor of the passage, conscience- 
smitten, or brought to a sense and conviction 
of his evil conduct. (See on Lev. 6. 4.) In 
that case there must be, first, confession, a 
penitential acknowledgment oi sin; secondly, 
restitution of the property, or the giving of 
an equivalent, with the additional fine of a 
fifth part, both as a compensation to the 
person defrauded, and as a penalty inflicted 
on the injurer, to deter others from the 
commission of similar trespasses. (See on 
Ex. 22. l.) The difference between the law 
recorded in that passage and this is, that the 
one was enacted against flagrant and deter- 
mined thieves, the other against those whose 
necessities might have urged them into 
fraud, and whose consciences were distressed 
by their sin. This law also supposes the 
injured party to be dead, in which case, the 
compensation due to his representatives was 
to be paid to the riest, who, as God's de- 
puty, received the required satisfaction. 
9, 10. every offering shall be his— Whatever 
was given in this way, or otherwise, as by 
free-will offerings, irrevocably belonged to 
the priest. 

11-31. The Trial of Jealousy, if any 
man's wife go aside— This law was given both 
as a strong discouragement to conjugal in- 
fidelity on the part of a wife, and a sufficient 



an emblem of vileness and misery. (Ge. 3. 
14; Ps. 22. 15.) in an earthen vessel— This 
fragile ware was chosen, because after being 
used it was broken in pieces. (Lev. 6. 28; 
11. 33.) The whole circumstances of this 
awful ceremony— her being placed with her 
face toward the ark— her uncovered head, a 
sign of her being deprived of the protection 
of her husband, (1 Cor. 11. 7)— the bitter potion 
being put into her hands preparatory to an 
appeal to God— the solemn adjuration of the 
priest, {v. 19-22,) all were calculated in no 
common degree to excite and appal the ima- 
gination of a person conscious of guilt. 21. 
th.e Lord make thee a curse, &c— a usual form 
of imprecation. (Is. 65. 15; Jer. 29. 22.) 22. 
Amen, Amen— The Israelites were accus- 
tomed, instead of formally repeating the 
words of an oath, merely to say Amen, a " so 
be it" to the imprecations it contained. The 
reduplication of the word was designed as 
an evidence of the woman's innocence, and 
a willingness that God would do to her ac- 
cording to her desert. 23, 24. Write these 
curses in a book— The imprecations, along 
with her name, were inscribed in some kind 
of record— on parchment, or more probably 
on a wooden tablet, blot them out with the 
bitter water— If she were innocent, they could 
be easily erased, and perfectly harmless; but 
if guilty, she would: experience the fatal 
effects of the water she had drunk. 29. this 
is the law of jealousies — Adultery discovered 
and proved was punished with death. But 
strongly suspected cases would occur, and 
this law made provision for the conviction 
of the guilty person. It was, however, not 
a trial conducted according to the forms of 
judicial process, but an ordeal through which 
a suspected adulteress was made to go— the 
ceremony being of that terrifying nature, 
that, on the known principles of human 
nature, guilt or innocence could not fail to 
appear. From the earliest times, the jealousy 
of Eastern people has established ordeals for 
the detection and punishment of suspected 
unchastity in wives. The practice was deep- 
rooted as well as universal. And it has been 
thought, that the Israelites being strongly 
biassed in favour of such usages, this law of 
jealousies " was incorporated amongst the 
other institutions of the Mosaic economy, in 
order to free it from the idolatrous rites 
which the heathens had blended with it." 
Viewed in this light, its sanction by Divine 



protection of her from the consequences of , authority in a corrected and improved form 
a hasty and groundless suspicion on the part exhibits a proof at once of the wisdom and 



of the husband. His suspicions, however, 
were sufficient in the absence of witnesses, 
(Lev. 20. 10,) to warrant the trial described- 
and the course of proceeding to be followed 
was for the jealous husband to bring his wife 



condescension of God. 

CHAPTER VI. 
Ver. 1-21. The Law of the Kazarite 
in Hts Separation. 2-6. When either man 
or woman. . .shall vow a vow of a Nazarite— i.e.. 



unto the priest with an offering of barley "a separated one," from a Hebrew word, to 



meal, because none were allowed to approach 
the sanctuary empty-handed. (Ex. 23. 15.) 



separate. And it was used to designate a 
class of persons who, under the impulse of 



On other occasions, there were mingled with extraordinary piety, and with a view to 



the oft'erini 
frankincense 



oil which signified joy, and 
which denoted acceptance. 



higher degrees of religious improvement, 
voluntarily renounced the occupations and 



(Ps. 141. 2.) But on the occasion referred to, pleasures of the world to dedicate them- 
both these ingredients were to be excluded, selves unreservedly to the divine service, 
partly because it was a solemn appeal to The vow might be taken by either sex, pro- 
God in distressing circumstances, and partly i vicled they had the disposal of themselves, 
because it was a sin offering on the part of (ch. 30. 4,) and for a limited period— usually 
the wife, who came before God in the char- a month or a life-time. (Jud. 13. 5; 16. 17.) 
acter of a real or suspected offender. 17. We do not know, perhaps, the whole extent 
the priest shall take holy water— Water from of abstinence they practised. But they 
the laver, which was to be mixed with dust— separated themselves from three things in 
103 



'/>>*> 7,T»r of the Naemil 



numbers, vi. vu. 



F'.riu of U<sslng t7te people. 



t U . j r into thy bowels, to make thy 

beily to swell, and thy thick to rot. 8 And 

::ian shall say. "Amen. amen. 

1 the priest shall write these curses 

•k, and he shall blot them out with 

the bitter water: 

; he shall cause the woman to drink 
tiie bitter water that causeth the curse: 
and the water that causeth the curse shall 

into her, and become bitter. 
. [hen the priest shall take the jealousy i 
ottering out of the woman's hand, and shall 
: the oflerin-r before the Lord, and 
it upon the altar: 
- And u the priest shall take an handful 
of the offering, even the memorial thereof, 
and burn i: upon the altar, and afterward 
lethe woman to drink the water. 
27 And when he hath made her to drink 
the water, then it shall come to pass, that, 
1 c denied, and have done trespass 
: her husband, that the water that 
causeth the curse shall enter into her, and 
- bitter, and her belly shall swell, 
r thigh shall rot: and the woman 
fc e a curse among her people. 
2H And if the woman be not denied, but 
be clean ; then she shall ■ be free, and 
shall conceive seed. 

-..' This is the law of jealousies, when a 
wife goeth aside to another instead of her 
husband, and is defiled: 
30 ur when the spirit of jealousy cometh 
upon him, and he be jealous over" his wile, 
wa I shaD set the woman before the Lord, 
and the priest shall execute upon her all 

law. 
'61 Then shall the man be guiltless from 
, and this woman x shall bear her 
nikfuitv. 

CHAPTER YT. 

1 The law of the Ufacorita in his separation. 22 

Tmefom of timing the pevpie. 

AND the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, \ 
xx 2 t-peak unto the children of Israel. 
and say unto them. When either man or 
Woman shall ! separate tkemadnea to vow ; 
a vow of a N'azarite, to separate tibeauesMS 
onto the Loud; 

o He a shall separate himself from wine and 
strung drink, and shall drink no vinegar of 
wine, or vinegar of strong drink, neither 
shall he drink any liquor of grapes, nur eat 
moist grapes, or dried. 

4 All the days of his - separation shall he 
eat nothing that is made of the s vine tree, ! 
lroui the kernels even to the husk. 

•3 All the days of the vow of his separation ! 
there snail no *> razor come upon his head; ■ 
until the days be fulfilled, in the which he j 
separateth ktmsetf unto the Lord, he shall : 
: shaD ict the locks of the hair j 
of his head grow. 

o' Ad the days that he separateth ftamsegf] 
unto the Lord " he shall come at no dead i 

7 Be d shall not make himself unclean for i 

m mother, for his brother. 

or for his sister, when they die ; because the 

e .ration of his G-ud it upon his head. 

8 All the days of his Separation he is holy 
unto the Lord. 

y And if any man die very suddenlv bv 

md he hath detiled the head of his 

ration; then he shall e shave his 

head in the day of his cleansing, on the 

seventh day shall he shave it. 

lu Anu. r o^ the ei-'hth da} he shall bring 

UM 



B C. 1*0. 



CHAP. 5. 
r Ps. 109. 18. 
"Deu. 27. 15. 
t Lev. 8. 27. 

V Deu. 28 37. j 

Ec. 7- 26. 

J i .-. \ 

W Job 17.8, 9. 

Ps.37. 5.6. 

Ro. 5. 3-5. 
X Ler. 20. 17. 

CHAP. 6. 

lOr, =likr 

themselves 
■ Bcaril :-.. 
Ler.S7.fi 
Juds. 13. 5. I 
Acta SLSfi 

a A^.:j L12, 
Lu. 1. 15. ! 

2 Or. Naea- 
riterihq 

3 rine of the j 
■wine. 

1 Sim. 1. ! 
11. 
e Ler. 21. 11. 

d ch. 9. 6. 
•i sr-.a-s'.::-. 
I Ar.i 18. 1& 

ri«r. 5. :. 

Ler. 14. 22. 
5 601. 
L; i U ., 
L J:..r. B. 

Arts 21. 28. 
h Lct. 4. 2. 

i Ler. 3. 6. 

* U K.4 

* Ex. 29. & 

1 eh. 15. 5, 7. 
m Acts. 21. 

n Lu. 17. 10. 

Ro. 6. 6. 

Gal. 5. 24. 

Eph. 4. 23. i 

Col. 3. 9. 
: Lot : II 
p Ex. 29. 23. ! 

14. 
q Ley. 9. 21. ! 
rBc.9. :. 

u. c5. ia 

Rev. 14.13. J 

Jn:.17.4 5. 
« 1 Chr. 23. 

13. 
t Ps. 134. 3. 1 
«* Ps. 121. 7. i 

J no. 17.11. 

1 Pet. 1. 5. ! 
v Pg. 67. 1. 

Ps. 80. 3. 
Dan. 9. 17. 
» Gen.43.29. 
Jno. 1. 17. 
Rem. 5 21. 

* ps. aau e. 

i:-= .. m. 

y P». 85. lu. 
Is. 26. 3, 
12. 

Lu. 2. 14. 
Jdo. 2021. 
Ro. 15. 13. 

2 Ila 6. 
16. 

* Deu. 28.10. 

. Or. ;. 

14. 
a Pi. 115. 12. 



two turtles, or two young pigeons, to the 

priest, to the door of the tabernacle of the 
congregation: 

II And the priest shall offer the one lor a 
sin oriering, and the other for a burnt 
offering, and make an atonement for hiin, 
for that he sinned by the dead, and shall 
hallow his head that same day. 

I- And he shall consecrate unto the Lord 
the day ..rath n. and shall bring 

of the first year lor a ti 
ing: but the days that were before shall » be 
lost, because ids separation was denied. 

II I And this u the law of the .Nazarite, 
when s the days of his separation i 
filled: he shall be brought unto the door of 
the tabernacle of the congregation; 

14 And he shall oner bis ottering unto the 
Lord, one he-lamb of the first year without 
blemish for a burnt onering, ana one eu e 
lamb of the first year without blemish ' ; ior 
a sin oriering. and one ram without blemish 
for » peace ofterings, 

15 And a basket of unleavened 
cakes i of fine flour mingled ^vith oil. and 
waiers of unleavened bread * anoint* 

oil. and their meat offering, and their 
drink <■ on'erings. 

lb And the priest shall bring them beiore 
the Lord, ana shall on'cr his sin ofierhig, 
and his burnt oriering: 

17 And he shall orier the ram for a sacri- 
fice of peace oflerings unto the Lord, ■with 
the basket ofuiileavened bread 

shall orier also his meat ottering, and ids 
drink 

18 And " tne Xazarite shall shave the 
head of his separation at the door of the 

.ic of the c -- .- .:n, and shall 
take the hair of the head or his separation, 

at it in the fire which is un_ 
sacrifice of the peace ofiexings. 

19 And the priest shah take the ° sodden 
shoulder of the ram, and one unleavened 

Cake OUt iket, and oUe UldcaYeUed 

water, and * shall put them upon tne hands 
of the >azarite, alter tht hair of his sepa- 
ration is shaven: 

I the i ricst shall q wave them for a 
wave oriering before tne Lord ; 
for the priest, with tne wave 
heave shoulder: and r after that the -Na- 
zarite mav trrink wine. 

21 This is the law of the Nazarite who 
hath vowed, and of his ottering unto the 
Lord ior his separation, Lcsiues inai that 
his hand shall get: aeooruing to trie vow 
which he vowed, so he must do after the 
law of his separation. 

22 r And the Lord spake unto Moses, 
saying, 

26 -^ peak unto Aaron, and unto his sons, 
- un this wise * ye shall bie^s the 
en of Israel saying unto them. 
l'4 The Lord < bless thee, and u Keep thee; 
29 The Lord r make his lace shine upon 
thee, and u be gracious unto thee; 
26 The * Lord lilt up his countenance 
upon thee, and * give thee peace. 
.'7 And z the\ shad put my name upon the 
children ol Israel ; and a 1 will oieas tuem. 

CHALTEK Vll. 

1, 10 The frimces' t L erisys. M J (z. d speaketh to 

Mbmesfirom t/u mart 

A XT) it came to pass on the day that 

^*- AioSeS had fully set Up the tabernacle, 

and had anointed it. ana sauctinetl it, iuid 
all the insuumenis thcieui, boiii the 



TJie Form of Blessing the People. NUMBERS, VII. 



TJie Princes' Offerings. 



particular— viz., from wine, and all the from the seventh to the eleventh chapters as 
varieties of vinous produce; from the appli- out of its place— the chronology requiring 
cation of a razor to their head, allowing their that it should have immediately followed 
hair to grow; and from pollution by a dead ' the fortieth chapter of Exodus, which relates 
body. The reasons of the self-restriction j that the tabernacle was reared on the first 
are obvious. The use of wine tended to day of the first month of the second year. 
inflame the passions, intoxicate the brain. But that the term " day" is used in a loose 
and create a taste for luxurious indulgence. ; and indeterminate sense, as synonymous 
The cutting off the hair being a recognised \ with time, is evident from the fact that not 
sign of uncleanness, (Le. 14. 8, 9,) its unpolled one day but several days were occupied with 
luxuriance was a symbol of the purity he the transactions about to be described. So 
professed. Besides, its extraordinary length j that this chapter stands in its proper place 



kept him in constant remembrance of his 
vow, as well as stimulated others to imitate 
his pious example. Moreover, contact with 
a dead body, disqualifying for the Divine 
service, the Nazarite carefully avoided such 
a cause of unfitness, and, like the high priest, 
did not assist at the funeral rites of his 



in the order of the history;— after the taber- 
nacle and its instruments, the altar and its 
vessels, had been anointed, Lev. 8. 10,) the 
Levites separated to the sacred service— the 
numbering of the people, and the disposal 
of the tribes about the tabernacle, in a cer- 
tain order, which was observed by the 



nearest relatives, preferring his duty to God ! princes in the presentation of their offerings. 
to the indulgence of his strongest natural | This would fix the period of the imposing 
affections. 8-11. If any man die suddenly by I ceremonial described in this chapter about 



him— Cases of sudden death might occur to 
make him contract pollution; and in such 
circumstances he required, after shaving his 
head, to make the prescribed offerings neces- 
sary for the removal of ceremonial defile- 
ment. (Le. 15. 13 ; ch. 19. 11.) But by the 



a month after the completion of the taber- 
nacle. 2, 3, The princes of Israel .. .brought 
their offering before the Lord— The finishing of 
the sacred edifice would, it may well be ima- 
gined, be hailed as an auspicious occasion, 
diffusing great joy and thankfulness through- 



terms of this law an accidental defilement j out the whole population of Israel. But the 



vitiated the whole of his previous observ- 
ances, and he required to begin the period 



or his Nazaritism afresh. But even this full 
completion did not supersede the necessity 
of a sin- offering at the close. Sin mingles 
with our best and holiest performances, and 
the blood of sprinkling is necessary to pro- 
cure acceptance to us and our services. 13- 
20. When the. d*ys of his separation, &c.— On 

the accomplishment of a limited vow of of the nation in the wilderness 
> zaritism, Nazarites might cut their hair 
wherever they happened to be, (A. 18. 18;) 
but the hair was to be carefully kept and 
brought to the door of the sanctuary. Then 
after the presentation of sin-offerings and j ehce, no provision had been made for its re 



leading men, not content with participating 
in the general expression of satisfaction, dis- 
tinguished themselves byamovement, which, 
while purely spontaneous, was at the same 
time so appropriate in the circumstances, 
and so equal in character, as indicates it to 
have been the result of concert and previous 
arrangement. It was an offer of the means 
of carriage, suitable to the migratory state 



porting the tabernacle from place to place. 
In the pattern of that sacred tent exhibited 
on the mount, and to which its symbolic and 
typical character required a faithful adher- 



burnt-offerings, it was put under the vessel 
in which the peace-offerings were boiled; 
and the priest, taking the shoulder, (Le. 7. 
32,) when boiled, and a cake and wafer of 
the meat- offering, put them on the hands of 
the Nazarites to wave before the Lord, as a 
token of thanksgiving, and thus released 
them from their vow. 

23-27. The Form of Blessing the 
People. Speak unto Aaron, &c— This pas- 
sage records the solemn benediction which 
God appointed for dismissing the people at 



moval in the frequent journeymgs of the 
Israelites. That not being essential to the 
plan of the divine architect, was left to be 
accomplished by voluntary liberality ; and 
whether we look to the judicious character 
of the gifts, or to the public manner in which 
they were presented, we have umnistakeable 
evidence of the pious and patriotic feelings 
from which they emanated, and the extensive 
interest the occasion produced. The offerers 
were "the princes of Israel, heads of the 
house of their fathers," and the offering con- 



the close of the daily service. The repetition sisted of six covered waggons or litter cars, 
of the name "Lord" or "Jehovah" three \ and tw r elve oxen, tw r o of the princes being 
times, express the great mystery of Hie God- partners in a waggon, and each furnishing 
head— three persons, and yet one God. The ! an ox. 4, 5. The Lord spake. .Take it of them— 
expressions m the separate clauses corre- 1 They exhibited a beautiful example to all 
spond to the respective offices of the Father, who are great in dignity and in wealth, to 
to "bless and keep us;" of the Son, to be ! be foremost in contributing to the support, 
"gracious to us-" and of the Holy Ghost, to ' and in promoting the interests of religion. 
*' give us peace. And that the benediction, i The strictness of the injunctions Moses had 
though pronounced by the lips of a fellow- j received to adhere with scrupulous fidelity 
man, derived its virtue, not from the priest, i to the divine model of the tabernacle pro 



but from God, the encouraging assurance 
was added, " I the Lord will bless them," 
CHAPTER VII. 
Ver. 1-89. The Princes' Offerings. 1. 
the day that Moses had fully set up the taber- 
nacle—Those wno take the word "day" as 
literally pointing to the exact date of the 
completion of the tabernacle, are under a 
necessity of considering the sacred narrative 
as disjointed and this portion of the history 
104 



bal/ly led him to doubt whether he was at 
liberty to act in this matter without orders. 
God. however, relieved him by declaring H is 
acceptance of the free-will offerings, as well 
as by giving instructions as to the mode of 
their distribution amongst the Levites. It 
is probable that in doing so, He merely sanc- 
tioned the object for which they were offered, 
and that the practical wisdom of the offerers 
had previously determined that they should 



The prints' oferings at the 



NUMBERS, VII. 



dedication of the altar. 



and all the vessels thereof, and had auoiuted 
them, and a sanctified them. 

2 That the princes of Israel heads of the 
house of their fathers, who were the princes 
of the tribes, i and were over them that 
were numbered, b offered: 

S And they brought their offering before 
the Lord, six covered wagons, and twelve 
oxen; a wagon for two of the princes, and 
for each one an ox: and they brought them 
before the tabernacle. 

4 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 

5 Take if of them, that they may be to do 
the service of the tabernacle of the congre- 
gation; and thou shalt give them unto the 
Levites, to every man according to his 
service. 

o" And Moses took the wagons and the 
oxen, and cave them unto the Levites. 

"Two wagons and four oxen he gave unto 
the sons of Gershon, according to their 
service: 

8 vnd four wagons and eight oxen he gave 
unto the sons of Merari, according onto 
their service, under the hand of Ithamar 
the son of Aaron the priest. 

i* Hut unto the sons of Kohath he gave 
none; because the service of the sanctuary 
belonging unto them c was th<it they should 
bear upon their shoulders. 

10 1i And the princes ottered for <* dedi- 
cating of the altar in the day that it was 
anointed, even the princes offered their 
offering before the altar. 

11 And the Lord said unto Moses, They 
shall * offer their offering, each prince on 
his day, for the dedicating of the altar. 

12 1 "And he that offered his offering the 
first day was Nahshon the son of Ammina- 
dab, oft he tribe of Judah: 

lo And his offering was one silver charger, 
the / weight whereof was an hundred and 
thirty shekels, one silver bowl of seventy 
shekels, after - the shekel of the sanctuary, 
both of them were full of fine Hour mingled i 
with oil, for a meat offering: | 

14 One g spoon of ten shekels of gold, full 
of* incense: 

15 One young bullock, one ram. one lamb 
of the first year, for a burnt offering: 

Id One kid of the coats for a » sin offering: 

17 And for a sacrifice of peace offerings, 
two oxen, five rams, five he-coats, live 
lambs of the first year: this was the offering j 
of J Nahshon the son of Amminadab. 

IS 1 On the second day Xethaneel the 
son of Zuar, prince of Issachar, did offer: 

19 He ottered for his offering one silver 
charger, the weight whereof was an turn-' 
dred and thirty shekels, one silver bowl of 
seventy shekels, after the shekel of the 
sanctuary, both of them full of fine Hour 
mingled with oil. for a meat offering: 

2) One spoon of gold of ten shekels, full of 
incense: 

21 One young bullock, one ram. one lamb 
of the lirst year, for * a burnt offering: 

H One kid of the coats for a sin offering: 

S3 And for a sacrifice of : peace offerings, 
two oxen, five rams, five he-coats, five 
lambs of the first year: this was the offering 
of Nethaneel the son of Zuar. 

M I On the third day Eiiab the son of 
llelon. prince of the children of Zebulun, 
did Offer' 

25 liis offering icas one silver charcer, the ! 
weight whereof was an hundred and thirty 
sh e kels , one silver bowl of seventy shekels, 



103 



CHAP. 7. 

oiKi.8.64. 
Mat. 23.19. 

1 who stood. 
fclChr.SbJ. 
e 2 Sam. 6. 

13. 
d Dou. 20. 6. 

1 Kin. 8. 
63. 

E*r* 6. 16. 
« 1 Cor. 14. 

88. 
f Ei. 25. 29. 

2 There were 
thro? shek- 
els: the 
royal shek- 
el, value 
Is. 3d., the 
■Meal of 

th S.U:.'tU- 

iry, value 
Sb. 64., and 

the com- 
mon shek- 
el, about 
Is. 

2 S*m. 11. 
K, 

g 2 Kin. 25. 

14, 15. 
h Ex. 30. 34. 
t Lev. 4. 23 
j Lu. 3. 32. 
k Con. S. SO. 

E^k.45.17. 

Eph. 5. 2. 

Hob. 9. 13. 
I Lev. 7. 11, 

13. 
m John 1.29. 
Gal. 1. 4. 

i Pet. a. 

24. 

Her. 5. 

S-14. 

■ Is. 53.1-12. 

Hob. 9. SB. 

1 Pet. 3. 

18. 
o ch. 1. 14. 

ch. 2. 14. 

ch. 10. 20. 

ion of 

Rouel. 
P Lev. 2. 5. 

Lev. 14.10. 

Heb. 1. 9. 

1 John 2. 

q Psalm 60. 
8-14. 
Ps. 51. 16 
Is. 1. 11. 
J or. 7. 22. 
Am. 5. 22. 

3 a sacrifice 
of pay- 
ment, or, 
of perfec- 
tions. 
Ler. 3. 1. 
Lev. 7. 11. 
IV 5 ; . U. 
Heb. 13. 
15. 

r oh. 1.10. 

th. 'J. IS. 

IChr 7.26. 
• Deu. 33 10. 

Ps. 06. 15. 

Ps. 141. 2. 

Erek.S.ll. 

M.il. 1. 11. 

Lu. 1. 10 

Ho v. 5. 8. 

Kov. 8. 3. 



after the shekel of the sanctuarv, both of 
them full of fine Hour mingled with oil, for 
a meat offering: 

36 One golden spoon of ten shekels, full of 
incense: 

27 One young bullock, one ram. one 
lamb "» of the first year, for a burnt 
offering: 

28 One kid of the goats for a sin offering: 
89 And for a sacrifice of peace offerings, 

two oxen, five rams, five he-coats, live 
lambs of the first year: this was the offering 
of Eliab the son of llelon. 

30 If On the fourth day Elizur the son of 
Shedenr, prince of the children of Reuben, 
did offer: 

31 His offering MBS one silver charcer of 
the weight of an hundred and thirty sht k\ Is, 
one silver bowl of seventy shekels, alter the 
shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full 
of fine flour mingled with oil, for a meat 
offering: 

32 One golden spoon often shekels, full of 
incense: 

33 One young bullock, one ram. one lamb 
of the first year, for a burnt offering: 

34 One kid of the goats for a sin oflering: 

35 And for a sacrifice of peace offerings, 
two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, live 
lambs ot' the first year: this was the ofler- 
ing of Elisor the son oi Shedenr. 

36 1 On the fifth day Shelumiel the son of 
Zurishaddai, prince of the children of 
Simeon, did Offer: 

37 His offering was one silver charcer. 
the weight whereof was an hundred ami 
thirty shekels, one silver bowl of seventy 
shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, 
both of them full of fine Hour mingled with 
oil. for a meat offering: 

38 One golden spoon of ten shekels, full of 
incense: 

39 One young bullock, one ram, one n lamb 
of the first year, for a burnt offering: 

40 One kid of the goats for a sin offering: 

41 And for a sacrifice of peace offerings, 
two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, five 
lambs of the first year: this loasthe oflering 
of Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai. 

42 1i On the sixth day y Eliasaph the son 
of Deuel, prince of the children of Gad, 
offered: 

43 His offering teas one silver charger of 
the weight ot an hundred and thirty 
shekels, a silver bowl of seventy shekels, 
after the shekel of the sanctuary, both of 
them full of p fine flour mingled with oil, 
for a meat offering: 

44 One golden spoon of ten shekels, full of 
incense: 

45 One q young bullock, one ram, one 
lamb of the lirst year, for a burnt offering: 

4d One kid of the coats for a sin offering: 

47 And for a sacrifice of 8 peace offerings, 
two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, five lambs 
of the first year: this was the ottering of 
Eliasaph the son of Deuel. 

48 H On the seventh day r Elishama the 
son of Ammihud. prince of the children of 
Ephraira, offered: 

49 His offering was one silver charger, the 
weight whereof was an hundred and thirty 
shekels, one silver bowl of seventy shekels, 
after the shekel of the sanctuary, both of 
them full of fine flour mingled with oil, 
for a meat offering: 

50 One golden spoon of ten shekels, fail 
of* inct-nse: 



27te Princut Otf'erin/jti 



NUMBERS, VII. for tte Dedication of tlve A Uar. 



be distributed "unto the Levites, to every 
man according to his service? i.e., more or 
fewer wen; assigned to each of the Levitical 

divisions, as their department of duty 
seemed to require. This divine sanction ft 
is of great importance to notice, as establish- 
ing the principle, that, while in the great 
matters of divine worship and church- 
government we are to adhere faithfully to 
the revealed rule of faith and duty, minor 
arrangements respecting them may be law- 
fully made, according to the means and con- 
venience of God's people in different places. 
" There is a great deal left to human regula- 
tion—appendages of undoubted conveni- 
ence, and winch it were as absurd to resist 
on the ground that an express warrant 
cannot be produced for them, as to protest 
against the convening of the people to 
divine service, because there is no scripture 
for the erection and ringing of a church 
bell." [Chalmers.] 6-9. Moses took the 
waggons and the cx?n — The Heb. word 
seems to be fairly rendered by the word 
44 waggons." Wheel carriages of some kind 
are certainly intended; and as they were 
covered, the best idea we can form of them 
is. that they bore some resemblance to our 
tilted waggons. That wheel carriages were 
anciently used in Egypt, and in what is now 
Asiatic Turkey, is attested, not only by his- 
tory, but by existing sculptures and paint* 
ings. Some of these the Israelites might 
have brought with them at their departure; 
and others, the skilful artisans, who did the 
mechanical work of the tabernacle, could 
easily have constructed, according to models 
with which they had been familiar. Each 
waggon was drawn by two oxen, and a 
greater number does not seem to have been 
en. ployed on any of the different occasions 
mentioned in Scripture. Oxen seem to have 
been generally used for draught in ancient 
times among other nations as well as the 
Hebrews; and they continue still to be em- 
ployed in dragging the few carts which are in 



use in some parts of Western Asia. [Kitto.] 
gave them unto the Levites— The principle of 
distribution was natural and judicious— the 



Merarites having twice the number of wag- 
gons and oxen appropriated to them that 
the Gershonites had; obviously because, 
while the latter had charge only of the cover- 
ings and hangings— the light but precious 
and richly embroidered drapery— the former 
were appointed to transport all the heavy 
and bulky materials— the boards, bars, pil- 
lars, and sockets— in short, all the larger 
articles of furniture. Whoever thinks only 
of the enormous weight of metal, the gold., 
silver, brass, &c, that were on the bases, 
chapiters, and pillars, &c, will probably 
come to the conclusion that four waggons 
and eight oxen were not nearly sufficient for 
the conveyance of so vast a load. Besides, 
4 the Merarites were not very numerous, as 
they amounted only to 3,200 men from thirty 
years and upwards; and, therefore, there is 
reason to suppose that a much greater 
number of waggons would afterwards 
be found necessary, and be furnished, than 
were given on this occasion. [Calmet.] 
Others, who consider the full number 
of waggons and oxen to be stated in the 
sacred record, suppose that the Merarites 
may have carried many of the smaller things 
in their hands— the sockets, for instance, 
105 



which being each a talent weight, was one 
man's burden. 2 K\. G. %',. The Kohathites 
had neither wheeled vehicles nor beast* of 
burden assigned them, because, being 
charged with the transport of the furniture 
belonging to the holy place, the sacred worth 
arid character of the vessels intrusted to 
them see on ch. 4. 16, demanded a more 
honourable mode of conveyance. They were 
carried by those Levites shoulder-high. 
'Even in this minute arrangement every re- 
flecting reader will perceive the evidence of 
Oivine wisdom ana holiness; and a devia- 
tion from the prescribed rule of duty led, in 
one recorded instance, to a manifestation of 
holy displeasure, calculated to make a salu- 
tary and solemn impression. l i Sa. 6. fr-13:J 
10, 11. The princes offered, <fec— "Altar " is 
there used in the singular for the plural; for 
it is evident, from the kind of offerings, that 
! the altars of burnt-offering and incense are 
j both referred to. This was not the first or 
1 proper dedication of those altars, which had 
been made by Moses and Aaron some time 
before. But it might be considered an ad- 
ditional dedication — those offerings being 
the first that were made for particular per- 
sons or tribes. They shall offer, &c.— Eastern 
princes were accustomed anciently, as they 
are in Persia still on a certain yearly festival, 
to sit upon their thrones in great state, when 
the princes and nobles, from all parts of 
their dominions, appear before thern with 
tributary presents, which form a large pro- 
portion of their royal revenue. And in the 
offering of all gifts or presents to great per- 
sonages, every article is presented singly and 
with ostentatious display. The tabernacle 
being the palace of their King, as well as the 
sanctuary of their God, the princes of Israel 
may be viewed, on the occasion under no- 
tice, as presenting their tributary offerings, 
and in tlie same manner of successive detail, 
which accords with the immemorial usages 
of the East. A day was set apart for each, 
as much for the imposing solemnity and 
splendour of the ceremony, as for the pre- 
vention ot disorder and hurry ; and it is 
observable that, in the order of offering, 
regard was paid to priority not of birth, but 
of rank and dignity as they were ranged 
in the camp — beginning at the east, 
proceeding to the south, then to the west, 
and closing with the north, according to the 
course of the sun. 12-17. He that offered, <fcc. 
— Judah having had the precedence assigned 
to it, the prince or head of that tribe was the 
first admitted to offer as its representative; 
and his offering, as well as that of the others, 
is thought, from its costliness, to have been 
furnished not from his own private means, 
but from the general contributions of each 
tribe. Some parts of the offering, as the ani- 
mals for sacrifice, were for the ritual service of 
the day,the peace-offerings being by much the 
most numerous.as the princes and some of the 
people joined with the priests afterwards in 
cele orating the occasion with festive rejoic- 
ing. Hence the feast of dedication became 
afterwards an anniversary festival. Other 
parts of the offering were intended for per- 
jmanent use, as utensils necessary in the 
l service of the sanctuary, as an immense 
platter and bowl, Ex. 25. 29, which being of 
J silver, were to be employed at the altar of 
| burnt-offering, or in the court, not in the 
I holy place, all the furniture of which, was of 



The princes' offerings at the 



NUMBERS, VI11. 



dedication of the altar. 



51 One * young bullock, one ram, one 
lamb of the first year, lor a burnt otter- 
ing: 

52 One kid of the goats for a sin offering: 

53 And for a sacrifice of peace orlerings, 
two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, five 
lambs of the first year: this was the offering 
of Elishama the son of Ammihud. 

54 % On the eighth day offered u Gamaliel 
the son of Pedahzur, prince of the children 
of Manasseh: 

55 His ottering v:as one silver charger of 
the weight of an hundred and thirty shekels, 
one silver bowl of seventy shekels, after the 
shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full 
of fine Hour mingled with oil, for a meat 
ottering: 

56 One golden spoon of ten shekels, full 
of v incense: 

57 One young bullock, one ram, one " lamb 
of the first year, for a burnt ottering: 

58 One kid of the goats for a sin ottering: 
50 And for * a sacrifice of peace otterings, 

two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, five 
lambs of the first year: this was the ottering 
of Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur. 

60 M On the ninth day v Abidan the son of 
Gideoni, prince of the children of Benja- 
min, offered: 

61 Ills ottering was one silver charger, the 
weight whereof ivas an hundred and thirty 
shekels, one silver bowl of seventy shekels, 
after the shekel of the sanctuary, both of 
them full of fine flour mingled with oil, for 
a meat offering: 

62 One golden spoon of ten shekels, full 
of 2 incense: 

63 One a young bullock, one ram, one 
lamb of the"first year, for a burnt ottering: 

64 One kid of the goats for a sin ottering: 

65 And for a sacrifice of 6 peace offerings, 
two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, live 
lambs of the first year: this was the ottering 
of Abidan the son of Gideoni. 

66 ^ On the tenth day c Ahiezer the son of 
Ammishaddai, prince of the children of 
Dan, offered: 

67 His ottering was one silver charger, the 
weight whereof was an hundred and thirty 
shekels, one silver bowl of seventy shekels, 
alter the d shekel of the sanctuary, both of 
them full of fine flour mingled with oil, for 
a meat offering: 

68 One golden spoon of ten shekels, full 
of e incense: 

69 One young bullock, one ram, one lamb 
of the first year, for a burnt ottering: 

70 One kid of the goats for a sin offering: 

71 And for a sacrifice of peace offerings, 
two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, five 
lambs of the first year: this was the ottering 
of Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai. 

71 T Un the eleventh day / Pagiel the son 
of Ocran, prince of the children of Asher, 
offered: 

73 His offering was one silver charger, the 
weight whereof was an hundred and thirty 
shekels, one silver bowl of seventy shekels, 
after the shekel of the sanctuary, both of 
them full of fine flour mingled with oil, for 
a meat offering: 

74 One golden spoon of ten shekels, full 
of ° incense: 

75 One young bullock, one ram, one lamb 
of the first year, for a burnt offering: 

76 One kid of the goats for a sin offering: 

77 And for a sacrifice of peace otterings, 
two o*ea, five rams^tive he-goats, five 

106 



B. C. 1490. 



CHAP. 7. 

t Mic. 6. 6-8. 
w eh. 2. 20. 
v Ex. 30. 7. 
V) Ex. 12. 5. 

John 1. 29. 

Acts 8. 32. 

1 Peter 1. 
19. 

Rev. 5. 6. 

a; Lev. 3.1. 

Mic. 5. 5. 

2 Cor. 5. 
19,21. 
Eph. 2. 14. 

V ch.l. 11. 

ch. 2. 22. 

a Rev. 5. 8. 

Rev. 8. 3,4. 
a Ps. 40. 6. 
Is. 53. 4. 

2 Cor. 5. 

21. 
b 1 Kin. 8. 
63. 

Pro. 7. 14. 

Col. 1. 20. 
c ch. 1. 12. 

ch. 2. 25. 
d Lev. 27. 25. 
Ex. 30. 13. 
ePs. 141.2. 

Is. 66. 20. 

Dan. 9. 27. 

Ro. 15. 16. 

Phil. 4. 18. 

Heb. 13.15. 
/ ch. 1. 13. 

ch. 2. 27. 

g Mai. 1. 11. 

Lu. 1. 11. 

h ch. 1. 15. 

ch. 2. 29. 

t Ezra 1.9 10. 

Ezra 8. 25, 

27. 

Jer. 52. 19. 

Dan. 5. 2. 

Zech. 14.20. 

Mat. 14. 8, 

11. 
; 1 Chr. 29.6. 

Ezra 2. 68. 

Neh. 7. 70. 

Is. 60. 6,10. 

Heb. 13. 10. 
k Jud. 5. 9. 
I Ex. 30. 13. 
m Ro. 12. 1. 
n Lev. 2. 1. 
o Ex. 33. 9. 
4 that is, 

God. 
p Ex. 25. 22. 
q Gen. 3.24. 
lKi.6.23. 
Ps. It'. 10. 
Ps. 99. 1. 
Heb. 1.14. 
Heb. 9. 5. 



CHAP. 8. 
a Ex. 40. 25. 

John 8. 12. 
b Ex. 25. 31. 
c Ex. 25. 18. 
d Ex. 25. 40. 
e Ps. 26. 6. 

Is. 52. 11. 

Heb. 7. 26. 

Heb. 10.22. 
/sin water. 

ch. 19. 9,17. 
1 let them 

cause a 

razor to 

pass over, 

etc. 
: 9 Lot. 14.8,9. 



lambs of the first year: this was the ottering 
of Pagiel the son of Ocran. 

78 r On the twelfth day h Ahira the sou 
of Enan. prince of the children of Naph- 
tali, offered: _ 

79 His ottering was one silver * charger, 
the weight whereof ivas an hundred and 

I thirty shekels, one silver bowl of seventy 
I shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, 

both of them full of fine flour mingled with 

oil, for a meat ottering: 

80 One golden spoon of ten sliekels, full of 
incense: 

81 One young bullock, one ram, one lamb 
of the first year, for a burnt ottering: 

82 One kid" of the goats for a sin ottering: 

83 And for a sacrifice of peace offerings, 
two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, live 
lambs of the first year: this was the offering 

I of Ahira the son of Enan. 
I 84 This ivas i the dedication of the altar, 
;in the day when it was anointed, by *the 
j princes of Israel: twelve chargers of "silver, 
| twelve silver bowls, twelve spoons of 
gold: 

85 Each charger of silver weighing an 
: hundred and thirty shekels, each bowl 
: seventy: all the silver vessels weighed two 
|- thousand and four hundred shekels, after 
the shekel of the sanctuary : 
j 66 The golden spoons were twelve, full of 
I incense, weighing ten shekels apiece, alter 
I the l shekel of the sanctuary: all the gold 
of the spoons was an hundred and twenty 
shekels. 

87 All the oxen for the m burnt offering 
were twelve bullocks, the rams twelve, the 
lambs of the first year twelve, with their 
meat n ortering : and the kids of the goats 
for sin ottering twelve. 
S8 And all the oxen, for the sacrifice of 
the peace offerings, were twenty and four 
bullocks, the rams sixty, the he-goats sixty, 
the lambs of the first year sixty. This ivas 
the dedication of the altar, after that it was 
anointed. 

89 And when Moses was gone into the 
tabernacle of the congregation ° to speak 
with 4 him, then he heard p the voice of 
one speaking unto him from ofi' the mercy- 
seat that was upon the ark of testimony, 
from between q the two cherubim: and he 
spake unto him. 

CHAPTER Yin. 

1 How the lamps are to be lighted. 5 The conse- 
cration of the Levitts : 23 the' age and tune of their 
service. 

A ND the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 
■"■ 2 Speak unto Aaron, and say unto him, 
When thou a lightest the lamps, the seven 
lamps shall give fight over against the can- 
dlestick. 

3 And Aaron did so; he lighted the lamps 
thereof over against the candlestick, as the 
Lord commanded Moses. 

4 And b tliis work of the candlestick was 
of beaten gold, unto the shaft thereof, unto 
the flowers thereof, was c beaten work: 
according d unto the pattern which the 
Lord had showed Moses, so he made the 
candlestick. 

5 H And the Lord spake unto Moses, 
savins:, 

6" Take the Levites from among the chil- 
dren of Israel, and e cleanse them. 

7 And thus shall thou do unto them,, to 
cleanse them: Sprinkle /water of purifying 
upon them, and l let* them shave all their 



The Prince? Offerings. 



NUMBERS, VIII. How the Lamps are to be Lighted. 



solid or plaled gold; and a golden spoon, the i 
contents of which show its destination to 
have been the altar of incense. The word j 
rendered "spoon" means a hollow cup, in j 
the shape of a hand, with which the priests 
on ordinary occasions might lift a quantity 
from the incense-box to throw on the altar- 
fire, or into the censers; but on the ceremo- 
nial on the day of the annual atonement no 
instrument was allowed but the high priest's 
own hands. Le. 16. 12.) 18. On the second, 
Nethaneel, prince of Issachar— This tribe being 
stationed on the right side of Judah, of- 
fered next through its representative; then 
Zebulun, which was on the left side; and so 
on in orderly succession, every tribe making 
the same kind of offering and in the same 
amount, to show that, as each was under 
equal obligation, each rendered an equal 
tribute. Although each offering made was 
the same in quantity as well as quality, a 
separate notice is given of each, as a separate 
day was appointed for the presentation, that 
equal honour might be conferred on each, 
and none appear to be overlooked or slight- 
ed. And as the sacred books were frequently 
read in public, posterity, in each successive 
age, would feel a livelier interest in the 
national worship, from the permanent re- 
cognition of the offerings made by the 
ancestors of the respective tribes. But 
while this was done in one respect, as sub- 
jects offering tribute to their king, it was in 
another respect, a purely religious act. The 
vessels offered were for a sacrificial use— the 
animals brought were clean and fit for sacri- 
fice, both symbolically denoting, that while 
God was to dwell amongst them as their 
Sovereign, they were a holy people, who by 
this offering dedicated themselves to God. 
48. On the seventh day— Surprise has been 
expressed by some that this work of presen- 
tation was continued on the Sabbath. But 
assuming that the seventh day referred to 
was a Sabbath, (which is uncertain,) the 
work was of a directly religious character,and 
perfectly in accordance with the design of 
the sacred day. 84-88. This was the dedication 
of the altar— The inspired historian here sums 
up the separate items detailed. The preced- 
ing narrative, and the aggregate amount, is 
as follows:— 121 silver chargers, each weigh- 
ing 130 shekels = 1560; 12 silver bowls, each 
70 shekels = 840: total weight. A silver 
charger at 130 shekels, reduced to Troy 
weight, makes 75 oz., 9 dwts., 16 8'31 gr.; and 
a silver bowl at 70 shekels amounts to 40 oz., 
12 dwts., 21 21 '31 gr. The total weight of the 
12 chargers is therefore 905 oz., 16 dwts., 
3 3 11 gr., and that of the 12 bowls 487 oz., 
14 dwts., 20 431 gr.; making the total weight 
of silver vessels 1393 oz., 10 dwts., 23 7'31 gr.; 
w T hich, at 5s. per oz., is equal to £383, Is. 8jd. 
The 12 golden spoons, allowing each to be 
5 oz 

equal to £320, 14s. I0*d., and added to the 
amount of the silver, makes a total of £703, 
16s. 6fd. Besides these, the offerings com- 
prised 12 bullocks, 12 rams, 12 lambs, 24 goats, 
60 rams, 60 he-goats, 60 lambs— amounting in 
all to 240. So large a collection of cattle offered 
for sacrifice on one occasion proves both the 
large flocks of the Israelites and the abund- 
ance of pastures which were then, and still 
are found in the valleys that lie between the 
Sinaitic Mountains. All travellers attest 
106 



oz., 16 dwts., 3 3 31 gr., amount to 69 oz., 
dwts., 13 5 "31 gr., which, at £4 per oz., is 



the luxuriant verdure of those extensive 
wadys; and that they were equally or still 
more rich in pasturage anciently, is con- 
firmed by the numerous flocks of the Amale- 
kites, as well as of Nabal, which were 
fed in the wilderness of Paran. [1 Sam. ]5. 
9. ) 89. And when Moses was gone into 
the tabernacle of the congregation — As a 
king gives private audience to his minis- 
ter, so special license was granted to 
Moses, who, though not a priest, was ad- 
mitted into the sanctuary to receive instruc- 
tions from his Heavenly King as occasion 
demanded, then he heard the voice of one 
speaking to him— Though standing on the 
outer side of the vail, he could distinctly 
hear it, and the mention of this circum- 
stance is important as the fulfilment, at the 
dedication of the tabernacle, of a special 
promise made by the Lord— Christ himself, 
the Angel of the Covenant, commanding its 
erection. (Ex. 25. 22.) It was the reward of 
Moses' zeal and obedience ; and, in like 
manner, to all who love Him and keep His 
commandments, He will manifest Himself. 
(J. 14. 21.) 

CHAPTER Vm. 

Ver. 1-4. How the Lamps are to be 
Lighted. 1. The Lord spake unto Moses— 
The order of this chapter suggests the idea 
that the following instructions were given to 
Moses while he was within the tabernacle of 
the congregation, after the princes had com- 
pleted their offering. But from the tenor of 
the instructions, it is more likely that they 
were given immediately after the Levites had 
been given to the priests, (see on chaps. 3. 4,) 
and that the record of these instructions had 
been postponed till the narrative of other 
transactions in the camp had been made. 
[Patrick.] Speakunto Aaron, &c— The candle- 
stick, which was made of one solid, massy 
piece of pure gold, with six lamps supported 
on as many branches, a seventh in the centre 
surmounting the shaft itself, (Ex. 25. 31; 37. 
17,) and completed according to the pattern 
shown in the mount, was now to be lighted, 
when the other things in the sanctuary 
began to be applied to religious service. It 
was Aaron's personal duty, as the servant of 
God, to light His house, which, being with- 
out windows, required the aid of lights. (2 
Pe. 1. 19.) And the course he was ordered to 
follow was first to light the middle lamp 
from the altar fire, and then the other lamps 
from each other— a course symbolical of all 
the light of heavenly truth being derived 
from Christ, and diffused by his ministers 
throughout the world. (Re. 4. 5.) over 
against, &c— The candlestick stood close to 
the boards of the sanctuary, on the south 
side, in full view of the table of show bread 
on the north, (Ex. 26. 35, ) having one set of 
its lamps turned towards the east, and 
another towards the west; so that all parts 
of the tabernacle were thus lighted up. 

5-22. The Consecration of the Le- 
vites— Take the Levites and cleanse them— 
This passage describes the consecration of 
the Levites. Although the tribe was to be 
devoted to the Divine service, their heredi- 
tary descent alone was not a sufficient 
qualification for entering on the duties of 
the sacred office. They were to be set apart 
by a special ceiemony. which, however, was 
much simpler than that appointed for the 
priests: neither washing nor anointing, nor 



Consecration of the Levites. 



NUMBERS, IX. 



77?? second passover. 



flesh, and let them wash their clothes, and 
so make themselves clean. 

8 Then let them take a young bullocK 
with h his meat offering, even fine flour 
mingled with oil, and another young bul- 
lock shalt thou take for a sin offering. 

9 And * thou shalt bring the Levites before 
the tabernacle of the congregation ; i and 
thou shalt gather the whole assembly of 
the children of Israel together: 

10 And thou shalt bring the Levites before 
the Lord: and the children of Israel *6hall 
put their hands upon the Levites: 

11 And Aaron shall 2 offer the Levites 
before the Lord for an 3 offering of the 
children of Israel, that 4 they may execute 
the service of tne Lord. 

12 And l the Levites shall lay their hands 
upon the heads of the bullocks: and thou 
shalt offer the one for a sin offering, and 
the other for a burnt offering, unto the 
Lord, to make an atonement for the 
Levites. 

13 And thou shalt set the Levites before 
Aaron, and before his sons, and offer them 
for an offering unto the Lord. 

14 Thus shalt thou separate the Levites 
from among the children of Israel: and the 
Levites shall be m mine. 

15 And after that shall the Levites go 
in to do the service of the tabernacle of 
the congregation : and thou shalt cleanse 
them, n and offer them for an offering. 

16 lor they are wholly given unto me 
from among the children of Israel ; ° instead 
of such as open every womb, even instead 
of the first-born of all the children of Israel, 
have I taken them unto me. 

17 For p all the first-born of the children 
of Israel are mine, both man and beast: on 
the day that I smote every first-born in 
the land of Egypt I sanctified them for 
myself. 

18 And I have taken the Levites for all the 
first-born of the children of Israel. 

19 And * I have given the Levites as 5 a 
gift to Aaron and to his sons from among 
the children of Israel, to do the service of 
the children of Israel in the tabernacle of 
the congregation, and to make an atone- 
ment for the children of Israel ; r that there 
be no plague among the children of Israel, 
when the children of Israel come nigh unto 
the sanctuary. 

20 And Moses, and Aaron, and all the 
congregation of the children of Israel, did 
to the Levites according unto all that the 
Lord commanded Moses concerning the 
Levites, so did the children of Israel unto 
them. 

21 And the Levites were purified, and they 
washed their clothes; 8 and Aaron offered 
them as an offering before the Lord ; and 
Aaron made an atonement for them to 
cleanse them. 

22 And < after that went the Levites in to 
do their service in the tabernacle of the 
congregation before Aaron, and before his 
sons: as the Lord had commanded Moses 
concerning the Levites, so did they unto 
them. 

23 IF And the Lord spake unto Moses, 
saying, 

24 This is it that belongeth unto the u Le- 
vites: from twenty and five years old and 
upward they shall go in 6 to wait upon the 
service of the tabernacle of the congrega- 
tion: 

107 



CHAP. 8. 
h Lev. 2. 1. 
i Ex. 29. 4. 

Ex. 40. 12. 
j Lev. 8. 3. 
k Lev. 1. 4. 

2 ware. 

3 ware offer- 
ing. 

4 they may 
be to exe- 
cute, etc. 

I Ex. 29. 10. 
m ch. 16. 9. 
n Ex. 29. 24. 
o ch. 3. 12, 

45. 
P ch. 3. 13. 

Ex. 13. 2, 

12, 13, 15. 

La. 2. 23. 
9 ch. 3. 9. 

5 given. 
>*ch. 1.53. 

ch. 16. 46. 

«h. 18. 6. 
« Ro. 16. 16. 
t 2 Chr. 30. 

15. 

2 Chron. 

31.2. 
«* ch. 4. 3. 

1 Ch.23.3. 

1 Chr. 24. 

27. 

6 to war the 
warfare of, 
etc. 

1 Tim. 1. 
18. 

7 return 
from the 
warfare of 
the service. 

v ch. 1. 53. 



CHAP. 9. 
a Ex. 12. 1. 

Lev. 23. 5. 
Deut. 16. 
1,2. 

ch. 28. 16. 
Heb. 10. 1. 
1 between 
the two 



6 Josh. 6. 10. 
c ch. 5. 2. 
d ch, 27. 2. 

Ex. 18. 15. 
* 1 Cor. 5. 

7, 8. 
/Ps. 25. 14. 

Ps. 85. 8. 

Pr. 3. 5, 6. 

John 7. 17. 

Eph. 1. 9, 

18. 

Heb. 2. 6,6. 
g 2 Chr. 30. 

2, 15. 
h Ex. 12. 8. 
t Ex. 12. 10. 
j John 19. 

36. 
k Exod. 12. 
43. 

1 Gen 17. 14. 
Ex. 12. 15. 

m ch. 5. 31. 

Gal. 3. 10. 

He. 10. 26. 
« Ex. 12. 49. 

2 Proselyte. 
o Ex. 13. 21. 
P Ex. 40. 34. 

Neh.9.12. 



25 And from the age of fifty years they 
shall 7 cease waiting upon the service there- 
of, and shall serve no more ; 

26 But shall minister with their brethren 
in the tabernacle of the congregation, v to 
keep the charge, and shall do no service. 
Thus shalt thou do unto the Levites touch- 
ing their charge. 

CHAPTER IX. 

1 The passover enjoined. 9 A second passover al- 
lowed. 15 A cloud guidcth the Israelites. 

A ND the Lord spake unto Moses in the 
wilderness of Sinai, in the first month 
of the second year after they were come 
out of the land of Egvnt, saying, 

2 Let the children or Israel also keep ° the 
passover at his appointed season. 

3 In the fourteenth day of this month, l at 
even, ye shall keep it in his appointed sea- 
son: according to all the rites of it, and ac- 
cording to ail the ceremonies thereof, shall 
ye keep it. 

4 And Moses spake unto the children of 
Israel, that they should keep the passover. 

5 And b they Kept the passover on the 
fourteenth day of the first month at even 
in the wilderness of Sinai: according to all 
that the Lord commanded Moses, so did 
the children of Israel. 

6 IF And there were certain men, who 
were c defiled by the dead body of a man, 
that they could not keep the passover on 
that day: d and they came before Moses 
and before Aaron on that day: 

7 And those men said unto him, We are 
defiled by the dead body of a man : where- 
fore are we kept back, that we may e not 
olfer an offering of theLoRD in his appointed 
season among the children of Israel? 

8 And Moses said unto them, Stand still, 
and / I will hear what the Lord will com- 
mand concerning you. 

9 1F And the Lord spake unto Moses, 
saying, 

10 Speak unto the children of Israel, say- 
ing, If any man of you or of your posterity 
shall be unclean by reason of a dead body, 
or be in a journey afar off, yet he shall keep 
the passover unto the Lord. 

11 The 9 fourteenth day of the second 
month at even they shall keep it, and h eat 
it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. 

12 They » shall leave none of it unto the 
morning, J nor break any bone of it: * ac- 
cording to all the ordinances of the pass- 
over they shall keep it. 

13 But the man that is clean, and is not 
in a journey, and forbeareth to keep the 
passover, even the same soul l shall «be cut 
off from among his people : because he 
brought not the offering of the Lord in his 
appointed season, that man shall m bear 
his sin. 

14 And if a stranger shall sojourn among 
you, and will keep the passover unto the 
Lord; according to the ordinance of the 
passover, and according to the manner 
thereof, so shall he do: n ye shall have one 
ordinance, both lor the 2 stranger, and for 
him that was bom in the land. 

15 IF And on the day that the tabernacle 
was reared up, the cloud covered the taber- 
nacle, namely, the tent of the testimony: 
and ° at even there was upon the tabernacle 
as it were the appearance of fire, until the 
morning. 

16 So it was alway: the p cloud covered it 
by day, and the appearance of fire by night. 



The Consecration of the Levites. NUMBEES, IX. 



A Second Passover Allowed. 



investiture with official robes, was necessary. 
Their purification consisted, along with the 
offering of the requisite sacrifices, (Le. 1. 4; 
3 2; 4. 4,) in being sprinkled by water mixed 
with the ashes of a red heifer, (ch. 19. 9,) and 
shaved all over, and their clothes washed— a 
combination of symbolical acts, which was 
intended to remind them of the mortifica- 
tion of carnal and worldly desires, and the 
maintenance of that purity in heart and life 
which became the servants of God. 9. The 
children of Israel, &c— As it was plainly im- 

fossible that the whole multitude of the 
sraelites could do this, a select portion of 
them must be meant. This party, who laid 
their hands upon the Levites, are supposed 
by some to have been the first-born, who, by 
that act, transferred their peculiar privilege 
of acting as God's ministers to the Levitical 
tribe; and by others, to have been the 
princes, who thus blessed them. It appears, 
from this passage, that the imposition of 
hands was a ceremony used in consecrating 
persons to holy offices in the ancient, 
as, from the example of our Lord and 
his apostles, it has been perpetuated in 
the Christian Church. 11-13. Aaron shall 
*ffer the Levites— Heb., as a wave offering; 
and it has been thought probable that the 
high priest, in bringing the Levites one by 
one to the altar, directed them to make some 
simple movements of their persons, anala- 
gous to what was done at the presentation 
of the wave offerings before the Lord. Thus 
were they first devoted as an offering to 
God, and by him surrendered to the priests 
to be employed in his service. The conse- 
cration ceremonial was repeated in the case 
of every Levite who was taken, as at a later 
period was done, to assist the priests in 
the tabernacle and temple. (See on 2 Chr. 
29. 34.) 14. The Levites shall be mine— i.e., ex- 
empt from all military duty or secular work- 
free from all pecuniary imposition, and whol- 
ly devoted to the custody and service of the 
sanctuary. 15. After that, the Levites shall go in 
—into the court, to assist the priests; and at 
removal into the tabernacle— i. e„ the door 
of it— to receive the covered furniture. 19. 
to make an atonement, &c— to aid the priests 
in that expiatory work; or, as the words may 
be rendered, " to make redemption for," the 
Levites being exchanged or substituted for 
the first-born, for this important end, that 
there might be a sanctified body of men 
appointed to guard the sanctuary, and not 
allow the people to approach or presumptu- 
ously meddle with holy things, which would 
expose them to the angry judgments of 
Heaven. 23. From twenty-five years old, <fec. 
— (cf. ch. 4. 3.) They entered on their work 
in their 25th year, as pupils and probation- 
ers, under the superintendance and direction 
of their senior brethren; and at 30 they were 
admitted to the full discharge of their official 
functions. 24. From fifty they shall cease wait- 
ing, &c.— i. e., on the laborious and exhaust- 
ing parts of their work. 26. But shall minister 
with their brethren— in the performance of 
easier and lighter duties— instructing and 
directing the young, or superintending im- 
portant trusts. " They also serve who only 
wait." [MiltonJ 

CHAPTER IX. 

Ver. 1-8. The Passover Enjoined. 2. 

Let the children of Israel, &c— The date of 

this command to keep the passover in the 

107 



wilderness was given shortly after the erec- 
tion and consecration of the tabernacle, and 
preceded the numbering of the people by a 
month, (cf. v. 1. with ch. 1. l, 2.) But it is 
narrated after that transaction, in order to 
introduce the notice of a particular case, for 
which a law was provided to meet the occa- 
sion. This was the first observance of the 
passover since the Exodus; and, without a 
positive injunction, the Israelites were 
under no obligation to keep it till their 
settlement in the land of Canaan. (Ex. 12. 
25.) The anniversary was kept on the exact 
day of the year on which they, twelve months 
before, had departed from Egypt; and it was 
marked by all the peculiar rites— the he-lamb 
and the unleavened bread. The materials 
would be easily procured— the lambs from 
their numerous flocks, and the meal for the 
unleavened bread, by the aid of Jethro, from 
the land of Midian, which was adjoining their 
camp. (Ex. 3. 1.) But their girded loins, 
their sandalled feet, and their staff in their 
hand, being mere circumstances attending a 
hurried departure, and not essential to the 
rite, were not repeated. It is supposed to 
have been the only observance of the feast 
during their 40 years' wandering; and Jewish 
writers say that, as none could eat the pass- 
over except they were circumcised, (Ex. 12. 
43, 44,48,) and circumcision was not practised 
in the wilderness, there could be no renewal 
of the paschal solemnity. 

6-14. A Second Passover Allowed. 
There were certain men . . . denied by the dead— 
To discharge the last offices to the remains 
of deceased relatives was imperative ; and 
yet attendance on a funeral entailed cere- 
monial defilement, which led to exclusion 
from all society and from the camp for seven 
days. Some persons who were in this situa- 
tion at the arrival of the first paschal anni- 
versary, being painfully perplexed about the 
course of duty, because they were tempo- 
rarily disqualified at the proper season, and 
having no opportunity of supplying their 
want, were liable to a total privation of all 
their privileges, laid their case before Moses. 
Jewish writers assertsthat these men were the 
persons who had carried out the dead bodies 
of Nadab and Abihu. 8. Stand still, <fec. — 
A solution of the difficulty was soon obtain- 
ed—it being enacted, by Divine authority, 
that to those who might be disqualified, by 
the occurrence of a death in his family circle, 
or unable by distance to keep the passover 
on the anniversary day, a special license was 
granted of observing it by themselves on the 
same day and hour of the following month, 
under a due attendance to all the solemn 
formalities. (See on 2 Chr. 30. 2.) But the 
observance was imperative on all who did 
not labour under those impediments. 14. 
If a stranger . . . will keep the passover— Gentile 
converts, or proselytes, as they were after- 
wards called, were admitted, if circumcised, 
to the same privileges as native Israelites, 
j and were liable to excommunication if they 
neglected the passover. But circumcision 
was an indispensable condition; and who- 
ever did not submit to that. rite, were pro- 
hibited, under the sternest penalties, from 
eating the passover. 

15-23. A Cloud Guideth the Israel- 
ites. The cloud covered the tabernacle— The 
inspired historian here enters on an entirely 
new subject, which might properly have 



Use of the sV.vei trumpets. 



NUMBERS, X. 



The Israelites journey to Paran. 



17 And when the cloud * was taken up 
from the tabernacle, then after that the 
children of Israel tourneyed: and in the 
place where the ckud abode, there the 
children of Israel pitched their tents. 

18 At the comniamunent of the Lord the 
children of Israel journeyed, and at the 
commandment of the Lord they pitched: 
as r long as the cloud abode upon the ta- 
bernacle they rested in their tents. 

ly And when the cloud 3 tarried loner upon 
the tabernacle many days, then the children 
of Israel kept the charge of the Lord, and 
journeyed not. 

20 And so it was. when the cloud was a 
few days upon the tabernacle : according to 
the commandment of the Lord they abode 
in their tents, and according to the com- 
mandment of the Lord they e journeyed. 

21 And so it was. when the cloud * abode 
from even unto the morning, and that the 
cloud ' was taken up in the morning, then 
they journeyed: whether it was by dav or 
by night that the cloud was taken up, they 
journeyed. 

22 Or unfetter if were two days, or a 
month, or a year, that the cloud tarried 
upon the tabernacle, remaining thereon, 
the children of Israel u abode in their tents, 
and iourneyed not: but when it was taken 
up. they journeyed. 

23 At the commandment of the Lord they 
rested in their tents, and l ' at the command- 
ment of the Lord they journeyed: they 
kept the charge of the Lord, at the com- 
mandment of the Lord by the hand of 
Moses. 

CHAPTER X. 

1 The use of the silver trumpets. 11 The Israelites 
go from Hinai to luran. 33 Moses' blessing. 

A ND the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 
""- 2 Make thee two trumpets of silver; of 
a whole piece shah thou make them: that 
thou mayest use them for the a calling of 
the assembly, and for the journeying of the 
camps. 

3 And when b they shall blow with them, 
all c the assembly shall assemble themselves 
to thee at the door of the tabernacle of the 
( ::__r. nation. 

4 And if they blow but with one trumpet. 
then the princes, which are d heads of the 
thousands of Israel, shall gather themselves 
unto thee. 

5 When ye blow an alarm, then e the 
camps that lie on the east parts shall go 
forward. 

6 When ye blow an alarm the second time, 
then the camps that lie on the south side 
shall take their journey: they shall blow an 
alarm for their journeys. 

7 But when the a niretration is to be ga- 
thered together, ye shall blow, but ye shall 
not / sound an alarm. 

8 And ■ the sons of Aaron, the priests. 
shall blow with the trumpets: and they 
shall be to you for an ordinance for tver 

- [hoot your generations. 

9 And if ye go to war in your land against 
the enemy that k oppresseth you, then ye 
shall blow an alarm with the trumpets: 
and ye shall be * remembered before the 
Lord* your God. and ye snail be saved 
from your enemies. 

10 Also i in the cay of your gladness, and 
in your solemn days, and hi the beginnings 
of your months, ye shall blow with the 
trumpets over your burnt otic-rings, and 

106 



B. C.1490. 



CHAP. 9. 

Pi. a ■. i. 

Is. 49. 10. 

John 10.4. 

r 1 Cor.10.1. 

3 prolonged. 
« Ps. 4& 14. 

Pro. 3. 5, 6. 

4 was. 

t Mat. 28. 20. 
■ Ex. 10.36k 

ST. 
v Ps. 73. 24. 

Ps. 107. 7. 

Is. 63. 14. 



CHAP. 10. 

Is.l. 13. 
6 Jer. 4. 5. 

Joel. 2. 15. 
e Ps. 22. «2- 

Ps. ob. 18. 

Ps. 30. 7. 8. 

Ps. 40. 9, 

10. 

Ps. 122.1. 

Is. 55. 1-4. 

Zech. 8. 

21-23. 

Rev. 22.17. 
d ch. 1. 16. 

ch. 7. 2. 

Ex. 18. 21. 
« ch. 2. 3. 
/ Joel 2. 1. 
g ch 31. 6. 

Ms. 6.4 

2 Chr. 13. 

12. 
h Jud. 2. 18. 

Jnd. 6. 9. 

1 Sam. 10. 

18. 

Ps.106.42. 
t Gen. 8. 1- 

lKin.8. 

44. 

Ps. 106. 4. 
j Lev. 23. 24. 

1 Chr. 15. 
24. 

2 Chr. 7. 6. 
Ezra 3. 10. 
Neh. 12. 35. 
Ps. 81. 3. 

1 Josh. 4. 7. 

1 ch. 9. 17. 
m Ex. 40.36. 
«ch. 1. 1. 

Ex. 19. 1. 

ch. 12. 16. 
Gee. 21. 21. 

p ch. 2. 34. 

2 ch. 1. 51. 
r ch. 4. 24, 

3i. 
« ch. 4. 4, 
15. 

The most 
holy furni- 
ture. 

1 That is, the 
Gprshon- - 
;.-.« mad 
the ilerar- 
ites. 

t Josh. 6. 9. 

2 These. 

" I «. B0. 1. 

Mr.- & 10. 

v Ex. 2. IS. 
w Gen. 12. 7. 

* i*Agm L 

16. 
, Jud?. 4. 11. 
VGtn. 32-12. 
i E-x. 6.7,8. 



over the or peace offerings* 

hey may be to you * for a nu i 
before your Grod : I am the Lord your 
God. 

11 *~ And it came to pass on the twentieth 
day of the second month, in the second 
year, that the cloud l was taken up Uoin 
ort'the tabernacle of the testimonv. 

12 And the children of Israel took m their 
journeys rut of the n wilderness of ^inai- 
and the cloud rested in the ° wilderness ot 
Paran. 

13 And they first took their journey p ac- 
cording to the commandment of the Lord 
by the hand of Moses. 

li V In the first j lace went the standard 
of the camp of the children ot Judah ac- 
coruing to their armies: and over his host 
was Nahshon the son oi'Amminadab. 

15 And over the host of the tribe of the 
children of Issachar teas Isethaneel the 
sen of Zuar. 

16 And over the host of the tribe of the 
children of Zebulun was Eliab the son of 
Helon. 

17 And q the tabernacle was taken down: 
and the sons of Gershon and the sons of 
Merari set lorward, r bearing the taber- 
nacle. 

1> And the standard of the camp of Reu- 
ben set forward according^ to their armies: 
and over his host was Elizur the son of 
bhedeur. 

ly And over the host of the tribe of the 
children of Simeon was Shelumiel the son 
of Zurishaddai. 

20 And over the host of the tribe of the 
ciiildren of Gad was Eliasaph the son of 
Deuel 

21 And the Kohathites set forward, bear- 
ing the * sanctuary: and * the other did set 
up the tabernacle against they came. 

22 And the standard of the camp of the 
children of Ephraim set forward according 
to their armies : and over his host was 
EH&bama the son of Ammihud. 

23 And over the host of the tribe of the 
children of Manasseh was Gamaliel the 
son of 1'edahzur. 

24 And over the host of the tribe of the 
children of Benjamin was Abidan the son 
oi Gideoni 

25 And ' the standard of the camp of the 
children of Dan set forward, which was the 
rereward of all the camps throughout their 
hosts: and over his host was Aniezer the 
son of Ammishaddai. 

2t> And over the host of the tribe of the 
children of Asher was Pagiel the son of 
Ocran. 

27 And over the host of the tribe of the 
children of isaphtali was Ahira the sou of 
Enan. 

28 * Thus u were the journeyings of the 
children of Israel according to their armies, 
when they set iorwariL 

29 I Ana Moses said unto Hobab, the son 
of ■ Hague] the Midianite. Moses' father-in- 
law, H e are journeying unto the place of 
which the Lord said, u I will give it you: 
come thou with us, and x we will do thee 
good ; for v the Lord hath spoken good 
concerning Israel 

30 And he said unto him, I will not go; 
but 1 will depart to mine own land, ami to 
my kindred. 

31 Ana he said, Leave us not. I pray thee; 
forasmuch as thou know est how we are to 



The Use of the Silver Trumpets. 



NUMBERS, X. The Israelites Remove to Paran. 



formed a separate chapter, beginning at this Issachar, and Zebulun— to march; two alarms 
verse and ending at v. 29 of the following gave the signal for the southern to move; 
cbapter. [Calmet.] The cloud was a visible and, though it is not in our present Htb. 
toKen of God's special presence and guardian \ text, the Septuagint has, that on three alarms 
care of the Israelites. (Ex. 14. 20; Ps. 105. 39.) | being sounded, those on the west; while on 
It was easily distinguishable from all other four blasts, those on the north decamped, 
clouds, by its peculiar form and its fixed | Thus the greatest order and discipline were 



position; for from the day of the completion 
of the tabernacle it rested by day as a dark, 
by night as a fiery, column, on that part of 
the sanctuary which contained the ark of 
the testimony. (Le. 16. 2.) 17. When the 
cloud was taken up— i. e., rose to a higher ele- 
vation, so as to be conspicuous at the re- 
motest extremities of the camp. That was 
a signal for removal ; and. accordingly, it is 
properly called, {v. 18,) " the commandment 
of the Lord." It was a visible token of the 
presence of God; and from it, as a glorious 
throne, He gave the order. So that its mo- 
tion regulated the commencement and ter- 
mination of all the journeys of the Israelites. 
(See on Ex. 14. 19.) 19. Israel kept the charge 
of the Lord— A desert life has its attractions, 
and constant movements create a passionate 
love of change. Many incidents show that the 
Israelites had strongly imbibed this nomad 
habit, and were desirous of hastening to 
Canaan. But still the phases of the cloud 
indicated the command of God; and whatso- 
ever irksomeness they might have felt in 
remaining long stationary in camp, " when 
the cloud tarried upon the tabernacle many 
days, they kept the charge of the Lord, and 
journeyed not." Happy for them had they 
always exhibited this spirit of obedience ! 
and happy for all if, through the wilderness 
of this world, we implicitly follow the lead- 
ings of God's providence and the directions 
of God's word ! 

CHAPTER X. 
Ver. 1-36. The Use of the Silver 
Trumpets. 2. Make thee two trumpets of 
silver— These trumpets were of a long form, in 
opposition to that of the Egyptian trumpets, 
with which the people were convened to the 
worship of Osiris, and which were curved 
like rams' horns. Those which Moses made, 
as described by Josephus, and represented 
on the arch of Titus, were straight, a cubit 
or more in length, the tubes of the thickness 
of a flute, and both extremities bore a close 
resemblance to those in use amongst us. 
They were of solid silver— so as, from the 
purity of the metal, to give a shrill, distinct 
sound; and there were two of them, probably 
because there were only two sons of Aaron ; 
but at a later period the number was greatly 
increased. (Josh. 6. 8 ; 2 Chr. 5. 12.) And 
although the camp comprehended 2,500,000 of 
people, two trumpets would be quite suffi- 
cient,tor sound is conveyed easily through the 
pure atmosphere, and reverberated strongly 
amongst the valleys of the Sinaitic hills. 3. 
when they shall blow— There seem to have been 
signals made by a difference in the loudness 
and variety in the notes, suited for different 
occasions, and which experience made the 
Israelites easily distinguish. A simple uni- 
form sound by both trumpets summoned a 
general assembly of the people; the blast of 
a single trumpet convoked the princes to 
consult on public affairs; notes of some other 
kind were made to sound an alarm, whether 
for journeying or for war. One alarm was 
the recognized signal for the eastern division 



of the camp— viz., the 
108 



established in the Israelitish camp— no 
military march could be better regulated. 8. 
The sons of Aaron, &c— Neither the Levites 
nor any in the common ranks of the people 
could be employed in this office of signal- 
giving. In order to attract greater attention 
and more faithful observance, it was reserved 
to the priests alone, as the Lord's ministers; 
and as anciently in Persia and other Eastern 
countries, the alarm trumpets were sounded 
from the tent of the sovereign, so were they 
blown from the tabernacle, the visible resi- 
dence of Israel's King. 9. If ye go to war— In 
the land of Canaan, either when attacked by 
foreign invaders, or when they went to take 
possession according to the Divine promise, 
ye— i.e., the priests— shall blow an alarm. 
This advice was accordingly acted upon; (ch. 
31. 6; 2 Chr. 13. 12;) and in the circumstances 
it was an act of devout confidence in God. 
A solemn and religious act on the eve of a 
battle has often animated the hearts of those 
who felt they were engaged in a good and 
just cause; and so the blowing of the trum- 
pet, being an ordinance of God, produced 
that effect on the minds of the Israelites. 
But more is meant by the words— viz., that 
God would, as it were, be aroused by the 
trumpet to bless with His presence and aid. 
10. Also in the days of your gladness— i.e., fes- 
tive and thanksgiving occasions were to be 
ushered in with the trumpets, as all feasts 
afterwards were, (Ps. 81. 3; 2 Chr. 29. 27,) to 
intimate the joyous and delighted feelings 
with which they engaged in the service of 
God. 11. On the twentieth day, &c— The 
Israelites had lain encamped in Wady-Er- 
Eahah and the neighbouring valleys of the 
Sinaitic range, for the space of 11 months 29 
days. (cf. Ex. 19. l.) Besides the religious 
purposes of the highest importance to which 
their long sojourn at Sinai was subservient, 
the Israelites, after the hardships and op- 
pression of the Egyptian servitude, required 
an interval of repose and refreshment. They 
were neither physically nor morally in a 
condition to enter the lists with the warlike 
people they had to encounter before obtain- 
ing possession of Canaan. But the wondrous 
transactions at Sinai— the arm of Jehovah 
so visibly displayed in their favour — the 
covenant entered into, and the special bless- 
ings guaranteed, began a course of moral and 
religious education which moulded the 
character of this people — made them ac- 
quainted with their high destiny, and in- 
spired them with those noble principles of 
Divine truth and righteousness, which alone 
make a great nation. 12. Wilderness of 
Paran— It stretched from the base of the Sinai- 
tic group, or from Et-Tyh, over that extensive 
plateau to the south-western borders of 
Palestine. 13-27. The children of Israel took 
their journey by the hand of Moses— It is pro- 
bable that Moses, on the breaking up of the 
encan p nent, stationed himself on some 
eminence to see the ranks defile in order 
through the embouchure of the mountains. 
The marching order is described, (ch. 2;j 



tribes of Judah, i but as the vast horde are represented here 



The people loathe the manna. 



encamp in the wilderness, and thou mayest 
be to us * instead of eyes. 

32 And it shall be, if thou go with us, yea, 
it shall be, that what goodness the Lord 
shall do unto us, the same will we do unto 
thee. 

33 IT And they departed from * the mount 
of the Lord three days' journey: and the 
ark of the covenant of the Lord b went be- 
fore them in the three days' journey, to 
search out a resting place for them. 

34 And c the cloud of the Lord was upon 
them by day, when they went out of the 
camp. 

35 And it came to pass, when the ark set 
forward, that Moses said, <*Rise up, Lord, 
and let thine enemies be scattered; and let 
them that hate thee flee before thee. 

36 And when it rested, he said, * Return, 

Lord, unto the 3 many thousands of 
Israel. 

CHAPTER XT. 

4 Manna loathed. 16 Seventy elders appointed. 31 
Quails are given in wrath, etc. 

A ND a when the people * complained, 2 it 
*"- displeased the Lord : and the Lord 
heard it; and his anger was kindled ; and 
the b fire of the Lord burnt among them, 
and consumed them tfiat were in the utter- 
most parts of the camp. 

2 And the people cried unto Moses ; and 
when Moses c prayed unto the Lord, the 
fire 3 was quenched. 

3 And he called the name of the place 
* Taberah : because the fire of the Lord 
burnt among them. 

4 ft And the d mixed multitude that was 
among them 5 fell a lusting: and the chil- 
dren of Israel also 6 wept again, and said, 
Who e shall give us flesh to eat? 

5 We /remember the fish which we did 
eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the 
melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and 
the garlick: 

6 But now our soul is dried away: there is 
nothing at all, besides this manna, before 
our eyes. 

7 And the manna was as coriander seed, 
and the i colour thereof as the colour g of 
bdellium. 

8 And the people went about, and gathered 
it, and ground it in mills, or beat it in a 
mortar, and baked it in pans, and made 
cakes of it: and the taste of it was as the 
taste of fresh oil. 

9 And when the dew fell upon the camp 
in the night, the manna fell upon it. 

10 IT Then Moses heard the people weep 
throughout their families, every man in the 
door of his tent: and the anger of the Lord 
was kindled greatly ; Moses also was dis- 
pleased. 

11 And h Moses said unto the Lord, Where- 
fore hast thou afliicted thy servant ? and 
wherefore have I not found favour in thy 
sight, that thou lay est the burden of all 
this people upon me? 

12 Have I conceived all this people? have 

1 begotten them, that thou shouldest say 
unto me, * Carry them in thy bosom, as a 
nursing J father beareth ;he sucking child, 
unto the land which thou k swarest unto 
their fathers? 

13 Whence l should I have flesh to give 
unto all this people? lor they weep unto 
me. saying, Give us flesh, that we may eat. 

14 I r am not able to bear all this people 
alone, because it is too heavy for me. 

loy 



B. C. 1490. 



CHAP. 10. 

s Job i9. 15. 

a Ex. 3. 1. 

b Deu. 1. 33. 
Jer. 31. 2. 

« Ex. 13. 21. 
Neh. 9. 12, 
19. 

<iPs.68.1,2. 

e Psalm 90. 
14-17. 
Pi. 132. 8. 

3 ten thou- 
sand thou- 
sands. 



CHAP. 11. 

a Deu. 9.22. 

1 Or, were 
as it were 
com plainer 8. 

2 it was ovil 
in the ears 
of, etc. 

b Lev. 10. 2. 

2K1.1.12. 

C Jam. 5. 16. 

3 sunk. 

4 That is, a 
burning. 

d Ex. 12.38. 

5 lusted a 
lust. 

6 returned 
and wept. 

e 1 Cor. 10.8. 
/ Ex. 16. 3. 

Phil. 3. 19. 

Alatth. 6. 

24-34. 

Rom. 8. 7. 

7 eye of it as 
the ere of. 

9 Gon. 2. 12. 
h Deu. 1. 12. 
i Is. 40. 11. 
j Is. 49. 23. 

1 Thes. 2.7. 
k Gon. 60.24. 
I 2 Kin. 4. 

43, 44. 

Mat. 15. 33. 
wiEx.18.ia 
n 1 Ki. 19. 4. 

Job 6.8-10. 

Jonah 4. 3. 
o Zep. 3. 15. 
P Ex. 24.1,9. 
q Gen. 11. 5. 

Ex. 19. 20. 
r 1 Sa. 10. 6. 

2 Ki. 2. 15. 
Job 32. 8. 
Job. 38. 36. 
Joel 2. 28. 

3 Ex. 19. 10. 
t Ex. 16. 7. 
« Acts 7. 39. 
8 month of 
days. 

V 2 Kin. 7. 2. 
wis 50.2. 
ZEzek.12.25. 

Eaek 24.14. 

V ch. 12. 5. 

* 2 Ki. 2. 15. 
a 1 Sam. 10. 

5,6. 

Joel 2. 29. 

Acts 2. 17, 

18. 

1 Cor.14.1. 
61Sa.20.26. 

Jer. 36. 5. 
c Mar. 9. 38. 

John 3. 26. 
d 1 Cor.14.5. 
e Ps. 78. 2ii. 



NUMBERS, XL Seventy elders appointed. 

15 And if thou deal thus with me, n kill 
me, I pray thee, out of hand, if 1 have 
found favour in thy sight; and let me not 
see ° my wretchedness. 

16 H And the Lord said unto Moses, 
Gather unto me p seventy men of the elders 
of Israel, whom thou knowest to be the 
elders of the people, and officers over them ; 
and bring them unto the tabernacle of the 
congregation, that they may stand there 
with thee. 

17 And I will « come down and talk with 
thee there: and r 1 will take of the spirit 
which is upon thee, and will put it upon 
them; and they shall bear the burden of 
the people with thee, that thou bear it not 
thyself alone. 

18 And say thou unto the people, * Sanc- 
tify yourselves against to-morrow, and ye 
shall eat flesh : for ye have wept * in the 
ears of the Lord, saying, Who shall give 
us flesh to eat? for u it was well with us in 
Egypt : therefore the Lord will give you 
flesh, and ye shall eat. 

19 Ye shall not eat one day, nor two days, 
nor five days, neither ten days, nor twenty 
days; 

20 But even a 8 whole month, until it come 
out at your nostrils, and it be loathsome 
unto you: because that ye have despised 
the Lord which is among you, and nave 
wept before him, saying, Why came we 
forth out of Egypt? 

21 And Moses said, The people, among^ 
whom 1 am, are six hundred thousand 
footmen; and thou hast said, I will give 
them flesh, that they may eat a whole 
month. 

22 Shall v the flocks and the herds be slain 
for them, to suffice them? or shall all the 
fish of the sea be gathered together for 
them, to suffice them? 

23 And the Lord said unto Moses, w Is the 
Lord's hand waxed short? thou shalt see 
now whether x my word shall come to pass 
unto thee or not. 

24 H And Moses went out, and told the 
people the words of the Lord, and gathered 
the seventy men of the elders of the people, 
and set them round about the tabernacle. 

25 And the Lord v came down in a cloud, 
and spake unto him, and took of the spirit 
that was upon him, and gave it mi to the 
seventy elders: and it came to pass, z that, 
when the spirit rested upon them, a they 
prophesied, and did not cease. 

26 Rut there remained two of the men in 
the camp, the name of the one was Eldad, 
and the name of the other Medad: and the 
spirit rested upon them ; and they were of 
them that were written, but * went not out 
unto the tabernacle: and they prophesied 
in the camp. 

27 And there ran a young man, and told 
Moses l and said, Eldad and Medad do pro- 
phesy m the camp. 

28 And Joshua the son of Nnn. the sen-ant 
of Moses, one of his young men, answered 
and said, My lord Moses, c forbid them. 

29 And Moses said unto him, Enviest 
thou for my sake? d Would God that all the 
Lord's people were prophets, and that the 
Lord would put his Spirit upon them! 

30 And Moses gat him into the camp, he 
and the elders of Israel. 

31 IT And there went forth a e wind from 
the Lord, and brought quails from the sea, 
and let them fall by the camp, as it were 



Mnep?' Bravest of Hobab. 



NUMBERS, XI. The People Loathe the Manna. 



in aciuiu migration, it may be proper to far more gloomy and desolate than that of 
notice the extraordinary care that was taken | Sinai, without any near prospect of the rich 
for insuring the safe conveyance of the holy j country that had been promised, they fell 
things. In the rear of Judah, which, with ] into a state of vehement discontent, which 
the tribes of Issachar and Zebulun, led the was vented at these irksome and fruitless 
van, followed the Gershonites and Merarites | journeyings. The displeasure of God was 



with the heavy and coarser materials of the 
tabernacle. Next in order were set in mo- 
tion the flank divisions of Reuben and 
Ephraim; and then came the Kohathites, 
who occupied the centre of the moving mass, 
bearing the sacred utensils on their shoul- 
ders, and were so far behind the other 
portions of the Levitical body, that these 
would have time at the new encampment to 
rear the framework of the tabernacle ere the 
K ohathites arrived. Last of all,Dan, with the 
associated tribes, brought up the rereward 
of the immense caravan. Each tribe was 
marshalled under its prince or chief, and in 
all their movements rallied round its own 
standard. 29. Hobab, the son of Raguel the 
Midianite — called also Reuel, the same as 
Jethro. Hobab, the son of this Midianite 
chief, and brother-in-law to Moses, seems to 
have sojourned among the Israelites during 
the whole period of their encampment at 
Sinai, and now on their removal proposed 
returning to his own abode. Moses urged 
him to remain, both for his own benefit, in 
a religious point of view, and from the use- 
ful services his nomad habits could enable 
h'm to render. 31. Leave us not, I pray thee— 
The earnest importunity of Moses to secure 
the attendance of this man, when he enjoyed 
the benefit of the directing cloud, has sur- 

Srised many. But it should be recollected 
Hat the guidance of the cloud, though it 
showed the general route to be taken through 
the trackless desert, would not be so special 
and minute as to point out the places where 
pasture, shade, and water were to be ob- 
tained, and which were often hid in obscure 
spots by the shifting sands. Besides, several 
detachments were sent off from the main 
body: the services of Hobab, not as a single 
Arab, but as a prince of a powerful clan, 
would have been exceedingly useful. 32. If 
thou go with us— A strong inducement is here 
held out; but it seems not to have changed 
the young man's purpose, for he departed 
and settled in his own district. (See on Jud. 
1. 16; 1 Sa. 15. 6.) 33. They departed three days' 
journey— i.e., the first day's progress being 
very small, about 18 or 20 miles, ark of the co- 
venant went before them — It was carried in the 



manifested against the ungrateful complain- 
ers, by fire sent in an extraordinary man- 
ner. It is worthy of notice, however, 
that the discontent seems to have been con- 
fined to the extremities of the camp, where, 
in all likelihood, "the mixed multitude" had 
their station. At the intercession of Moses, 
the appalling judgment ceased, and the name 
given to the place, "Taberah," (a burning,) 
remained ever after a monument of national 
sin and punishment. (See on v. 34, 35.) 4. Mixed 
multitude fell a lusting— These consisted of 
Egyptians. To dream of banquets and plenty 
of animal food in the desert becomes a disease 
of the imagination; and to this excitement 
of the appetite no people are more liable 
than the natives of Egypt. But the Israelites 
participated in the same feelings, and ex- 
pressed dissatisfaction with the manna on 
which they had hitherto been supported, in 
comparison with the vegetable luxuries with 
which they had been regaled in Egypt. 5. 
We remember the fish— See on Ex. 7. 21. The 
people of Egypt are accustomed to an almost 
exclusive diet of fish, either fresh or sun- 
dried, during the hot season in April and 
May— the very season when the Israelites 
were travelling in this desert. Lower Egypt, 
where were the brick-kilns in which they 
were employed, afforded great facilities for 
obtaining fish in the Mediterranean, the 
lakes and the canals of the Nile, cucumbers 
—The Egyptian species is smooth, of a cyl- 
indrical form, and about a foot in length. 
It is highly esteemed by the natives, and 
when in season, is liberally partaken of, 
being greatly mellowed by the influence of 
the sun. melons — The water melons are 
meant, which grow on the deep loamy soil 
after the subsidence of the Nile; and as they 
afford a juicy and cooling fruit, all classes 
make use of them for meat, drink, and me- 
dicine, leeks— by some said to be a species 
of grass cresses, which is much relished as a 
kind of seasoning, onions— the same as ours; 
but instead of being nauseous, and affecting 
the eyes, they are sweet to the taste, good 
for the stomach, and form to a large extent 
the aliment of the labouring classes, garlic 
is now nearly if not altogether extinct in 



centre, and hence some eminent commen- j Egypt, although it seems to have grown 



tators think the passage should be rendered, 
"the ark went in their presence," the cloud 
above upon it being conspicuous in their 
eyes. But it is probable that the cloudy 
pillar, which, while stationary, rested upon 
the ark, preceded them in the march— as, 
when in motion at one time, (Ex. 14. 19,) it 
is expressly paid to have shifted its place. 
35, 36. When the ark set forward, Moses said- 
Moses, as the organ of the people, uttered 
an appropriate prayer both at the commence- 
ment and the end of each journey. Thus all 
the journeys were sanctified by devotion ; 
and so should our prayer be, "If thy presence 
go not with us, carry us not hence." 
CHAPTER XI. 
Ver. 1-35. Manna Loathed. 1. When 



anciently in great abundance. The herbs 
now mentioned form a diet very grateful in 
warm countries, where vegetables and other 
fruits of the season are much more used than 
with us. We can scarcely wonder that both 
the Egyptian hangers-on, and the general 
body of the Israelites, incited by their clam- 
ours, also complained bitterly of the want of 
the refreshing viands in their toilsome wan- 
derings. But after all their experience of 
the bounty and care of God, their vehement 
longing for the luxuries of Egypt was an 
impeachment of the Divine arrangements; 
and it it was the sin that beset them in the 
desert, it became them more strenuously to 
repress a rebellious spirit, as dishonouring 
to God, and unbecoming their relation to 



the people complained, &c- -Unaccustomed to j Him as a chosen people. 6-9. But now there 
the fatigues of travel, and wandering into lis nothing but this marma— Daily familial i ty 
the depths of a desert, less mountainous, but I had disgusted them with the sight and taste 
109 



S-cdition of Miriam and Aaron. NUMBERS, XII, XIII. Spies sent to search Canaan. 



» a day's journey on this side, and as it 
were a day's journey on the other side, 
round about the camp, and as it were two 
cubits high upon the face of the earth. 

32 And 'the people stood up all that day, 
and all tluxt night, and all the next day, 
and they gathered the quails: he thatga- 
tbered least gathered ten / homers : and 
they spread them all abroad for themselves 
round about the camp. 

33 And 9 while the flesh teas yet between 
their teeth, ere it was chewed, the wrath 
ol the Lord was kindled against the people; 
and the Lord smote the people with a very 
great plague. 

34 And "lie called the name of that place 
l" Kibroth-hattaavah: because there they 
buried the people that lusted. 

35 And * the people journeyed from 
Kibroth-hattaavah unto Hazeroth ; and 11 
abode at Hazeroth. 

CHAPTER XII. 

1 Miriam's and Aaron's sedition. 10 Her leprosy; 
Moses prayeth for her. 14 She is shut out of 
the camp seven days. 

A ND Miriam and Aaron spake against 
- rv Moses because of the i Ethiopian wo- 
man whom he had married: for a he had 

2 married an Ethiopian woman. 

2 And they said, Hath the Lord indeed 
spoken only by Moses? b hath he not spoken 
also by us? And the Lord c heard it. 

3 (Now the man Moses was d very meek, 
above all the men which were upon the 
face of the earth.) 

4 And e the Lord spake suddenly unto 
Moses, and unto Aaron, and unto Miriam, 
Come out ye three unto the tabernacle ol 
the congregation. And they three came 
out. 

5 And/ the Lord came down in the pillar 
of the cloud, and stood in the door of the 
tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam: 
and they both came forth. 

6 And he said, Hear now my words: If 
there be a prophet among you, /the Lord 
will make myself known unto him "in a 
vision, and will speak unto him A in a 
dream. 

7 My * servant Moses is not so, i who is 
faithful in all mine house. 

8 With him will I speak * mouth to mouth, 
even l apparently, and not in dark speeches ; 
and m the similitude of the Lord shall he 
behold: wherefore then w were ye not afraid 
to speak against my servant Moses? 

9 And the anger of the Lord was kindled 
against them; and he departed. 

10 And the cloud departed from off the 
tabernacle ; and, ° behold, Miriam became 
P leprous, white as snow: and Aaron looked 
upon Miriam, and, behold, she was leprous. 

11 And Aaron said unto Moses, Alas! my 
lord, I beseech thee, q lay not the sin upon 
us, wherein we have done foolishly, and 
wherein we have sinned. 

12 Let her not be r as one dead, of whom 
the iiesh is half consumed when he cometh 
out of his mother's womb. 

13 And Moses 8 cried unto the Lord, say- 
ing, Heal her now, O God, 1 beseech 
thee. 

14 % And the Lord said unto Moses, * If 
her lather had but spit in her face, should 
she not be ashamed seven days? let her 
be u shut out from the camp seven days, 
and after that let her be received in 
again. 

110 



B. C. 1490. 



CHAP. 11. 

9 the way of 
a day. 

/Esek. 45.11. 
g Ps. 78. 30, 
31. 

10 That is, 
the graves 
of lust. 
Deu. 9 22. 

h ch. 33. 17. 

11 they were 
in, etc. 



CHAP. 12. 

1 Or, Cush- 
ito. 

a Ex. 2.21. 

2 taken. 

b Ex. 15. 20. 

Mic. 6. 4. 
C Gen. 29. 33. 

2 Ki. 19. 4. 

Ps. 94. 9. 

Is. 37. 4. 

Ezek.35.12, 

13. 
d Mat. 21. 5. 

1 Tim. 6. 
11. 

2 Tim. 2. 
25. 

1 Pet. 3. 4. 
e Ps. 76. 9. 
/ch. 16. 19. 
9 Gen. 46. 2. 

Job 33. 15. 

Lu. 1. 11, 

22. 
ft Mat. 1.20. 
i Ps. 105. 26. 
j Heb. 3. 2,5. 
k Ex 33. 11. 

D<.-u. 34.10. 
I 1 Cor. 13. 

12. 
m Ex. 33. 19. 
>- 2 Pet. 2.10. 
o Deu. 24. 9. 
P 2 Kin. 5. 
27. 

2 Chr. 5*6. 
19. 

q 2 Sam. 19. 

19. 
r Ps. 88. 4. 
8 Jam. 5. 16. 
t Heb. 12. 9. 
u Lev. 13.46. 
v Deu. 24. 9. 
2Chr .20.20. 



CHAP. 13. 
a Deu. 1. 22. 
61 Chr. 4.15. 
c Josh. 14. 6. 
dEx. 17. 9. 
e He shall 

save. 

Acts 7. 45. 

Heb. 4. 8. 
/ Into the 

south coun- 
try. 

Gen. 12.9. 

Josh. 15. 3. 

Judg. 1. 15. 
g Ju. 1.9,19. 
h Eze. 34.14. 
i Deu. 31. 6. 
j Josh. 15. 1. 
k Josh. 19.28. 
I Judg.1.10. 
m Jos. 21.11. 
n p s . 78. 12. 

Deu. 1. 24. 

1 Or. valley. 
Ju. 16. 4. 



15 And v Miriam was shut out from the 
camp seven days: and the people journeyed 
not till Miriam was brought in again. 

16 And afterward the people removed from 
Hazeroth, and pitched in the wilderness of 
Paran. 

CHAPTER XIII. 

1 The names of the men who were sent to search 
the land: 17 their instructions! 21 their acts: 26 
and their relation. 

AND the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 
xx 2 Send a thou men, that they may 
search the land of Canaan, which I give 
unto the children of Israel: of every tribe 
of their fathers shall ye send a man, every 
one a ruler among them. 

3 And Moses by the commandment of the 
Lord sent them from the wilderness of 
Paran: all those men were heads of the 
children of Israel. 

4 And these were their names: of the tribe 
of Reuben, Shammua the son of Zaccur. 

5 Of the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat the son 
of Hori. 

6 Of & the tribe of Judah, c Caleb the son 
of Jephunneh. 

7 Ol the tribe of Issachar, Igal the son of 
Joseph. 

8 Of the tribe of Ephraim, Oshea the son 
of Nun. 

9 Of the tribe of Benjamin, Palti the son 
of Raphu. 

10 Of the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel the 
son of Sodi. 

11 Of the tribe of Joseph, namely, of the 
tribe of Manasseh, Gaddi the son of Susi. 

12 Of the tribe of Dan, Ammiel the son of 
Gemalli. 

13 Of the tribe of Asher, Sethur the son 
of Miehael. 

14 Of the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi the son 
ol Vophsi. 

15 Of the tribe of Gad, Geuel the son of 
Machi. 

16 These are the names of the men which 
Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses 
called <* Oshea the son of Nun, e Jeho- 
shua. 

17 11 And Moses sent them to spy out the 
land of Canaan, and said unto them, Get 
you up this way / southward, and go up 
into ° the mountain; 

18 And see the land, what it is; and the 
people that dwelleth therein, whether they 
he strong or weak, few or many; 

19 And what the land is that they dwell 
in, whether it be good or bad; and what 
cities they be that they dwell in, whether in 
tents, or in strong holds ; 

20 And what the land is, whether it be 
fat h or lean, whether there be wood there- 
in, or not: and *be ye of good courage, and 
bring of the fruit of the land. Now the 
time was the time of the first-ripe grapes. 

21 So they went up, and searched 3 the 
land from the wilderness of Zin unto * Re- 
hob, as men come to Hamath. 

22 And they ascended by the south, and 
came unto Hebron ; where { Ahiman, She- 
shai, and Talmai, the children of Anak, 
were. (Now m Hebron was built seven 

I years n beibre Zoan in Egypt.) 

j 23 And ° they came unto the l brook of 

Eshcol, and cut down from thence a hranch 
' with one cluster of grapes, ani tiiey uare 

it between two upon a staff; nil they 
j brought of the pomegranates, and of the 
i figs. 



Seventy Elders Appointed. 



NUMBERS, XI. 



Qiiails are given in wrath. 



of the monotonous food; and, ungrateful for it is probable that it was only a feeling of the 
the heavenly gift, they longed for a change moment— at all events,the incredulous doubt 
of fare. It may be noticed that the resem- j was uttered only to himself— and not, as 
blance of the manna to coriander seed was afterwards, publicly and to the scandal of 
not in the colour, but in the size and figure; ! the people. (See on ch. 20. 10.) It was, there- 
and from its comparison to bdellium, which I fore, sharply reproved, but not punished. 
is either a drop of white gum or a white pearl, i 24. Moses gathered the seventy, &c. — That 
we are enabled to form a better idea of it. j place was chosen for the convocation. be- 
Moreover, it is evident, from the process of cause, as it was there God manifested Himv 
baking into cakes, that it could not have self, there His spirit would be directly 
been the natural manna of the Arabian .imparted— there the minds of the elders 
desert, for that is too gummy or unctuous to themselves would be inspired with reve- 



admit of being ground into meal. In taste 
it is said (Ex. 16. 31.) to have been like 
** wafers made with honey, " and here to 
have the taste of fresh oil. The dis- 
crepancy in these statements is only appa- 
rent ; for in the form er the manna is described 



rential awe, and their office invested with 
greater respect in the eyes of the people. 
25. They prophesied, and did not cease— As 
those elders were constituted civil gover- 
nors, their "prophesying" must be under- 
stood as meaning the performance of their 
in it's raw state ; in the latter, after it was civil and sacred duties, by the help of those 
ground and baked. The minute description j extraordinary endowments they had receiv- 
given hereof its nature and use was designed | ed, and by their not " ceasing," either that 
to show the great sinfulness of the people in they continued to exercise their gifts unin- 



being dissatisfied with such excellent food, 
furnished so plentifully and gratuitously. 
10-15. Moses said unto the Lord : &c— It is 
impossible not to sympathise with his feel- 
ings, although the tone and language of his 
remonstrances to God cannot be justified. 
He was in a most distressing situation- 
having a mighty multitude under his care, 
with no means of satisfying their clamorous 
demands. Their conduct shows how deeply 
they had been debased and demoralized by 
long oppression; while his reveals a state of 
mind agonized and almost overwhelmed by 
a sense of the undivided responsibilities of 
his office. 16, 17. Gather unto me seventy men 
of the elders— Ex. 3. 16; 5. 6; 24. 9 ; 18 21, 24 



terruptedly the first day, (see 1 Sam. 19. 24.) 
or that these were permanent gifts, which 
Qualified them in an eminent degree for 
discharging the duty of public magistrates. 
26-29. But there remained two— They did not 
repair with the rest to the tabernacle, either 
from modesty in shrinking from the assump- 
tion of a public office, or being prevented by 
some ceremonial defilement. They, however, 
received the gifts of the Spirit as well as their 
brethren; and when Moses was urged to for- 
bid their prophesying, his answer displayed a 
noble disinterestedness as well as zeal for 
the glory of God akin to that of our Lord. Mk. 
9. 39.) 31-35. The wind from the Lord, &c— 
These migratory birds see on Ex. 16. 13,) were 



Le. 4. 15.) An order of 70 was to be created, on their journey from Egypt, when " the wind 



either by a selection from the existing staff of 
elders, orly the appointment of new ones, 
empowered to assist him by their collective 
wisdom and experience in the onerous cares 
of government. The Jewish writers say 
that this was the origin of the Sanhedrim, 
or supreme appellate court of their nation. 
But there is every reason to believe that it 



from the Lord," an east wind, (Ps. 78. 26,} 
forcing them to change their course, wafted 
them over the Bed Sea to the camp of Israel. 
Let them fall a day's journey— If the journey 
of an individual is meant, this space might 
be 30 miles; if the inspired historian re erred 
:o the whole host, 10 miles would be as far 
as they could march in one day in the sandy 



was only a temporary expedient, adopted to ; desert, under a vertical sun. Assuming it to 
meet a trying exigency. 17. 1 will come down be 20 miles, this immense cloud of q uails (Ps. 
— i. e., not in a visible manner, or by local 77.27,) covered a space of 40 miles in diameter, 
descent, but by the tokens of the Divine Others reduce it to 16. But it is doubtful 
presence and operations. And take of the ! whether the measurement be from the centre 
spirit which is upon thee— The spirit means or the extremities of the camp. It is evi- 
the gifts and influences of the Spirit, (ch. 27. i dent, however, that the language describes 
18 ; Joel, 2. 28 ; J. 7. 39 ; 1 Co. 14. 12,) and by j the countless number of these quails, as it 
" taking the spirit of Moses, and putting | were two cubits high— Some have supposed 
it upon them," is not to be understood that j that they fell on the ground above each 
the qualities of the great leader were to be j other to that height— a supposition which 
in any degree impaired, but that the elders ! would leave a vast quantity useless as food 
would be endowed with a portion of the I to the Israelites, who were forbidden to eat 
same gifts, especially of prophecy, [v. 25,)— any animal that died of itself, or from which 
i.e., an extraordinary penetration in discov- the blood was not poured out. Others think 
ering hidden, and settling difficult things, that, being exhausted with a long flight, they 
18-20. Say thou unto the people, Sanctify your- could not fly more than 3 feet above the earth, 
selves— i.e., " prepare yourselves," by repent- and so were easily felled or caught. A more 
ance and submission, to receive to-morrow recent explanation applies the phrase, "two 
the flesh you clamour for. But it is evident cubits high," not to the accumulation of the 
that the tenor of the language implied a mass, but to the size of the individual birds, 
severe rebuke, and that the blessing promised blocks of large red-legged cranes, 3 feet high, 
would prove a curse. 21-23. Moses said . . . measuring 7 feet from tip to tip, have been 
shall the flocks and herds be slain?— The great frequently seen on the western shores of the 
leader, struck with a promise so astonishing Gulf ofAkaba, or eastern arm of the Bed 
asthatof suddenly furnishing, in the midst of Sea. [Stanley, Shubert.] 32. People stood 
the desert, more than two millions of people up— i. e., rose up in eager haste— some at one 
with flesh for a whole month 2 betrayed an in- time, others at another— some, perhaps, 
credulous spirit, surprising in one who had through avidity both day and nisdit. ten 
witnessed so many stupendous miracles. But homers— ten ass loads; or, "homers maybe 
110 



The people murmur 



NUMBERS, XI7. 



at the spies' report. 



24 The place was called the 2 brook 3 Esh- 
col, because of the cluster of grapes which 
the children of Israel cut down from 
thence. 

25 And they returned from searching of 
the land alter forty days. 

26 1F And they went and came to Moses, 
and to Aaron, and to all the congregation 
of the children of Israel, unto the wilder- 
ness of Paran, to Kadesh- and brought 
back word unto them, and unto all the 
congregation, and showed them the fruit of 
the land. 

27 And they told him, and said, We came 
unto the land whither thou sentest us, and 
surely it floweth with p milk and honey; 
and ? this is the fruit of it. 

28 Nevertheless r the people be strong that 
dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, 
and very great: and moreover we saw the 
children of Anak there. 

29 The 8 Amalekites dwell in the land of 
the south; and the Hittites, and the Jebu- 
sitcs, and the Amorites, dwell in the moun- 
tains ; and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, 
and by the coast of Jordan. 

30 And * Caleb stilled the people before 
Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and 
possess it; for we are well able to overcome 
it. 

31 But the men that went up with him 
said, We be not able to go up against the 
people ; for they are stronger than we. 

32 And they M brought up an evil report 
of the land which they had searched unto 
the children of Israel, saying, The land, 
through which we have gone to search it, 
is a land that v eateth up the inhabitants 
thereof; and w all the people that we saw 
in it are * men of a great stature. 

33 And there we saw the giants, * the sons 
of Anak, which come of the giants: and we 
were in our own sight v as grasshoppers, 
and so we were in their sight. 

CHAPTER XIV. 

I Tht peopU murmur at the spits' report. 11 God 
threateneth them. 13 Moses intercedeth with 
God, and obtuineth pardon. 
AND all the congregation lifted up their 

""^ voice, and cried ; and the people wept 

that night. 

2 And " all the children of Israel murmured 
against Moses and against Aaron: and the 
whole congregation said unto them, Would 
God Hhat we had died in the land of 
Egypt! or would God we had died in this 
wilderness! 

3 And wherefore hath the Lord brought 
us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that 
our wives and our children should be a 
prey? Were it not better for us to return 
into Egypt? 

4 And they said one to another, c Let us 
make a captain, and let us return into 

5 Then Moses and Aaron fell on their 
faces before all the assembly of the congre- 
gation of the children of Israel. 

6 And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb 
the son of Jephmmeh, which were of them 
that searched the land, rent their clothes: 

7 And they spake unto all the company of 
the children of Israel, saying, The land, 
which we passed through to search it, is an 
exceeding good land. 

8 If the Lord d delight in us, then he will 
bring us into this land, and give it us; e a 
laud wlrich lioweth with milk and honey. 

Ill 



B. C. 1490. 



CHAP. 13. 

2 Or, valley. 

3 That is, a 
cluster of 
grapes. 

P Ex. 3. 8. 
q Deu. 1. 25. 
r Deu. 9. 1,2. 
« Judg. 6. 3. 
t Josh. 14. 7. 

Ps. 27. 1. 

Ps. 60. 12. 

Ps. 118. 10. 

Is. 11. 10. 
«* Mat. 23.13. 

V Ezek.36.13. 
Perhaps a 
plague was 
then in the 
country. 

w Amos 2. 9. 

4 men of 
statures. 
2 Sam. 21. 
20. 

x\ Sam. 17. 
4-7. 

V Is. 40. 22. 



CHAP. 14. 

« Pa. 106. 25. 
b Deut. 28.68. 
c Neh. 9. 17. 
d 2 Sam. 15. 

25. 

1 Ki. 10. 9. 

Ps. 22. 8. 

la. 62. 4. 
e ch. 13. 27. 
/ Deut. 9. 7, 

23,24. 

Deu. 20. 3. 
h ch. 24. 8. 

1 shadow. 
Ps. 121. 5. 
Is. 30. 2, 3. 
Jer. 48. 45. 

i 2 Chr. 15.2. 
j Ex. 17. 4. 

* Ex. 16. 10. 
Lev. 9. 23. 

I Heb. 3. 8. 
m p s . 78. 22. 

John 12.37. 
n Ex. 32. 10. 
o Ezek.20.9. 
p Ex. 15. 14. 
q Neh. 9. 12. 
r Josh. 7. 9. 
S Ps. 103. 8. 

Ps. 145. 8. 

Jonah 4. 2. 
t Ex. 34. 7. 
20r .hitherto. 
u Jam. 5. 16. 

Uohn5.14. 

V P S . 72. 19. 
Is. 5. 16. 
Is. 11.9. 
Is. 61. 11. 
Ezek. 18. 3. 
Hab. 2. 14. 
Rev. ll.lo. 

w Ps. 95. 11. 

* Gen. 31. 7. 
3 If they see 

the land. 

V Ezek. 20. 
15. 

* Ps. 25. 13. 
Ps. 37. 11, 
22,29. 
Isaiah 33. 
15-18. 
Mat. 5. 5. 

a Mat.17- 17. 
b Ex. iv. 12. 



9 Only /rebel not ye against the Lord, 
neither ^fear ye the people of the land; for 
they * are bread for us: their * defence is 
departed from them, »and the Lord is 
with us: fear them not. 

10 But o all the congregation bade stone 
them with stones. And * the glory of the 
Lord appeared in the tabernacle of the 
congregation before all the children of 
Israel. 

11 IF And the Lord said unto Moses, How 
long will this people l provoke me ? and 
how long will it be ere they m believe me, 
for all the signs which I have showed 
among them? 

12 I will smite them with the pestilence, 
and disinherit them, and n will make of 
thee a greater nation and mightier than 
they. 

13 And ° Moses said unto the Lord, Then 
the Egyptians shall hear it, (for thou 
broughtest up this people in thy might 
from among them ;) 

14 And they will tell it to the inhabitants 
of this land : p for they have heard that 
thou, Lord, art among this people; that 
thou, Lord, art seen face to face ; and that 
thy q cloud standeth over them ; and that 
thou goest before them, by day time in a 
pillar of a cloud, and in a pillar of fire by 
night. 

15 Now, i/thou shalt kill all this people 
as one man, then the nations which have 
heard the fame of thee will speak, saying, 

16 Because the Lord was not r able to 
bring this people into the land which he 
sware unto them, therefore he hath slain 
them in the wilderness. 

17 And now, I beseech thee, let the power 
of my Lord be great, according as thou 
hast spoken, saying, 

18 The Lord is * long-suffering, and of 
great mercy, forgiving iniquity and trans- 
gression, and by no means clearing the 
guilty; t visiting the iniquity of the fathers 
upon the children unto the third and fourth 
generation. 

19 Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of 
this people according unto the greatness of 
thy mercy, and as thou hast forgiven this 
people, from Egypt even 2 until now. 

20 And the Lord said, I have u pardoned, 
according to thy word: 

21 But as truly as I live, * all the earth 
shall be filled with the glory of the Lord. 

22 Because w all those men which have 
seen my glory, and my miracles which I 
did in Egypt and in the wilderness, have 
tempted me now * these ten times, and 
have not hearkened to my voice ; 

23 3 Surely v they shall not see the land 
which I sware unto their fathers, neither 
shall any of them that provoked me see 
it: 

24 But my servant Caleb, because he had 
another spirit with him, and hath followed 
me fully, him will I bring into the land 
whereunto he went; and z his seed shall 
possess it. 

25 (Now the Amalekites and the Canaan- 
ites dwelt in the valley.) To-morrow turn 
you, and get you into the wilderness by the 
way of the Red sea. 

26 IF And the Lord spake unto Moses and 
unto Aaron, saying, 

27 How a long shall I bear with this evil 
congregation, which murmur against me? 
1 b have heard the murmurings of the 



Miriam and Aaron s Sedition. NUMBERS, XII, XIII. 

used indefinitely, as in Ex. 8. 14; Jud. 15. 16; 
and "ten " for many: so that the phrase ten 
homers is equivalent to great heaps. The 
collectors were probably one or two from 
each family; and, being distrustful of God's 
goodness, gathered not for immediate con- 
sumption only, but for future use. In east- 
ern and southern seas, innumerable quails 
are often seen, which, when weary, iall down, 
covering every spot on the deck and rigging 
of vessels; and in Egypt they come in such 
myriads that the people knock them down 
with sticks, spread them all abroad for them- 
selves—salted and dried them for future use, 
by the simple process to which they had been 
accustomed in Egypt. 33. While the flesh . . . 
ere it was chewed— lit, cut off— i.e., ere the 
supply of quails, which lasted a month, {v. 
20,) was exhausted. The probability is, that 
their stomachs, having been long inured to 
manna, (a light food), were not prepared 
for so sudden a change of regimen— a heavy, 
solid diet of animal food, of which they seem 
to have partaken to so intemperate a degree 
as to produce a general surfeit, and fatal 
consequences. On a former occasion their 
murmurs for flesh were raised, (Ex. 16,) be- 
cause they were in want of food. Here they 
f>roceeded, not from necessity, but wanton 
ustful desire; and their sin, in the righteous 
judgment of God, was made to carry its own 

Sunishment. 34. Called the name Kibroth- 
attaavah— lit., the graves of lust, or those 
that lusted; so that the name of the place 
proves that the mortality was confined to 
those who had indulged inordinately. 35. 
Eazeroth— the extreme southern station of 
this route was a watering-place in a spa- 
cious plain, now Ain Haderah. 
CHAPTER XH. 
Ver. 1-9. Miriam and Aaron's Sedition. 

1. An Ethiopian woman— Heb. A Cushite wo- 
man—Arabia was usually called in Scrip- 
ture the land of Cush— its inhabitants being 
descendants of that son of Ham, (See on Ex. 

2. 15,) and being accounted generally a vile 
and contemptible race. (Am. 9. 7.) The occa- 
sion of this seditious outbreak on the part of 
Miriam and Aaron against Moses, was the 
great change made in the government by the 
adoption of the seventy rulers— and their irri- 
tating disparagement of his wife— who, in all 
probability, was Zipporah, and not a second 
wife he had recently married, arose from 
jealousy of her relatives, through whose in- 
fluence the innovation had been first made, 
(liiX. 18.) while they were overlooked or ne- 
glected. Miriam is mentioned before Aaron 
as being the chief instigator and leader of 
the sedition. 2. Hath the Lord . . . not also 
spoken by us— The prophetical name and 
character was bestowed upon Aaron, (Ex. 
4. 15, 16,) and Miriam (Ex. 15. 20); and, 
therefore, they considered the conduct of 
Moses, in exercising an exclusive authority 
in this matter, as an encroachment on their 
rights. (Mi. 6. 4.) 3. The man Moses was very 
meek— (Ex. 14. 13; 32. 12, 13; ch. 14. 13; 21. 7; 
Deu. 9. 18.) This observation might have been 
made to account for Moses taking no notice 
of their angry reproaches, and for God's in- 
terposing so speedily for the vindication of 
His servant's cause. The circumstance of 
Moses recording an eulogium on a distin- 
guishing excellence of his own character, is 
not without a parallel among the sacred 
writers, when forced to it by the insolence and i 



Her Leprosy. 



ill 



contempt of opponents. (2 Cor. 11. 5; 12. 11, 
12.) But it is not improbable that, as this 
verse appears to be a parenthesis, it may 
have been inserted as a gloss by Ezra or some 
later prophet. Others, instead of " very 
meek," suggest "very afflicted," as the proper 
rendering. 4. The Lord spake suddenly— The 
divine interposition was made thus openly 
and immediately, in order to suppress the 
sedition, and prevent its spreading amongst 
the people. 5. Stood in the door of the taber- 
nacle—without gaining admission, as was the 
usual privilege of Aaron, though it was deni ed 
to all other men and women. This public 
exclusion was designed to be a token of the 
divine displeasure. 6. Hear now my words— 
A difference of degree is here distinctly ex- 
pressed in the gifts and authority even of 
divinely commissioned prophets. Moses 
having been set overall God's house, i.e.. His 
church and people was consequently invested 
with supremacy over Miriam and Aaron also, 
and privileged beyond all others by direct and 
clear manifestations of the presence and will 
of God. 8. mouth to mouth— immediately, 
not by an interpreter, nor by visionary sym- 
bols presented to his fancy, apparently— 
plainly and surely, not in dark speeches— 

E arables or similitudes, the similitude of the 
ord shall he behold— not the face or essence of 
God, who is invsible (Ex. 33. 20; Col. 1. 15; 
Jo. 1. 18)- but some unmistakeable evidence 
of His glorious presence. (Ex. 33. 2; 34. 5.) 
The latter clause should have been conjoined 
with the preceding one, thus ; "not in dark 
speeches, and in a figure shall he behold the 
Lord." This slight change in the punctuation 
removes all appearance of contradiction to 
Deu. 4. 15. 

10 16.— Her Leprosy. 10. the cloud de- 
parted from the tabernacle— i. e. from the door 
to resume its permanent position over the 
mercy-seat. Miriam became leprous— This 
malady in its most malignant form (Ex. 4. 6, 
2 Kings, 5. 27), as its colour, combined with 
its sudden appearance proved, was inflicted 
as a divine judgment; and she was made the 
victim, either from her extreme violence, or 
because the leprosy on Aaron would have 
interrupted or dishonoured the holy service. 
11-13. On the humble and penitential sub- 
mission of Aaron, Moses interceded for both 
the offenders, especially for Miriam, who was 
restored; not, however, till she had been 
made, by her exclusion, a public example. 
14. Her father had but spit in her face— The 
Jews, in common with all people in the east, 
seem to have had an intense abhorrence of 
spitting, and for a parent to express his dis- 

E Measure by doing so on the person of one of 
is children, or even on the ground in his 
presence, separated that child as unclean 
from society for seven days. 15. The people 
journeyed not till Miriam was brought in again 
—Either not to crush her by a sentence of 
overwhelming severity, or not to expose her, 
being a prophetess, to popular contempt. 
16. Pitched in the wilderness of Paran— The 
station of encampment seems to have been 
Kithma. (ch. 33. 19.) 

CHAPTEE XIII. 
Ver. 1-35. The Names of the Men who 
were Sent to Search the Land. 1, 2. The 
Lord spake unto Moses, Send thou men— (cf. Deu. 
1. 22,) whence it appears, that while the pro- 
posal of delegating confidential men from 
each tribe to explore the land of Canaan 



The murmurers exchided. 



NUMBERS, XV. 



The law of sundry offerings. 



children of Israel, which they murmur 
against me. 

28 Say unto them, c As truly as I live, 
saith the Lord, as ye have spoken in mine 
ears, so will I do to you: 

29 Your carcases shall fall in this wilder- 
ness ; and d all that were numbered of you, 
according to your whole number, from 
twenty years old and upward, which have 
murmured against me, 

30 Doubtless ye shall not come into the 
land concerning which I * sware to make 

Jou dwell therein, e save Caleb the son of 
ephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun. 

31 But your little ones, which ye said 
should be a prey, them will I bring in. and 
they shall know the land which /ye nave 
despised. 

32 I Jut as for you, g your carcases, they 
shall fall in this wilderness. 

33 And your children shall 5 wander h in 
the wilderness » forty years, and bear your 
whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted 
in the wilderness. 

34 After i the number of the days in w hich 
ye searched the land, even k forty days, 
each day for a year, shall ve bear your 
iniquities, even forty years ; * and ye shall 
know my 6 breach of promise. 

35 I m the Lord have said, I will surely 
do it unto all this evil congregation, that 
are gathered together against me : in this 
wilaerness they shall be consumed, and 
there they shall die. 

36 And ** the men which Moses sent to 
search the land, who returned, and made 
all the congregation to murmur against 
him, by bringing up a slander upon the 
land, 

37 Even those men that did bring up the 
evil report upon the land, ° died by the 
plague before the Lord. 

38 But p Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb 
the son of Jephunneh, which were of the 
men that went to search the land, lived 
still,. 

39 And Moses told these sayings unto all 
the children of Israel : q and the people 
mourned greatly. 

40 And they rose up early in the morning, 
and gat them up into the top of the moun- 
tain, saying, Lo, r we be here, and will go 
up unto the place which the Lord hath 
promised : for we have sinned. 

41 And Moses said, Wherefore now do ye 
transgress 8 the commandment of * the 
Lord? but it shall not prosper. 

42 Go u not up, for the Lord is not among 
you ; that ye he not smitten before your 
enemies. 

43 For the Amalekites and the Canaanites 
are there before you, and ye shall fall by 
the sword: v because ye are turned away 
from the Lord, therefore the Lord will 
not be with you. 

44 But " they presumed to go up unto the 
hill-top : nevertheless the ark of the cove- 
nant of the Lord, and Moses, departed not 
out of the camp. 

45 Then the Amalekites came down, and 
the Canaanites which dwelt in that hill, 
and smote them, and discomfited them, 
even x unto Hormah. 

CHAPTER XV. 

1 flu law of sundry offerings. 32 The sabbath 

breaker stoned. 61 '/he law of fringes. 

A ND the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 

"■ 2 Speak a unto the children of Israel, 

1L2 



I CHAP. 1*. 

j c Heb. 3. 17. 

I d ch. 26. 64. 

4 lh'ted up 

my hand. 

Gen. 14. 22. 

e Deu. 1. 36. 



!/Ps. 106. 24. 
i fir 1 Cor. 10. 5. 
! 5 Or, feed. 
| h Ps. 107. 40. 
i Deu. 2. 14. 
[ ; ch. 13. 25. 
A Ps. 95. Itt 

Ezek. 4. 6. 
I 1 Kin. 8. 

56. 

Pa. 77. 8. 

Heb. 4. 1. 
6 Or, inter- 
ruption. 

Deu. 31. 16. 
w» ch. 23. 19. 
n ch. 13. 31, 

32. 
o Jer. 28. 16, 

17. 

Jer. 29. 32. 

1 Cor. 10. 

10. 

Heb. 3. 17. 

Jude 5. 
p Josh. 14.6, 

10. 
q Pr. 19. 3. 

Mat. 8. 12. 

Heb. 12.17. 
r Deu. 1. 41. 

Ec. 9. 3. 

Mat. 7. 21. 

Lu. 13. 25. 
8 2 Chr. 24. 

20. 
t Job 9. 4. 

Is. 59. 1.2. 

Jer. 2. 37. 

1 Cor. 10. 

w Deu. 1. 42. 

Ps. 44. 1-3. 
v Judg.16.20. 

1 Chr. 28. 9. 
w Deu. 1. 43, 

44. 
x Jud. 1. 17 . 



CHAP. 15. 
a Lev. 23. 10. 

Deu. 7. 1. 
6 Lev. 1. 2. 3. 
c Lev. 7. 16. 
Lev. 22. 18, 
21. 
1 separating. 
Lev. 27. 2. 
d Lev. 23. 8, 
12. 

Deu. 16.10. 
e Gen. 8. 21. 
/ Lev. 2. 1. 

Lev. b. 14. 
g Ex. 29. 40. 
h Lev. 14. 10. 
i ch. 28. 7- 
3 Lev. 7. 11. 
k ch. 9. 14. 
I Josh. 5. 11, 

12. 
»i Ex. 23. 19. 
Deu. 26.2, 
10. 

Neh.10.37. 

Pro. 3. 9. 

n Lev. 23. 10. 

I o Lev. 4. 2. 

J ldoha&l. 



: and say unto them, When ye be come into 
l the land of your habitations, which I give 
unto you, 

3 And >> will make an offering by fire unto 
the Lord, a burnt offering, or a sacrifice 
c in i performing a vow, or in a free-will 
offering, d or in your solemn feasts, to make 
a e sweet savour unto the Lord, of the herd, 
or of the flock; 

4 Then /shall he that offereth his offering 
unto the Lord bring ° a meat otfei ing of a 
tenth deal of flour mingled with h the fourth 
part of an hin of oil. 

5 And * the fourth part of an hin of wine 
for a drink offering shalt thou prepare with 
the burnt offering or sacrifice, for one lamb. 

6 Or for a ram, thou shalt prepare for a 
meat offering two tenth deals of flour 
mingled with the third part of an hin of 
oil. 

7 And for a drink offering thou shalt offer 
the third part of an hin of wine, for a 
sweet savour unto the Lord. 

8 And when thou preparest a bullock for 
a burnt offering, or for a sacrifice in per- 
forming a vow, or i peace offerings unto 
the Lord; 

9 Then shall he bring with a bullock a 
meat offering of three tenth deals of flour 
mingled with half an hin of oil. 

10 And thou shalt bring for a drink offer- 
ing half an hin of wine, for an offering 
made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the 
Lord. 

11 Thus shall it be done for one bullock, 
or for one ram, or for a lamb, or a kid. 

12 According to the number that ye shall 
prepare, so shall ye do to every one accord- 
ing to their number. 

13 All that are born of the country shall 
do these things after this manner, hi oli'er- 
ing an offering made by fire, of a sweet sa- 
vour unto the Lord. 

14 And if a stranger sojourn with you, or 
whosoever be among you in your genera- 
tions, and will offer an ottering made by 
fire, of a sweet savour unto the Lord ; as 
ye do, so he shall do. 

15 One k ordinance shall be both for you of 
the congregation, and also for the stranger 
that sojourneth with you, an ordinance for 
ever in your generations: as ye are, so shall 
the stranger l)e before the Lord. 

16 One law and one manner shall be for 
you, and for the stranger that sojourneth 
with you. 

17 11 And the Lord spake unto Moses, 
saying, 

18 Speak unto the children of Israel, and 
say unto them. When ye come into the 
land whither 1 bring you; 

19 Then it shall be, that, when ye eat of 
the l bread of the land, ye shall offer up an 
heave offering unto the Lord. 

20 Ye '"* shall offer up a cake of the first of 
your dough for an heave offering : as ye 
do n the heave offering of the threshing- 
floor, so shall ye heave it. 

21 Of the first of your dough ye shall give 
unto the Lord an neave offering in your 
generations. 

22 H And ° if ye have erred, and not ob- 
served all these commandments which the 
Lord hath spoken unto Moses, 

23 Even all that the Lord hath com- 
manded you by the hand of Moses, from 
the day that the Lord commanded Mos<.s t 
and henceforward among your generati j„- • 



Si)ies sent to search Canaan. 



NUMBERS, XIV. 



Their Evil Report. 



emanated from the people who petitioned for 
it, the measure received the special sanction 
of God, who granted their request at once as 
a trial, and a punishment of their distrust. 
3. These men were heads—Not the princes who 
are named (ch. 10), but chiefs, leading men, 
though not of the first rank. 16. Oshea— 
i. e. a desire of salvation. Jehoshua, by pre- 
fixing the name of God, means 'divinely 
appointed," " head of salvation," "Saviour, 
the same as Jesus. 17. Get you up this way, 
and go up into the mountain— Mount Seir (Deu. 
1. 2), which lay directly from Sinai across the 
wilderness of Paran, in a north-easterly direc- 
tion into the southern parts of the promised 
land. 20. The time of the first-ripe grapes— 
This was in August, when the first clusters 
are gathered, the second in September, and 
the third in October. The spies' absence for 
a period of forty days, determines the grapes 
they brought from Eshcol to have been of 
the second period. 21-24. So they searched the 
land— Their advances from south to north, 
reconnoitring the whole land, the wilderness of 
Zin— a long level plain, or deep valley of sand 
—the monotony of which is relieved by a few 
tamarisk and rethem trees, and which, under 
the names of El Ghor and El Araba, forms 
the continuation of the Jordan valley, ex- 
tending from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of 
Akaba. Rehob— or, Beth-rehob, was a city 
and district situated, according to some, 
eastward of Sidon; and, according to others, 
is the same as El Hule, an extensive and 
fertile champaigne country, at the foot of 
Antilibanus, a few leagues below Paneas. 
as men come unto Hamath— or, " the entering 
in of Hamath," (2 Ki. 14. 25,) now the valley 
of Balbeck, a mountain-pass or opening in 
the northern frontier, which formed the 
extreme limit in that direction of the in- 
heritance of Israel. From the mention of 
these places, the route of the scouts appears 
to have been along the course of the Jordan 
in their advance, and their return was by 
the western border, through the territories 
of the Sidonians and Philistines. 22. Unto 
Hebron— situated in the heart of the moun- 
tains of Judah, in the southern extremity of 
Palestine. The town or " cities of Hebron," 
as it is expressed in the Heb., consists of a 
number of sheikdoms distinct from each 
other, standing at the foot of one of those 
hills that form a bowl round and enclose it. 
"The children of Anak," mentioned in this 
verse, seem to have been also chiefs of town- 
ships; and this coincidence of polity, existing 
in ages so distant from each other, is remark- 
able. [Vere Monro.] Hebron (Kirjath- 
Arba, Ge. 23. 2,) was one of the oldest cities 
in the world. Zoan (the Tanis of the Greeks) 
—was situated on one of the eastern branches 
of the Nile, near the lake Menzala, and the 
early royal residence of the Pharaohs, that 
boasted a higher antiquity than any other city 
in Egypt. Its name, which signifies flat and 
level, is descriptive of its situation in the 
low grounds of the Delta. 23. The brook of 
Eshcol— i.e., "the torrent of the cluster." 
Its situation was a little to the south-west 
of Hebron. The valley and its sloping hills 
are still covered with vineyards, the charac- 
ter of whose fruit corresponds to its ancient 
celebrity, one cluster of grapes— The grapes 
reared in this locality are still as magnificent 
as formerly— they are said by one to be equal 
in size to prunes, and compared by another 
112 



to a man's thumb. One cluster sometimes 
weighs 10 or 12 pounds. The mode of carry- 
ing the cluster cut down by the spies, though 
not necessary from its weight, was evidently 
adopted to preserve it entire as a specimen 
of the productions of the promised land; and 
the impression made by the sight of it would 
be all the greater that the Israelites were 
familiar only with the scanty vines and small 
grapes of Egypt. 26. They came to Kadesh— 
an important encampment ot the Israelites. 
But its exact situation is not certainly 
known, nor is it determined whether it is 
the same or a different place from Kadesh- 
barnea. It is supposed to be identical with 
Ain-el-Weibeh, a famous spring on the' 
eastern side of the desert, [Robinson,] and 
also with Petra. [Stanley.] 27, 28. They 
told him, and said— The report was given 
publicly in the audience of the people, and 
it was artfully arranged to begin their nar- 
rative with commendations of the natural 
fertility of the country, in order that their 
subsequent slanders might the more readily 
receive credit. 29. The Amalekites dwell in the 
land of the south— Their territory lay between 
the Dead and Bed Seas, skirting the borders 
of Canaan. Hittites dwell in the mountains— 
Their settlements were in the southern and 
mountainous part of Palestine. (Ge. 23. 7.) 
The Canaanites dwelt by the sea— The remnant 
ot the original inhabitants, who had been 
dispossessed by the Philistines, were divided 
into two nomadic hordes— one settled east- 
ward near the Jordan; the other westward, 
by the Mediterranean. 32. A land that eateth, 
up the inhabitants— i.e.. an unhealthy climate 
and country. Jewish writers say that in the 
course of their travels they saw a great many 
funerals, vast numbers of the Canaanites 
being cut off at that time, in the providence 
of God, by a plague or the hornet. (Josh. 24. 
12.) men of great stature— This was evidently 
a false and exaggerated report, representing, 
from timidity or malicious artifice, what 
was true of a few as descriptive of the 
people generally. 33. Giants, sons of Anak— 
The name is derived from the son of Arba— 
a great man among the Arabians, (Josh. 15. 
14,) who probably obtained his appellation 
from wearing a splendid collar or chain 
round his neck, as the word imports. The 
epithet "giant" evidently refers here to 
stature. (See on Ge. 6. 4. ) And it is probable 
the Anakims were a distinguished family, or 
perhaps a select body of warriors, chosen 
for their extraordinary size, in our own sight 
as grasshoppers — a strong Orientalism, by 
which the treacherous spies gave an exag- 
gerated report of the physical strength of the 
people of Canaan. 

CHAPTER XIV. 
Ver. 1-45. The People Murmur at the 
Spies' Report. 1. All the congregation lifted 



up their voice— Not literally the whole, for 
there were some exceptions. 2-4. Would God 
that we had died— Such insolence to their 
generous leaders, and such base ingratitude 
to God, show the deep degradation of the 
Israelites, and the absolute necessity of 
the decree that debarred that generation 
from entering the promised land. They 
were punished by their wishes being grant- 
ed to die in that wilderness. A leader 
to re-conduct them to Egypt is spoken of 
(Neh. 9. 17) as actually nominated. The sin- 
fulness and insane folly of their conduct are 



The sabbath breaker stoned. 



NUMBERS, XVI. 



The rebellion of Korah. 



24 Then it shall be, p if ought be commit- 
ted by ignorance 2 without the knowledge 
of the congregation, that all the congrega- 
tion shall otter one young bullock for a 
burnt ottering, for a sweet savour unto the 
Lord, with his meat ottering, and his drink 
offering, according to the a manner, and 
one q kid of the goats for a sin ottering. 

25 And r the pnest shall make an atone- 
ment for all the congregation of the chil- 
dren of Israel, and it shall be forgiven 
them; for it is ignorance: and they shall 
bring their offering, a sacrifice made by fire 
unto the Lord, and their sin offering before 
the Lord, for their ignorance: 

26 And it shall be forgiven all the congre- 
gation of the children of Israel, and the 
stranger that soiourneth among them; see- 
ing all the people were in ignorance. 

27 U And * if any soul sin through igno- 
rance, then he shall bring a she-goat of the 
first year for a sin ottering. 

28 And * the priest shall make an atone- 
ment for the soul that sinneth ignorantly, 
when he sinneth by ignorance before the 
Lobd. to make an atonement for him; and 
it shall be forgiven him. 

29 Ye shall have one law for him that 
* sinneth through ignorance, both for him 
that is born among the children of Israel, 
and for the stranger that sojoumeth among 
them. 

30 1T But "the soul that doeth ought 
f> presumptuously, whether he be born in 
the land, or a stranger, the same re- 
proacheth the Lord; and that soul shall 
be cut off" from among his people. 

31 Because he hath v despised the word of 
the Lord, and hath broken his command- 
ment, that soul shall utterly be cut off"; 
his w iniquity shall be upon him. 

32 IF Aria while the children of Israel were 
in the wilderness, x they found a man that 
gathered sticks upon the sabbath dav. 

33 And they that found him gathering 
sticks brought him unto Moses and Aaron, 
and unto all the congregation. 

34 And they put him y in ward, because 
it was not declared what should be done to 
him. 

35 And the Lord said unto Moses, z The 
man shall be surely put to death: all the 
congregation shall * stone him with stones 
without the camp. 

36 And all the congregation brought him 
without the camp, and stoned him with 
stones, and he died; as the Lord com- 
manded Moses. 

37 11 And the Lord spake unto Moses, 
saying, 

38 Speak unto the children of Israelj and 
bid b them that they make them fringes 
in the borders of their garments, through- 
out their generations, and that they put 
upon the fringe of the borders a ribband of 
blue: 

39 And it shall be unto you for a fringe, 
that ye may look upon it, and remember 
all the commandments of the Lord, and 
do them ; and that ye c seek not after your 
own heart and your own eyes, after which 
ye use d to go awhoring: 

40 That ye may remember, and do all my 
commandments, and be e holy unto your 
God. 

41 1 am the Lord your God, which brought 
you out of the land of Egypt, to be your 
God: 1 am the Lord your God. 
113 



CHAP 15. 
P Lev. 4. 13. 
2 from the 



nance. 
q Lev. 4. 23. 

Ezra 8. 35. 
r Lev. 4. 20. 
a Lev. 4. 27, 

28. 

Pa. 19. 13. 

Lu. 12. 48. 
t Lev. 4. 35. 

4 doth. 

« Deu. 17.12. 
Pa. 19. 13. 
Ro. 10. 16. 
He. 10. 26. 
2 Pet. 2. 
10. 

5 with an 
high hand. 

v 2 Sa. 12. 9. 

Pro. 13. 13. 
w Exek. 18. 

20. 

* Ex. 35. 2,3. 
y Lev. 24. 12. 

* Ex. 31. 14, 
15. 

Gal. 3. 5. 
a 1 Kin. 21. 

13. 

Acta 7. 58. 
b Deut. 22. 

12. 

Mat. 23. 5. 
c Deut. 29. 

19. 

Job 31. 7. 

Jer. 9. 14. 

Ezck. 6. 9. 
d Ps. 106. 39. 

Jam. 4. 4. 
« Lev. 11. 44, 

45. 

Mat. 5. 48. 

Ro. 12. 1. 

Col. 1. 22. 

1 The*. 5.8. 

1 Pet. 1.15. 



CHAP. 16. 
a Jude 11. 
6 ch. 26. 9. 
c Ps. 106. 16. 
1 It ia much 

for vou. 
d Ex. 19. 6. 
e Ex. 29. 45. 
/ ch. 20. 6. 
1/2 Tim. 2.19. 
h Lev. 21. 

6-12. 
i Ex. 28. 1. 

1 Sa. 2. 28. 

Ps. 105. 26. 
,; Lev. 10. 3. 

Ezek. 40.45. 

k 1 Sa. 18.23. 

Is. 7. 13. 

1 Deu. 10. 8. 
m Ex. 16. 8. 

1 Cor. 3. 5. 
n £x. 2. 14. 

Acts 7. 27, 
35. 
o Ex. 3. 8. 
Lev. 2-1.24. 

2 bore out, 
that is, 
blind with 
fair words. 

p Gen. 4. 4,5. 

9 1 Sa. 12. 3. 

Ac. 20. 33. 

2 Cor. 7. 2- 



CHAPTER XVI. 

1 rhe rebellion of Korah. 31 The earth eUavet/l 

asunder. 46 A aron stayeth the plague. 
~KtOW a Korah, the son of Izhar, the son 
-^ of Kohath, the son of Levi, and Dathan 
and Abiram the sons of Eliab, and On the 
son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men: 

2 And they rose up before Moses, with 
certain of the children of Israel, two hun- 
dred and fifty princes of the assembly, 
famous b m the congregation, men of 
renown: 

3 And c they gathered themselves together 
against Moses and against Aaron, and said 
unto them, * Ye take too much upon you, 
seeing d all the congregation are holy, 
every one of them, " and the Lord is 
among them: wherefore then lift ye up 
yourselves above the congregation of the 
Lord? 

4 And when Moses heard it, /he fell upon 
his lace: 

5 And he spake unto Korah, and unto all 
his company, saying, Even to-morrow the 
Lord will show g who are his, and who 
is h holy; and will cause him to come near 
unto him : even him whom he * hath 
chosen will he cause to i come near unto 
him. 

6 This do: Take you censers, Korah, and 
all his company ; 

7 And put fire therein, and put incense in 
them before the Lord to-morrow: and it 
shall be that the man whom the Lord doth 
choose, he shall be holy: ye take too much 
upon you, ye sons of Levi. 

8 And Moses said unto Korah, Heur, I 
pray you, ye sons of Levi: 

9 Seemeih it but k a, small thing unto you, 
that the God of Israel hath <■ separated you 
from the congregation of Israel, to bring 
you near to himself, to do the service of the 
tabernacle of the Lord, and to stand before 
the congregation to minister unto them? 

10 And he hath brought thee near to him, 
and all thy brethren the sons of Levi with 
thee: and seek ye the priesthood also? 

11 For which cause both thou and all thy 
company are gathered together against the 
Lord: m and what is Aaron, that ye mur- 
mur against him? 

12 IT And Moses sent to call Dathan and 
Abiram, the sons of Eliab: which said, We 
will not come up: 

13 Is it a small thing that thou hast brought 
us up out of a land that floweth with milk 
and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, ex- 
cept thou n make thyself altogether a prince 
over us? 

14 Moreover thou hast not brought us in- 
to a ° land that fioweth with milk and 
honey, or given us inheritance of fields and 
vineyards: wilt thou 2 put out the eyes of 

i these men? we will not come up. 

i 15 Aud Moses was very wroth, and said, 

! unto the Lord, p Respect not thou q their 
ottering: I have not taken one ass from 
them, neither have I hurt one of them. 
16 And Moses said unto Korah, Be thou 
and all thy company before the Lord, thou, 
and they, and Aaron, to-morrow: 

j 17 And take every man his censer, and 
put incense in them, and bring ye before 
the Lord every man his censer, two hun- 

! dred and fifty censers ; thou also, and Aaron, 

I each of you his censer. 

I 18 And they took every man his censer, 

land put lire in them, and laid mceiisa 



The Murmurers Forbidden 



NUMBERS, XV. 



to Enter the Land. 



\ 



almost incredible. Their conduct, how- freed from the parenthetical form which our 
ever, is parallelled by too many amongst English translators have given it. 30. Save 
ourselves, who shrink from the smallest Caleb and Joshua— These are specially men- 
difiiculties, and rather remain slaves to sin \ tioned, as honourable exceptions to the rest 
than resolutely try to surmount the obstacles j of the scouts, and also as the future leaders of 
that lie in their way to the Canaan above. ] the people. But it appears that some of the 
5. Moses and Aaron fell on their faces — as \ old generation did not join in the mutinous 
humble and earnest suppliants— either to j murmuring, including in that number the 
the people, entreating them to desist from j whole order of the priests. (Jos. 14. 1.) 34. 
so perverse a design;— or rather, to God, ! my breach of promise— i.e., that in consequence 
as the usual and only refuge from the vio- 1 of your violation of the covenant betwixt 
lence of that tumultuous and stitt-necked ! you and me. by breaking the terms of it, it 
rabble, and a hopeful means of softening j shall be null and void on my part, as I shall 
and impressing their hearts. 6. Joshua and I withhold the blessings I promised in that 
Caleb — the two honest spies testified their j covenant to confer on you on condition of 
grief and horror, in the strongest manner, 'your obedience. 36-38. the men... died by the 



at the mutiny against Moses and the bias 
phemy against God; while at the same time 
they endeavoured, by a truthful statement, 
to persuade the people of the ease with 
which they might obtain possession of so 
desirable a country, provided they did not, 
by their rebellion and ingratitude, provoke 



plague before the Lord— Ten of the spies were 
struck dead on the spot,— either by the pesti- 
lence, or some other judgment,— the great 
and appaling mortality occasioned, by which 
clearly betokened the hand of the Lord. 
40-45. They rose up early in the morning— 
Notwithstanding the tidings that Moses 



God to abandon them. 8. A land flowing | communicated, and which diffused a general 
with milk and honey— a general expression, J feeling of melancholy and grief through- 



descriptive of a rich and fertile country, 
but the two articles specified were amongst 
the principal products of the Holy Land. 
9. Their defence is departed— H eb., their sha- 
dow. The Sultan of Turkey and the Schah 
of Persia are called " the shadow ol God," 
"the refuge of the world." So that the 
meaning of the phrase, "their defence is 
departed" from them, is, that the favour 
of God were now lost to those whose iniqui- 
ties were full, (Ge. 15. 16,} and transferred 



out the camp, the impression was of very 
brief continuance. They rushed from one 
extreme of rashness and perversity to an- 
other, and the obstinacy of their rebellious 
spirit was evinced by their active prepara- 
tions to ascend the hill, notwithstanding the 
divine warning they had received not to un- 
dertake that enterprise, for we have sinned— 
i.e., sensible of our sin, we now repent of it, 
and are eager to do as Caleb and Joshua ex- 
horted us— or, as some render it, though we 



to the Israelites. 10. The glory of the Lord have sinned, we trust God will yet give us 



appeared— It was seasonably manifested on 
this great emergency to rescue His ambassa- 
dors from their perillous situation. 11. The 
Lord said ... I will smite— Not a final decree, 
but a threatening, suspended, as appeared 
from the iesue, on the intercession of Moses, 
and the repentance of Israel. 17. let the 
power of my Lord be great— be magnified. 21. 
All the earth shall be filled with the glory of the 
Lord— This promise, in its full acceptation, 
remains to be verified by the eventual and 
universal prevalence of Christianity in the 
world. But the terms were used restrictively 
in respect of the occasion, to the report 
which would spread over all the land of the 
" terrible things in righteousness" which God 
would do in the infliction of the doom de- 
scribed, to which that rebellious race were 
now consigned, ten times— very frequently. 
23. my servant Caleb— Joshua was also ex- 
cepted, but he is not named, because he was 
no longer in the ranks of the people, being a 
constant attendant on Moses. 24. had an- 
other spirit— under the influence of God's 
Spirit, was a man of bold, generous, heroic 
courage, above worldly anxieties and fears. 
25. New the Amaiekites and the Canaanites 
dwelt in the valley— i.e., on the other side of 
the Idumean mountain, at whose base they 
were then encamped. Those nomad tribes 
had at that time occupied it with a determi- j 
nation to oppose the further progress of the 



the land of promise. The entreaties of their 
prudent and pious leader, who represented 
to them that their enemies, scaling the other 
side of the valley, would post themselves 
on the top of the hill before them, were dis- 
regarded. How strangely perverse the con- 
duct of the Israelites, who, shortly before, 
were afraid that, though their Almighty King 
was with them, they could not get possession 
of the land; and yet now they act still more 
foolishly in supposing, that though God were 
not with them, they could expel the inhabi- 
tants by their unaided efforts. The conse- 
quences were such as might have been anti- 
cipated. The Amaiekites and Canaanites, 
who had been lying in ambuscade expect- 
ing their movement, rushed down upon 
them from the heights, and became the in- 
struments of punishing their guilty rebellion, 
even unto Hormah— The name was afterwards 
given to that place in memory of the immense 
slaughter of the Israelites on this occasion. 
CHAPTEK XV. 
Ver. 1-41. The Law of Sundry Offerings. 
1, 2. Speak unto the children of Israel— Some 
infer from v. 23, that the date of this commu- 
nication must be fixed towards the close of 
the wanderings in the wilderness; and, also, 
that all the sacrifices prescribed in the law 
were to be offered only after the settlement 
in Canaan. 3. a burnt-offering— It is evi- 
dent that a peace-ottering is referred to, 



Hebrew people. Hence the command to j because this term is frequently used in such 
seek a safe and timely retreat into the desert, ' a sense (Ex. 18. 12, Lev. 17. 5). 4. tenth 
to escape the pursuit of those resolute ene- ideal— -i.e., an omer, the tenth part of an eph ah. 
mies, to whom, with their wives and child- 1 (Ex. 16. 36.) Fourth part of an hin of oil— This 
ren, they would fall a helpless prey, because element shews it to have been different from 
they had forfeited the presence and protec- such meat-offerings as were made by them- 
tion of God. The L'5th verse forms an im- selves, and not merely accompaniments of 
portant part of the narrative, and should be other sacrifices. 6-12. two tenth deals— The 
113 



Destruction of Korah 



NUMBERS, XVIT. 



and his foUoicers. 



thereon, and stood in the door of the ta- 
bernacle of the congregation with Moses 
and Aaron. 

ID And Korah gathered all the congrega- 
tion against them unto the door of the 
tabernacle of the congregation: and r the 
glory of the Lord appeared unto all the 
congregation. 

20 And the Lord spake unto Moses and 
unto Aaron, saying, 

21 Separate * yourselves from among this 
congregation, that 1 may ' consume them 
in a moment. 

22 And they fell upon their faces, and 
said. O God, u the God of the spirits of all 
flesh, shall * one man sin, and wilt thou be 
wroth with all the congregation? 

23 H And the Lord spake unto Moses, 
saying, 

24 Speak unto the congregation, saying. 
Get you up from about the tabernacle of 
Koran, Dathan, and Abiram. 

25 And Moses rose up, and went unto 
Dathan and Abiram ; and the elders of 
Israel followed him. 

26' And he spake unto the congregation, 
saying, w Depart, I pray you. from the 
tents of these wicked men, and touch no- 
tliing of theirs, lest ye be consumed in all 
tntir sins. 

27 So they gat up from the tabernacle of 
Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, on every side: 
and Dathan and Abiram came out, and 
6tood x in the door of their tents, and their 
wives, and their sons, and their little 
children. 

23 And Moses said, v Hereby ye shall know 
that the Lord hath sent me to do all these 
works ; for / have not done them * of mine 
own mind; 

29 If these men die 3 the common death 
of all men, or if they be a visited after the 
visitation of all men; then the Lord hath 
not sent me: 

30 But if the Lord * make * a new thing, 
and the earth open her mouth, and swallow 
them up, with all that appertain unto 
them, and they c go down quick into the 
pit; then ye shall understand that these 
men have provoked the Lord. 

31 IT And d it came to pass, as he had made 
an end of speaking all these words, that 
the ground clave asunder that was under 
them: 

32 And the earth opened her mouth, and 
swallowed them up, and their houses, and 
all e the men that appertained unto Korah, 
and all their goods. 

33 They, and all that appertained to 
them, went down alive into the pit, and 
tne earth closed upon them : and they 
perished from among the congregation. 

34 And all Israel that were round about 
them tied at the cry of them: for they said, 
Lest the earth swallow us up also. 

35 And there / came out a fire from the 
Lord, and consumed the two hundred and 
fifty men that offered incense. 

36 % And the Lord spake unto Moses, 
saying, 

37 Speak unto Eleazar the son of Aaron 
the priest, that he take up the censers out 
of the burning, and scatter thou the fire 
yonder; for they are hallowed. 

38 The censers of these g sinners against 
their own souls, let them make them hroad 
plates for a covering of the altar; for they 



B.C. 1471. 



CHAP. 16. 
r Ex. 16. 7. 

10. 

Lev. 9. 6, 

23. 
« Gen. 19. 17. 
Jer. 51. 6. 
Acts 2. 40. 

Rev 18. 4. 

t Ex. 32. 10. 

Ex. 33. 5. 

« Job 12. 10. 

Ec. 12. 7. 

Is. 57. 16. 

Zech. 12.1. 

Heb. 12 9. 
»2Sa. 24.17. 

lChr.21 17. 

Erek.lS.20. 
w Gen. 19.12. 

Is. 52. 11. 

Acts 2. 40. 

2 Cor .6.17. 

Rev. 18. 4. 
* Pro. 16. 18. 
V Ex. 3. 12. 

Deu. 18.22. 

Zech. 2. 9. 
« Jer. 23. 16. 

Ezek.13.17. 

John 5. 30. 

3 as every 
man dieth. 

a Ex. 20. 5. 
Job 35. 16. 
la. 10. 3. 

4 create a 
creature. 
Is. 45. 7. 

b Job 31. 3. 

Is. 28. 21. 
e Ps. 55. 15. 

Rev. 9. 2. 
d ch. 26. 10. 

ch. 27. 3. 

Deu. 11.6. 

Ps. 106.17. 
« 1 Chr. 6.22. 
/ Lev. 10. 2. 

eh. 11.1. 

Deu. 4. 24 

Ps. 106. 18. 

Is. 66. 15. 

Heb. 12. 29. 

Rev. 20. 9. 

g Pro. 20. 2. 

Hab. 2. 10. 

h cb. 26. 10. 

Ezek.14.8. 

1 Cor. 10. 
11. 

2 Pet. 2. 6. 
i ch. 3. 10. 

1 Ki. 13. 1. 
2Chr.2o.18. 
Heb. 5. 4. 

j Mat. 5. 11. 
Acts 21. 28. 

2 Cor. 6. 8. 
k Ex. 40. 34. 
1 1 Cbr.21.16. 
m ch. 8. 19. 

1 Chr. 27. 
24. 
n Job 33. 24. 
Ps.106.30 
Mat. 20.28 
1 Th. 1. 10 
Heb. 7. 24, 



CHAP. 17. 

a Ex. 30.36. 

b ch 16. 5. 

1 a rod for 
one prince, 
a rod for 

i Tor a covering or tne altar; tor tney | one prince, 
oilered them before the Lord, therefore I c Act* 7. 44. 
114 ' 



they are hallowed: h and they shall be a 
sign unto the children of Israel. 

39 And Eleazar the priest took the brasen 
censers, wherewith they that were burnt 
had offered ; and they were made broad 
plates for a covering of the altar: 

40 To be a memorial unto the children of 
Israel, * that no stranger, which is not of 
the seed of Aaron, come near to offer in- 
cense before the Lord ; that he be not as 
Korah, and as his company: as the Lord 
said to him by the hand of Moses. 

41 IT But on the morrow i all the congre- 
gation of the children of Israel murmured 
against Moses and against Aaron, saying, 
\ e have killed the people of the Lord. 

42 And it came to pass, when the congre- 
gation was gathered against Moses and 
against Aaron, that they looked toward the 
tabernacle of the congregation; and, be- 
hold, * the cloud covered it, and the glory 
of the Lord appeared. 

43 And Moses and Aaron came before the 
tabernacle of the congregation. 

44 And the Lord spake unto Mose?. saying, 

45 Get you up from among this congrega- 
tion, that I may consume them as in a 
moment. And * they fell upon their faces. 

46 And Moses said unto Aaron, Take a 
censer, and put fire therein from off the 
altar, and put on incense, and go quickly 
unto the congregation, and make an atone- 
ment for them: ^for there is wrath gone 
out from the Lord ; the plague is begun. 

47 And Aaron took as Moses commanded, 
and ran into the midst of the congregation; 
and, behold, the plague was begun among 
the people: and he put on incense, and 
made an atonement for the people. 

48 And he n stood between the dead and 
the living ; and the plague was stayed. 

49 Now they that died in the plague were 
fourteen thousand and seven hundred, be- 
sides them that died about the matter oi 
Korah. 

50 And Aaron returned unto Moses unto 
the door of the tabernacle of the congrega- 
tion: and the plague was stayed. 

CHAPTER XVII. 

6 Aaron's rod only flourishcih : 10 it is laid up for 

a memorial against the rebels. 

A ND the Lord spake unto Moses, saying. 
■**- 2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and 
take of every one of them a rod according 
to the house of their fathers, of ail their 
princes, according to the house of their 
fathers twelve rods: write thou every man's 
name upon his rod. 

3 And thou shalt write Aaron's name upon 
the rod of Levi: for one rod shall be for the 
head of the house of their fathers. 

4 And thou shalt lay them up in the ta- 
bernacle of the congregation before the tes- 
timony, a where I will meet with you. 

5 And it shall come to pass, that the man's 
rod, b whom I shall choose, shall blossom: 
and I will make to cease from me the mur- 
murings of the children of Israel, whereby 
they murmur against you. 

6 \ And Moses spake unto the children of 
Israel, and every one of their princes gave 
him ! a rod apiece, for each prince one, ac- 
cording to their fathers' houses, even twelve 
rods: and the rod of Aaron was among 
their rods. 

7 And Moses laid up the rods before the 
Lord in c the tabernacle of witness. 

8 And it came to pass, that on the morrow 



The Law of Sundry Offerings. 



LUMBERS, XVI. 



The Rebellion of Korafi. 



quantity of flour was increased, because the 
sacrifice was of superior value to the former. 
The accessory sacrifices were always increased 
in proportion to the greater worth and mag- 
nitude of its principal. 13-16. a stranger- 
one who had become a proselyte. There 
was not any of the national privileges of the 
Israelites, with hardly an exception, in which 
the Gentile stranger might not, on conform- 
ing to certain conditions, fully participate. 
19. when ye eat of the bread of the land— The 
offering prescribed was to precede the act of 
eating, unto the Lord— i.e., the priests of the 
Lord. (Ez. 44. 30.) 20. heave offering of the 
threshing-floor— meaning the corn on the 
threshing-floor— i.e., after harvest, so shall 
ye heave it— to the priests accompanying the 
ceremony with the same rites. 22. if ye 
have erred, &c— respecting the performance 
of divine worship, and the rites and cere- 
monies that constitute the holy service. This 
law relates only to any omission, and conse- 
quently is quite different from that laid down, 
(Lev. 4. 13,) which implies a transgression or 
positive neglect of some observances requir- 
ed. This law relates to private parties, or in- 
dividual tribes; that to the whole congrega- 
tion of Israel. 24-26. if ought be committed 
by ignorance— The Mosaic ritual was compli- 
cated, and the ceremonies to be gone through 
in the various instances of purification which 
are specified, would expose a worshipper, 
through ignorance, to the risk of omitting or 
neglecting some of them. This law included 
the stranger in the number of those for whom 
the sacrifice was offered for the sin of general 
ignorance. 27-31. if any soul sin through ignor- 
ance—Not only in common with the general 
body of the people, but his personal sins were 
to be expiated in the same manner. 30. Doeth 
ought presumptuously— Heb. with a high or up- 
lifted hand-A.e., knowingly, wilfully, obsti- 
nately. In this sense, the phraseology occurs. 
(Ex. 14. 8; Lev. 26. 21; Ps. 19. 13.) the samere- 
proacheth the Lord— sets Him at open defiance, 
and dishonours His majesty. 31. his iniquity 
shall be upon him— i.e., the punishment of his 
sins shall fall on himself individually ; no 
guilt shall be incurred by the nation, unless 
there be a criminal carelessness in overlook- 
ing the offence. 32-34. a man that gathered 
sticks upon the sabbath-day— This incident is 
evidently narrated as an instance of pre- 
sumptuous sin. The mere gathering of 
sticks was not a sinful act, and might be 
necessary for fuel to warm him, or to make 
ready his food. But its being done on 
the sabbath altered the entire character of 
the action. The law of the sabbath being a 
plain and positive commandment, this 
transgression of it was a known and wilful 
sin, and it was marked by several aggrava- 
tions. For the deed was done with unblush- 
ing boldness in broad day-light, in open de- 
fiance of the divine authority— in flagrant 
inconsistency with his religious connection 
with Israel, as the covenant people of God; 
and it was an application to improper pur- 
poses of time, which God had consecrated to 
himself and the solemn duties of religion. The 
offender was brought before the rulers, who, 
on hearing the painful report, were at a loss 
to determine what ought to be done. That 
they should have felt any embarassment in 
such a case may seem surprising, in the face 
of the sabbath-law. (Ex. 31. 14.) Their diffi- 
culty 



first public offence of the kind which had 
occurred; and the appeal might be made to 
remove all ground of complaint— to produce 
a more striking effect, and that the fate of 
this criminal might be a beacon to warn all 
Israelites in future. 35, 36. The Lord said, 
the man ... to death— The Lord was king, as 
well as God of Israel, and the offence being 
a violation of the law of the realm, the 
Sovereign Judge gave orders that this man 
should be put to death, and, moreover, re- 
quired the whole congregation to unite in 
executing the fatal sentence. 38. bid them 
that they make fringes— These were narrow 
strips, in a wing-like form, wrapped over the 
shoulders, and on various parts of the attire. 
" Fringe," however, is the English rendering 
of two distinct Hebrew words— the one mean- 
ing a narrow lappet or edging, called the 
"hem or border, (Mat. 23. 5; Lu. 8. 44,) 
which, in order to make it more attractive 
to the eye, and consequently more service- 
able to the purpose described, was covered 
with a riband of a blue or rather purple 
colour; the other term signifies strings with 
tassels at the end, fastened to the corners of 
the garment. Both of these are seen on the 
Egyptian and Assyrian frocks; and as the 
Jewish people were commanded by express 
and repeated ordinances to have them, the 
fashion was rendered subservient, in their 
case, to awaken high and religious associa- 
tions—to keep them in habitual remem- 
brance of the divine commandments. 41. 
I am the Lord your God— The import of this 
solemn conclusion is, that though he was 
displeased with them for their frequent re- 
bellions, for which they would be doomed to 
forty years wandering, He would not aban- 
don them, but continue His divine protec- 
tion and care of them till they w r ere brought 
into the land of promise. 

CHAPTLR XVI. 
Ver. 1-30. The Rebellion of Korah. 
1, 2. Now Korah, the son of Izhar— Izhar, bro- 
ther of Amram, (Ex. 6. 18,) was the second 
son of Kohath, and for some reason unre- 
corded, he had been supplanted by a descen- 
dant of the fourth son of Kohath, who was 
appointed prince or chief of the Kohathites. 
(ch. 3. 30.) Discontent with the preferment 
over him of a younger relative was probably 
the originating cause of this seditious move- 
ment on the part of Korah. Dathan, Abiram, 
and On— These were confederate leaders in 
the rebellion, but On seems to have after- 
wards withdrawn from the conspiracy. Took 
men— The latter mentioned individuals be- 
ing all sons of Reuben, the eldest of Jacob's 
family, had been stimulated to this insur- 
rection on the pretext that Moses had, by 
an arbitrary arrangement, taken away the 
right of primogeniture, which had vested the 
hereditary dignity of the priesthood in the 
first born of every family, with a view of 
transferring the hereditary exercise of the 
sacred functions to a particular branch of 
his own house; and that this gross instance 
of partiality to his own relations, to the per- 
manent detriment of others, was a sufficient 
ground for refusing allegiance to his govern- 
ment. In addition to this grievance, another 
cause of jealousy and dissatisfaction that 
rankled in the breasts of the Reubenites, was 
the advancement of Judah to the leadership 



amongst the tribes. These malcontents had 
probably arose from this being the j been incited by the artful representations of 
114 



The charge of the pnetts. 



NUMBERS, XVin. 



Their portion. 



vent into the tabernacle of witness; 
and. behold, the rod of Aaron lor the house 
o:' Levi ms d budded, and 1 1 

BOOB, and J i 

-dS. 

9 And Moses brought out all the rods J 
from before the Lord unto all the children , 

1: and they looked, and look even- 
mar, his rod. 

10 r And the Lord said unto Moses. Bring 

'a c ' rod a&un before the testimony, 
r a token against the - rebels ; 
and thou shalt quite take away their mur- 
me, that they die not. 

11 And Mof si the Lord com- 

s i him. so did he. 

12 And the children or Israel spake unto i 
Moses, saying, Behold, we die, we perish, 
Wc all perish. 

13 Whosoever • cometh any thing near 

he tabernacle of the Lord shall die: 
shall we be consumed with dying! 

CHAPTER XVIII. 
1 T\e eWraa •:/ At friaU and L-r'.ites. 8 The 
rrrie'ts', 'S: and the Ln. ires' portion. 25 Of t/ie 
heaie vfering to HMjWKSti 

A HD the Lord said unto Aaron. a Thou. 
-^ and thy sobs, and thy father's boose 

with thee, shall - bear the iniquity of the 
sanctuary: and thou and thy sons with thee 
shall bear the iniquity of your pries t- 

•J And thy brethren also of the tribe of 
Levi, the tribe of thy father, bring thou 
with thee, that they may be c joined unto 
thee, and d minister unto thee: but thou 
and thy sons with thee stall minister be- 
fore the tabernacle of witness. 

3 And they shall keep thy charge, and 
the * charge of all the tabernacle: / only 
they shall not come nigh the vessels of the ; 
sanctuary and the altar, 9 that neither they, 
not je also, 

4 And they shall be joined unto thee, and 
keep the charge of the tabernacle of the 

_ -ariou. for all the serfiee of the ta- 
bernacle : and a stranger shall not come 
Li. : unto you. 

5 And ye shall keep ■ the charge of the 
sanctuary, and the charge of the altar; that 
there be no wrath any more upon the chil- 
dren of Israel. 

6 And I. behold. I have * taken your 
brethren the Levites from among the chil- 

: Israel: to you Meg art given as a 
gift f._>r the Lord, to do the ser.ice of the 
mack of the congregation. 

7 Therefore thou and thy sons witn thee 
6hall keep your priest's office for even- 
thing of the altar, and i within the veil : an i 
ye shall serve: I have given you priest's 
office unto yov. as I rift : and * the 
stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to 
death. 

B r And the Lord spake unto Aaron. Be- 
hold, • I also have given thee the charge of 
mine heave c:riri:.-s of all the b 
things of the children of Israel: unto thee 
i given them. m by reason of the 
anointing, and to thy sons, by an ordinance 
_ " er. 

11 be thine of the most holy 
things, r ns e r wed : 

: theirs, every ■ meal offering of 

theirs, and even- ° sin onering of theirs. 

rerj trespass offering of theirs, which 

shall render unto me. shall be most 

hoi. for tnee and for thy sons. 

U5 



CHAP. 17. 

i is i. 2. 

Is S3. 1.2. 

e Heb. 9. 4. 
/ch. 16. 38. 
2 eHliwi :f 

ftkt ..: I ■, 

J ::. i;. i 7. 

CHAP. 15. 

6 Be respoa- 
riMa be 

a.\-:-±: -.he 



Ex- 28. 38. 
C Gen. 89. 34. 
d eh. 3. 6-10. 
e eh. 3. 25,31. 
f :... ML SDL 
f -- " : 
h Ex. 27.21. 

Ex.. 30. 7. 

Ler. 24. 3. 

; Heb. 9. 3, 6. 
k 1 Sam. 6. 

19. 
J Lev. 6.16, 

ML 

Lex. 7. 6,32. 

« Ex a\n 

15. 
n Ler. 2. 2.-3. 

l-tt. i:.i2, 

13. 

• Sot. 4. 22, 

Lev. 6. 25, 
26. 
WtmmHMmA 

lev. B, IS, 

I 
3 zx .■:, 27 

Um. 7. SO. 

34. 
»"Le 

Dr 

• Ler. 22. 2 

I Ex. 25. HL 
Dm. IS 4. 
l£a:. 

v Ley. 27.23. 

■ Ex IS. 2. 

■ Bk.13.1X 

*cu. 3 47. 
Lev. 27.2.5. 



6 Lev. 7. SL 

c A perpetual 

Mnwd 

Ler. 2 .3. 

.; i-u :.. .- 



10.14. 

. H 3. 



10 In the P most holy place shalt thou eat 
it : every male shall eat it: it shall be holy 
unto tin 

11 And this is thine ; ■ the heave i ~ iring of 

their gift, with all the wave ofl 

ehildi-en >f Israel: I have g n them unto 

and to thy s 

.'-c for ever: 
one thai 

12 All t the i best of the oiL and all the 
best of the ■nine, and of the wheat, the 
first-fruits of them which tin. 

unto the Lord, them have I given thee. 

13 And whatx list ripe in the land, 
which they shall bring onto the Loan, 

e thine : every one that is clean in 
thine house shall eat of it. 
li Every u thing devoted in Israel shall be 
thine. 

15 Every thins: that openeth v the matrix 
in all flesh, winch they bring unto the 
Lord, tosetaer it be of men or 

be thine : nevertheless "" the first-born of 
man shalt thou surely redeem, and the 
firstling of unclean beasts shalt thou re- 
deem. 

16 And those that are to be redeemed 
from a month old shalt thou redeem, x ac- 
cording to thine estimation, for the money 
of five shekels, after the shekel of the sane- 

' tnary. which * is twenfr 

17 But s the GntHi - . or the first- 
ling of a sheep, or the firstling id 

thou sh&tt not redeem: they are "holy: a thou 
shalt sprinkle their blood upon the altar, 
and shalt burn their fat for an : 
made by hre, for a sweet savour unto the 
Lord. 

15 And the flesh of them shall be thine l as 
the * wave breast and as the right shoulder 
are thine. 

19 All the heave offerinsrs of the holy 
things, which the children of Israel offer 
unto the Lord, have I given thee, and thy 
sons and thy daughters with thee, by a 
statute for ever: c it is a covenant of salt 
for ever before the Lord unto thee and to 
thy seed with thee. 

J ) r And the Lord spake unto Aaron, 
Thou shalt have no inheritance in their 
land, neither shalt thou have any part 
among them: I d am thy part and thine in- 
heritance among the children of Israel. 

21 And. behold, e I have given the children 
of Levi all the tenth in Israel for an inheri- 
tance, for their sendee which they serve, 
even the service of the tabernacle of the 

.vegatioiL 

22 -Neither must the children of Israel 
henceforth : the tabernacle of 
the congregation, /lest they bear sin, 2 and 

die. 

23 But g the Levites shall do the service 
of the tabernacle of the congregation, and 

ball bear their iniquity. It shall be 
Dhe for ever throughout your ■ 
tions. that among the children o: 
they have no inheritance. 
i'4"Eut the tithes of the children of Israel, 
which they offer as an heave ottering unto 
the Lord." I have given to the L. 

I have said unto ihem, 
ben of Israel they shall 
no inheritance, 
.: I And the Lord spake unto Moses, 
Baying, 

26 Thus speak unto the Levites. and say 
onto them, When ye take of the children 



The Rebellion of Korah, NUMBERS, XVI. 

Korah, (Jude, 11,) with whom the position 
of their camp on the south side afforded) 
them facilities of frequent intercourse, and | 
who, in addition to his feeling of personal 
wrongs, participated in their desire, if he did 
not originate the attempt, to recover their 
lost rights of primogeniture. When the 
conspiracy was ripe, they openly and boldly 
declared its object, and at the head of 250 
princes, challenged Moses with an ambitious 
and unwarrantable usurpation of authority, 
especially in the appropriation of the priest- 
hood, for they disputed the claim of Aaron 
also to pre-eminence. 3. They gathered them- 
selves together— The assemblage seems to 
have been composed of the whole band of 
conspirators; and they grounded their com- 
plaint on the fact that the whole people be- 
ing separated to the divine service, (Ex. 19. 
6,) were equally qualified to present offerings 
on the altar, and that God being graciously 
present amongst them, by the tabernacle and 
the cloud, evinced his readiness to receive 
sacrifices from the hand of any others as well 
as from theirs. 4. When Moses heard it, he 
fell upon his face— This attitude of prostration 
indicated not only his humble and earnest 
desire that God would interpose to free him 
from the false and odious imputation, but 
his strong sense of the daring sin involved in 
this proceeding. Whatever feelings may be 
entertained respecting Aaron, who had for- 
merly headed a sedition himself, it is impos- 
sible not to sympathize with Moses in this 
difficult emergency. But he was a devout 
man, and the prudential course he adopted 
was probably the dictate of that heavenly 
wisdom with which, in answer to his prayers, 
he was endowed. 5-11. He spake unto Korah 
and all his company— They 'were first ad- 
dressed, not only because being a party 
headed by his own cousin, Moses might 
hope to have more influence in that quar- 
ter, but because they were stationed near 
the tabernacle, and especially because an 
expostulation was the more weighty com- 
ing from him who was a Levite himself, and 
who was excluded along with his family from 
the priesthood. But to bring the matter to an 
issue, he proposed a test which would afford 
a decisive evidence of the divine appoint- 
ment. Even to-morrow— lit. "in the morn- 
ing," the usual time of meeting in the East for 
the settlement of public affairs, him whom 
he hath chosen ... to come near unto him — i.e., 
will bear attestation to his ministry by some 
visible or miraculous token of his approval. 
6. take you censers, Korah, &c.—i.e., since you 
aspire to the priesthood, then go, perform 
the highest function of the office— that of 
offering incense; and if you are accepted- 
well. How magnanimous the conduct of 
Moses, who was now as willing that God's 
people should be priests, as formerly that 
they should be prophets, (ch. 11. 29,) But 
he warned them that they were making a 
perillous experiment. 12-14. Moses sent to 
call Dathan and Abiram— in a separate in- 
terview, the ground of their mutiny being 
different ; for while Korah murmured 
against the exclusive appropriation of the 
priesthood to Aaron and his family, they 
.vere opposed to the supremacy of Moses 
in civil power. They refused to obey the 
sunmons; and their refusal was grounded 
on the plausible pretext that their stay in 
the desert was prolonged for some secret 
115 



Dathan, and Abiram. 



and selfish purposes of the leader, who was 
conducting them like blind men wherever 
it suited him. 15. Moses was very wroth— 
Though the meekest of all men, he could 
not restrain his indignation at these unjust 
and groundless charges; and the highly ex- 
cited state of his feelings was evinced by the 
utterance of a brief exclamation in the mixed 
form of a prayer and an impassioned asser- 
tion of his integrity, (cf. 1 Sam. 12. 3.) Re- 
spect not their offering— He calls it their offer- 
ing, because, though it was to be offered by 
Korah and his Levitical associates, it was the 
united appeal of all the mutineers lor decid- 
ing the contested claims of Moses and A aron. 
16-18. Korah, be thou and all thy company before 
the Lord— i.e., at " the door of the tabernacle," 
{v. 18,) that the assembled people might wit- 
ness the experiment, and be properly im- 
pressed by the issue, two hundred and fifty 
censers— probably the small platters, common 
in Egyptian families where incense was offer- 
ed to household deities, and which had been 
among the precious things borrowed at their 
departure. 20-21. The Lord spake, Separate 
yourselves from among this congregation— 
Curiosity to witness the exciting spectacle at- 
tracted avast concourse of the people, and it 
would seem that the popular mind had been 
incited to evil by the clamours of the muti- 
neers against Moses and Aaron. There was 
something in their behaviour very offensive 
to God; for after His glory had appeared— 
as at the installation of Aaron, ;Lev. 9. 23,) 
so now for his confirmation in the sacred 
office— He bade Moses and Aaron withdraw 
from the assembly " that He might consume 
them in a moment." 22. God, the God of the 
spirits of all flesh— The benevolent importu- 
nity of their prayer was the more remarkable 
that the intercession was made for their ene- 
mies. 24-26. Speak unto the congregation ... get 
you up from the tabernacle— Moses was at- 
tended in the execution of this mission by the 
elders. The united and urgent entreaties 
of so many dignified personages produced 
the desired effect of convincing the people 
of their crime, and of withdrawing them from 
the company of men who were doomed to 
destruction, lest being partakers of their 
sins, they should perish along with them. 
27. the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and 
Abiram— Korah being a Kohathite, his tent 
could not have been in the Beubenite camp, 
and it does not appear that he himself was 
on the spot where Dathan and Abiram stood 
with their families. Their attitude of defi- 
ance indicated their daring and impenitent 
character, equally regardless of God and 
man. 28-34. Hereby ye shall know that the 
Lord hath sent me— The awful catastrophe of 
the earthquake which, as predicted by Moses, 
swallowed up those impious rebels in a liv- 
ing tomb, gave the divine attestation to the 
mission of Moses, and struck the spectators 
with solemn awe. there came out a fire frcm 
the Lord— i.e., from the cloud— This seems to 
describe the destruction of Korah and those 
Levites who with him aspired to the func- 
tions of the priesthood. (See on ch. 26. 11, 
58; 1 Chr. 6. 22, 37. ) 37-39. Speak unto Eleazar 
—He was selected lest the high priest might 
contract defilement from going among the 
dead carcases, the brazen censers made broad 
plates to be a memorial — The altar of 
burnt offerings, being made of wood, and 
covered with brass, this additional covering 



\ 



The water of reparation. 



NfMBERS, XIX, XX. 



The death of Miriam. 



ol' Israel the tithes which I have given you 
from them tor vour inheritance i then ve 
shall otter up an heave ottering of it for the 
Lord, even » a tenth part 01 'the tithe. 

27 And this your heave ottering shall be 
reckoned unto you, as though it were the 
coin of the threshing-floor, and as the ful- 
ness of the wine-press. 

28 Thus ve also shall offer an heave offer- 
ing unto the Lord of all your tithes, which 
ye receive of the children of Israel; and ye 
shall give thereof the Lord's heave ottering 
to Aaron the priest. 

29 Out of all your gifts ye shall offer every 
heave offering of the Lord, of all the 3 best 
thereof, even the hallowed part thereof out 
of it. 

30 Therefore thou shalt say unto them. 
"When ye have heaved the best thereof 
from it, then it shall be counted unto the 
Levites as the increase of the threshing- 
floor, and as the increase of the wine-press. 

31 And ye shall eat it in every place, ye 
and your households: for it is J your reward 
for your service in the tabernacle of the 
congregation. 

32 And ye shall * bear no sin by reason of 
it, when ye have heaved from it the best of 
it : neither shall ye pollute the holy things 
of the children of Israel, lest ye die. 

CHAPTER XIX. 
1 The water of separation .- 11 the use of it for puri- 
fication of uneUanness. 

AND the Lord spake unto Moses and 
•*"- unto Aaron, saying, 

2 This is the ordinance of the law which 
the Lord hath commanded, saying, Speak 
unto the cluldren of Israel, that they bring 
thee a a red heifer without spot, wherein is 
no blemish, and b upon which never came 
yoke: 

3 And ye shall give her unto Eleazar the 
priest, that he may bring her c forth with- 
out the camp, and one shall slay her before 
his lace. 

4 And Eleazar the priest shall take of her 
blood with his finger, and d sprinkle of her 
blood directly before the tabernacle of the 
congregation seven times : 

5 And \>?ie shall burn the heifer in his sight, 
her e skin, and her flesh, and her blood, 
with her dung, shall he burn: 

6 And the priest shall take / cedar wood, 
and hyssop, and scai let, and cast it into the 
midst of the burning of the heifer. 

7 Then g the priest shall wash his clothes, 
and he shall bathe his flesh in water, and 
afterward he shall come into the camp, 
and the priest shall be unclean until the 
even. 

8 And he that burneth her shall wash his 
clothes in water, and bathe his flesh in 
water, and shall be unclean until the 
even. 

9 And a man that is clean shall gather up 
the * ashes of the heiler, and lay them up 
without the camp in a clean place; and it 
shall be kept for the congregation of the 
children ol Israel * for a water of separation: 
it is a purification for sin. 

10 And he that gathertth the ashes of the 
heiler shall wash his clothes, and be 
unclean until the even: and it shall be 
unto the children of Israel, and unto the 
stranger that sojoumeth among them, for 
a statute for ever. 

11 r He / that toucheth the dead body of 
any i man shall be unclean seven days. 

lti 



CHAP. 18. 

i Neb. 10. 38. 

3fai. 

j Mat. 10. 10. 

Lu. 10. 7. 

1 Cor. 9.13. 

2Cor.12.13. 

Gal. 6. 6. 

1 Tin, .5.18. 

1 Thess. 5. 

12, 13. 
k Lev. 19. 8. 

Lev. 22. 16. 



CHAP. 19. 
a Is. 53. 4-6. 

Gal. 4. 4. 

Heb. 9. 13, 

14. 

Rev. 1. 5. 
6 Deu. 21. a 

1 Sa. 6. 7. 
John 10.1 7. 
Phil. 2. 6,8. 

c Lev. 4. 12, 

21. 

Heb. 13.11. 
d .Lev. 16. 14. 

Is. 52. 15. 

Ezek.36.25. 
« Ex. 29. 14. 

Lev. 4. 11, 

12. 

Is. 53. 10. 
/Lev. 14. 4,6. 
g Lev. 11. 25. 

Lev. 15. 5. 
h Heb. 9. 13. 
i at. 31. 23. 

2 Cor. 7. 1. 
j ixjv. 21. 1. 

ch. 5. 2. 

ch. 9. 6. 10. 

ch. 31. 19. 

Is. 52. 11. 

La. 4. 14. 

Hag. 2. 13. 

Rom. 5. 12. 

2 Cor. 6. 17. 

Eph. 2. 1. 
1 soul of 

man. 
k ch. 31. 19. 

1 Lev. 15. 31. 
** ch. 8. ;. 

n Lev. 7- 20. 

Lev. 22. 3. 
o ch. 31. 20. 

Lev. 11.32. 

2 dust. 

3 living 
waters 
shan be 
eriven. 
Gen. 26.19. 

p Ps. 51. 7. 
q Lev. 14. 9. 
r Gen. 17- 14. 
Gal. 3. 10. 
« Hag. 2. 13. 



' CHAP. 20. 
a ch. 33. 36. 
b ch. 26. 59 
; Ex. 15. 20. 
j c Ex. 17. 1. 
d ch. 16. 19, 
I 42. 
! e ch. 14. 2. 
i Ex. 17. 2. 
/ ch. 11. 1, 
' 33. 

ch. 14. 37. 
ch. 16. 32, 
33,49. 
Lam. 4. 9. 
g Ex. 13. d. 



12 He * shall purify himself with it on the 
third day, and on the seventh day he shall 
be clean: but if he purify not himself the 
third day, then the seventh day he shall 
not be clean. 

13 Whosoever toucheth the dead body of 
any man that is dead, and purifieth not 
himself, defileth l the tabernacle of the 
Lord; and that soul shall be cut off from 
Israel: because m the water of separation 
was not sprinkled upon him, he shall be 

Unclean* Vile nn^loonrAci mm \-ct nri/in 



him. 



his uncleanness is yet upon 



14 This is the law, when a man dieth in a 
tent: all that come into the tent, and all 
that is in the tent, shall be unclean seven 
days. 

1-5 And every °open vessel, which hath no 
covering bound upon it, is unclean. 

16 And whosoever toucheth one that is 
slain with a sword in the open fields, or a 
dead body, or a bone of a man, or a grave, 
shall be unclean seven days. 

17 And for an unclean person they shall 
take of the 2 ashes of the burnt heiler of 
purification for sin, and 3 ruiuiing water 
shall be put thereto in a vessel ; 

18 And a clean person shall take p hyssop, 
and dip it in the water, and sprinkle it upon 
the tent, and upon all the vessels, and upon 
the persons that were there, and upon him 
that touched a bone, or one slain, or one 
dead, or a grave: 

19 And the clean person shall sprinkle 
upon the unclean on the third day, and on 
the seventh day; s and on the seventh day 
he shall piuii'y himself, and wash his 
clothes, and bathe himself in water, and 
shall be clean at even. 

20 But the man that shall be unclean, and 
shall not purify himself, that r soul shall 
be cut off from among the congregation, 
because he hath defiled the sanctuary of the 
Lord: the water of separation hath not 
been sprinkled upon him; he is unclean. 

21 And it shall be a perpetual statute unto 
them, that he that sprinkleth the water of 
separation shall wash his clothes ; and he 
that toucheth the water of separation shall 
be unclean until even. 

22 And * whatsoever the unclean person 
toucheth shall be unclean; and the soul 
that toucheth it shall be unclean until 
even. 

CHAPTER XX. 
1 The death of Miriam. 1 Moses, smiting the rock, 
bringeth forth water. 22 Aaron's death; Ele- 
azar succtedeth him. 

npHEN a came the children of Israel, even 
■*- the whole congregation, into the desert 
of Zin in the first month: and the people 
abode in Kadesh; and * Miriam died there, 
and was buried there. 

2 And c there was no water for the con- 
gregation: d and they gathered themselves 
together against Moses and against Aaron. 

3 And the people e chode with Moses, and 
spake, saying, Would God that we had 
died when / our brethren died before the 
Lord! 

4 And 9 why have ye brought up the con- 
gregation of the Lord into this wild- 
that we and our cattle should die there • 

5 And wherefore have ye made us to come 
up out of Egypt, to bring us in unto this 
evil place I it is no place of seed, or of figs, 
or of vines, or of pomegranates; neither is 
there any water to drink, 



Aaron's Rod Flourishe d. N UMBERS, XVII, XVIII L 

of broad plates not only rendered it doubly 
secure against the fire, but served as a 
warning-beacon to deter all from future in- 
vasions of the priesthood. 41. Ye have killed 
the people of the Lord— What a strange exhi- 
bition of popular prejudice and passion- 
to blame the leaders for saving the rebels. 
Yet Moses and Aaron interceded for the 
people— the high priest perilling his own life 
in doing good to that perverse race. 48. stood 
between the living and the dead— The plague 
seems to have begun in the extremities of the 
camp. Aaron, in this remarkable act, was a 
type of Christ. 

CHAPTER XV1T. 
Ver. 1-13. Aaron's Rod Flotjrisheth. 
2. Speak unto the children of Israel— The con- 
troversy with Moses and Aaron about the 
priesthood was of such a nature and magni- 
tude as required a decisive and authoritative 
settlement. For the removal of all doubts, 
and the silencing of all murmuring in future 
regarding the holder of the office, a miracle 
was wrought of a remarkable character and 
permanent duration, and in the manner of 
performing it, all the people were made to 
have a direct and special interest, take every 
one. . . princes . . . twelve rods— As the princes, 
being the eldest sons of the chief family, and 
heads of their tribes, might have advanced 
the best claims to the priesthood, if that 
sacred dignity was to be shared among all 
the tribes, they were therefore selected, and 
being twelve in number— that of Joseph 
being counted only one— Moses was ordered 
to see that the name of each was inscribed 
—a practice borrowed from the Egyptians 
— upon his rod or wand of office. The 
name of Aaron rather than of Levi was 
used, as the latter name would have opened 
a door of controversy among the Levites; 
and as there was to be one rod only for the 
head of each tribe, the express appointment 
of a rod for Aaron determined him to be the 
head of that tribe, as well as that branch or 
family of the tribe to which the priestly 
dignity should belong. These rods were to 
be laid in the tabernacle close to the ark, 
(cf. v. 10; and He. 9. 4,) where a divine token 
was promised that would for all time termi- 
nate the dispute. 6. the rod of Aaron was 
among their rods— either one of the twelve, 
or, as many suppose, a thirteenth in the 
midst. (He. 9. 4.) The rods were of dry 
sticks or wands, probably old, as transmitted 
from one head of the family to a succeeding. 
8. Moses went into the tabernacle— being privi- 
leged to do so on this occasion by the special 
command of God; and he there beheld the 
remarkable spectacle of Aaron's rod— which, 
according to Josephus, was a stick of an 
almond tree— bearing fruit in three differ- 
ent stages at once— buds, blossoms, and 
fruit, to be kept for a token against the 
rebels— For if, after all admonitions and 
judgments, seconded by miracles, the people 
should still rebel, they would certainly pay 
the penalty by death. 12, 13. Behold we 
die, we perish— An exclamation of fear, both 
from the remembrance of former judgments, 
and the apprehension of future relapses 
into murmuring, cometh any thing near— 
i.e., nearer than he ought to do ; an error 
into which many may fall. Will the stern 
justice of God overtake every slight offence. 
VYe shall all be destroyed. tSome, however, 
regard this exclamation as the symptom of 
116 



The Priests' Portion, 

a new discontent, rather than the indication 
of a reverential and submissive spirit. Let 
us fear and sin not. 

CHAPTER XVJJI. 

Ver. 1-7. The Charge of the Priests 
and Levttes. 1. The Lord said unto Aaron- 
Security is here given to the people from the 
fears expressed, ;ch. 17. 12,) by the responsi- 
bility of attending to all sacred things being 
devolved upon the priesthood, together with 
the penalties incurred through neglect; and 
thus the solemn responsibilities annexed 
to their high dignity, of having to answer 
j not only for their own sins, but also for 
the sins of the people, were calculated in a 
1 great measure to remove all feeling of envy 
at the elevation of Aaron's family, when the 
honour was weighed in the balance with its 
burdens and dangers. 2-7. thy brethren of 
the tribe of Levi— The departments of the 
sacred office, to be filled respectively by the 
priests and Levites, are here assigned to each. 
To the priests were committed the charge of 
the sanctuary and the altar, while the Le- 
i vites were to take care of everything else 
: about the tabernacle. The Levites were to 
j attend the priests as servants— bestowed on 
them as "gifts" to aid in the service of the 
tabernacle — while the high and dignified 
office of the priesthood was a "service of 
gift." "A stranger" — i.e., one, neither a 
priest nor a Levite, who should intrude into 
any departments of the sacred office, should 
incur the penalty of death. 
j 8-20. The Priests' Portion. 8-13. I have 
given thee charge of ray heave-offerings— A re- 
capitulation is made in this passage of cer- 
tain perquisites specially appropriated to the 
maintenance of the priests. They were parts 
of the votive and freewill-offerings, including 
both meat and bread, wine and oil, and the 
first fruits, which formed a large and valu- 
able item. 14. everything devoted in Israel 
shall be thine— provided it was adapted for 
food or consumable by use ; for the gold and 
silver vessels that were dedicat-ed as the 
spoils of victory were not given to the 
priests, but for the use and adornment of the 
sacred edifice. 19. it is a covenant of salt— 
i.e., a perpetual ordinance. This figurative 
form of expression was evidently founded on 
the conservative properties of salt, which 
keeps meat from corruption, and hence it 
became an emblem of inviolability and per- 
manence. It is a common phrase amongst 
Oriental people, who consider the eating of 
salt a pledge of fidelity, binding them in a 
covenant of friendship; and hence the par- 
taking of the altar meats, which were appro- 
priated to the priests on condition of their 
services, and of which salt formed a necessary 
accompaniment, was naturally called a cove- 
nant of salt, (Lev. 2, 13.) 

21-32. The Levites' Portion. 21, 22. I 
have given to the children of Levi— Neither the 
priests nor the Levites were to possess any 
allotments of land, but to depend entirely 
upon Him who liberally provided for them 
out of His own portion ; and this law was 
subservient to many important purposes- 
such as that, being exempted from the cares 
and labours of worldly business, they might 
be exclusively devoted to His service; that a 
bond of mutual love and attachment might 
be formed between the people and the Le- 
vites, who, as performing religious services 
for the people, derived their subsistence 



The water of Meribah. 



6 And Moses and Aaron went from the 
presence of the assembly unto the door of 
the tabernacle of the congregation, and 
they h fell upon their faces: and the glory 
of the Lord appeared unto them. 

7 IF And the Lord spake unto Moses, 
saying, 

8 Take * the rod, and gather thou the 
assembly together, thou and Aaron thy 
brother, and speak ye unto the rock before 
their eyes; and it shall give forth his 
water, and i thou shalt bring forth to them 
water out of the rock: so thou shalt give 
the congregation and their beasts drink. 

9 And Moses took the rod * from before 
the Lord, as he commanded him. 

10 And Moses and Aaron gathered the 
congregation together before the rock, 
and he said unto them, l Hear now, ye 
rebels; must we fetch you water out of this 

<ck? 

11 And Moses m lifted up his hand, and 
with his rod he smote the rock twice ; and 
the n water came oat abundantly, and the 
congregation drank, and their beasts also. 

12 ft And the Lord spake unto Moses and 
Aaron, Because ° ye believed me not, to 
sanctify p me in the eyes of the children of 
Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this 
congregation into the land which I have 
given them. 

13 This « is the water of i Meribah; be- 
because the children of Israel strove with 
the Lord, and he was sanctified in them. 

14 IF And Moses r sent messengers from 
Kadesh unto the king of Edom, 8 Thus 
saith thy brother Israel, Thou knowest all 
the travail that hath 2 befallen us ; 

15 How our fathers went down into 
Egypt, and we have dwelt in Egypt a long 
time ; and the Egyptians vexed us and our 
fathers: 

16 And * when we cried unto the Lord, he 
heard our voice, and u sent an angel, and 
hath brought us forth out of Egypt: and, 
behold, we are in Kadesh, a city in the ut- 
termost of thy border: 

17 Let v us pass, I pray thee, through thy 
country: we will not pass through the fields, 
or through the vineyards, neither will we 
drink of the water of the wells: we will go 
by the king's high way, we will not turn to 
the right hand nor to the left, until we 
have passed thy borders. 

18 And Edom said unto him, Thou shalt 
not pass by me, lest I come out against 
thee with the sword. 

19 And the children of Israel said unto 
him, We will go by the high way; and if 
I and my cattle drink of thy water, w then 
I will pay for it: I will only, without doing 
any thing else, go through on my feet. 

20 And he said. * Thou shalt not go 
through. And Edom came out against 
him with much people, and with a strong 
hand. 

21 Thus Edom * refused to give Israel 

Iassage through his border : wherefore 
srael z turned away from him. 

22 1F And the children of Israel, even the 
whole congregation, journeyed from a Ka- 
desh, and b came unto mount Hor. 

23 And the Lord spake unto Moses and 
Aaron in mount Hor, by the coast of the 
land of Edom, saying, 

24 Aaron shall c be gathered unto his peo- 
ple: for he shall not enter into the land 
which I have given unto the children of 

117 



^, XXL The hrasen serpent. 

Israel, because ye rebelled against my 

3 word at the water of Meribah. 

25 Take <* Aaron and Eleazar his son, and 
bring them up unto mount Hor; 

26 And strip Aaron of his garments, and 
Put them upon Eleazar his son: and Aaron 
shall be gathered unto his people, and shall 
die there. 

27 And Moses did as the Lord command- 
ed: and they went up into mount Hor in 
the sight of all the congregation. 

28 And Moses stripped Aaron of his gar- 
ments, and put them upon Eleazar his son; 
and e Aaron died there in the top of the 
mount: and Moses and Eleazar came down 
from the mount. 

29 And when all the congregation saw 
that Aaron was dead, they mourned for 
Aaron thirty / days, even all the house of 
Israel. 

CHAPTER XXI. 

4 The people murmuring are plagued with fiery 
serpents ; 9 but healed by a orasen serpent, 
etc. 

A ND when a king Arad the Canaanite, 
xx which dwelt in the south, heard tell 
that Israel came by the way of the spies ; 
then he fought against Israel, and took 
some of them prisoners. 

2 And b Israel vowed avow unto the Lord, 
and said, If thou wilt indeed deliver this 
people into my hand, then c I will utterly 
destroy their cities. 

3 And the Lord hearkened to the voice of 
Israel, and delivered up the Canaanites; 
and they utterly destroyed them and their 
cities: and he called the name of the place 
1 Hormah. 

4 % And they journeyed from mount Hor 
by the way of the Red sea, to compass the 
land of Edom: and the soul of the people 
was much 2 discouraged because of the way. 

5 And the people d spake against God, and 
against Moses, e Wherefore have ye brought 
us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? 
for there is no bread, neither is there any 
water; and / our soul loatheth this light 
bread. 

6 And 9 the Lord sent h fiery serpents 
among the people, and they bit the people ; 
and much people of Israel died. 

7 Therefore * the people came to Moses, 
and said. We have sinned ; for we have 
spoken against the Lord, and against thee: 
pray i unto the Lord, that he take away 
the serpents from us. And Moses prayed 
for the people. 

8 And the Lord said unto Moses, Make 
thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: 
and it shall come to pass, that every one 
that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, 
shall live. 

9 And k Moses made a serpent of brass, 
and put it upon a pole ; and it came to pass, 
that if a serpent had bitten any man, when 
he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived. 

10 H And the children of Israel set forward, 
and pitched in Oboth. 

11 And thev journeyed from Oboth. and 
pitched at 3"lje-abanm, in the wilderness 
which is beiore Moab, toward the sun- 
rising. 

12 11 From thence they removed, and 
pitched in the valley of Zared. _ . 

13 From thence thev removed, and pitched 
on the other side of Anion, which is in 
the wilderness that cometh out ot the 
coasts of the Amorites: for * Anion is the 



CHAP. 20. 
h ch. 14. 5. 
t Ex. 17. 5. 
j Neh. 9. 15. 

Ps. 78. 15, 

16. 

Is. 43. 20. 

* ch. 17. 10. 
I Ps. 106. 33. 
m Jam. 1. 20. 
n Ex. 17. 6. 

Deu. 8. 15. 
1 Cor. 10.4. 

ch. 27. 14. 
Deu. 3. 26. 

P Lev. 10. 3. 
Ezek.20.41. 
Ezek.36.23. 
1 Pet. 3 15. 

1 Ps. 95. 8. 

1 That is, 
strife. 

r Jud. 11. 16, 

17. 
8 Deu. 23. 7. 

Ob. 10, 12. 

2 found us. 
t Ex. 2. 23. 

Ex 3. 7. 
" Acts 7. 35. 
v ch. 21. 22. 
w Deu. 2. 6, 

28. 

* Jud. 11.17. 
V Deu. 2. 27, 

29. 

2 Jud. 11. 18. 
Rom.12.13. 
Heb. 12.14. 

a ch. 33. 37. 
b ch. 21. 4. 
c Gen. 25. 8. 

Is. 57. 1, 2. 

Heb. 12. 23. 

3 mouth. 

d Deut. 32. 

50. 
e ch. 23. 10. 

Job 14. 12. 

Job 30. 23. 

Pro. 14.32. 

Hos. 13.14. 

Rev. 14.13. 
/ Deu. 34. 8. 



CHAP. 21. 

a ch. 33. 40. 
6 Gen. 28. 20. 
c Lev. 27.28. 

1 That is, 
utter de- 
struction. 

2 shortened, 
or, grieved. 
Ex. 6. 9. 

d Ps. 78. 19. 
e Ex. 16. 3. 
/ Pr. 27. 7. 
g Amos 9. 

3,4. 

1 Cor. 10.9. 
h Deut. 8. 

15. 
i Is. 26. 16. 
Hos. 5. 15. 
; Exod. 8. 8, 

28. 

1 Sam. 12. 

19. 

1 Ki. 13. 6. 

Acts 8 24. 
ft 2 Ki. 18. 4. 

John 3. 14, 

15. 

3 Or, heaps 
of Abarim. 

I Judg. 11. 
18. 



The Water of Separation. 



NUMBERS, XIX, XX. 



The Death of Miriam, 



from them; and further, that being the more 
easily dispersed among the different tribes, 
they might be more useful in instructing and 
directing the people. 23. they shall bear their 
iniquity— They were to be responsible for the 
right discharge of those duties that were 
assigned to them, and consequently to bear 
the penalty that was due to negligence or 
carelessness in the guardianship of the holy 
things. 26. the Levites . . . offer a tenth of the 
tithe— Out of their own they were to pay tithes 
to the priests equally as the people gave to 
them. The best of their tithes was to be 
assigned to the priests, and afterwards they 
enjoyed the same liberty to make use of the 
remainder that other Israelites had of the 
produce of their threshing-floors and wine- 
presses. 32. ye shall bear no sin, &c— Neglect 
in having the best entailed sin in the use of 
such unhallowed food, and the holy things 
would be polluted by the reservation to 
themselves of what should be offered to God 
and the priests. 

CHAPTER XIX. 
Ver. 1-22. The Water or Separation. 
2. This is the ordinance of the law— An insti- 
tution of a peculiar nature ordained by law 
for the purification of sin, and provided at 
the public expense, because it was for the 
good of the whole community, red heifer 



they typify the condition of Christ when ex- 
piating our sins. (2 Cor. 5. 21.) 11-22. he 
that toucheth the dead body of any man— 
This law is noticed here to show the 
uses to which the water of separation 
was applied. The case of a death is one; 
and as in every family which sustained a 
bereavement the members of the household 
became defiled, so in an immense popula- 
tion, where instances of mortality and other 
cases of uncleanness would be daily occur- 
ring, the water of separation must have been 
in constant requisition. To afford the neces- 
sary supply of the cleansing mixture, the 
Jewish writers say that a red heifer was 
sacrificed every year, and that the ashes, 
mingled with the sprinkling ingredients, 
were distributed through all the cities and 
towns of Israel. 12. purify himself the third 
day— The necessity of applying the water on 
the third day is inexplicable on any natural 
or moral ground; and, therefore, the regula- 
tion has been generally supposed to have 
had a typical reference to the resurrection, on 
that day, of Christ, by whom His people are 
sanctified; while the process of ceremonial 
purification being extended over seven days, 
was intended to shew that sanctification is 
progressive and incomplete till the arrival of 
the eternal Sabbath. JSvery one knowingly 
&c.— This is the only case in which the | and presumptuously neglecting to have him- 
colour of the victim is specified; and it ! self sprinkled with this water was guilty of 
has been supposed the ordinance was de- J an offence which was punished by excom- 
signed in opposition to the superstitious ' munication. 14. when a man dieth in a tent. &c. 
notions of the Egyptians. That people never I —The instances adduced appear very minute 
offered a vow, but they sacrificed a red bull, land trivial; but important ends both of a 
the greatest care being taken by their priests religious and of a sanitary nature were pro- 
in examining whether it possessed the re- moted by carrying the idea of pollution from 
quisite characteristics, and it was an an- i contact with dead bodies to so great an ex- 
nual offering to Typhon, their evil being. I tent. While it would effectually prevent 
By the choice, both of the sex and the that Egyptianized race of Israelites imitating 
colour, provision was made for eradicating , the superstitious custom of the Egyptians, 
from the minds of the Israelites a favour- j who kept in their houses the mummied re- 
ite Egyptian superstition regarding two mains of their ancestors, it insured a speedy 
objects of their animal worship. 3. ye shall interment to all, thus not only keeping burial 
give her unto Eleazar— He was the second places at a distance, but removing from the 
or deputy high priest, and he was selected habitations of the living the corpses of per- 
for this duty because the execution of it sons who died from infectious disorders, and 
entailed temporary defilement, from which from the open field the unburied remains of 
the acting high priest was to be preserved strangers and foreigners who fell in battle, 
with the greatest care. It was led "forth 21. he that sprinkleth, he that toucheth the 
without the camp," in accordance with the water of separation— The opposite effects as- 
law regarding victims laden with the sins of cribed to the water of separation— of cleans- 
the people, and thus typical of Christ (Heb. ing one person and defiling another— are) 

13. 12; also Lev. 24. 14.) The priest was very singular, and not capable of very satis- 
to sprinkle the blood " seven times" before factory explanation. One important lesson, 
— lit., towards or near the tabernacle, a de- however, was thus taught, that its purifying 
scription which seems to imply either that efficacy was not inherent in itself, but arose 
he carried a portion of the blood in a bason from the divine appointment, as in other 
to the door of the tabernacle (Lev. 4. 17.), j ordinances of religion, which are effectual 
or that in the act of sprinkling he turned his means of salvation, not from any virtue in 
face towards the sacred edifice, being dis- them, or in him that administers them, but 
qualified through the defiling influence of solely through the grace of God communi- 
this operation from approaching close to it. ; cated thereby. 

By this attitude he indicated that he was CHAPTEE XX. 

presenting an expiatory sacrifice, for the ac- ' Ver. 1-29. The Death op Miriam. 1. 
ceptance of which he hoped, in the grace of Then came the children of Israel ... in the 
God, by looking to the mercy-seat. Every first month— i.e., of the fortieth year fcf. v. 
part of it was consumed by fire, except the 22, 23, with ch. 33. 38.) In this history only 
blood used in sprinkling, and the ingredients the principal and most important incidents 
mixed with the ashes were the same as those are recorded, those confined chiefly to the 
employed in the sprinkling of lepers (Lev. first or second and the last years of the 

14. 4-7.) It was a water of separation— i.e., journeyings in the wilderness, thence called 
of ** sanctification" for the people of Israel. £t-Tih. Between the last verse of the 
7. the priest shall be unclean until the even— preceding and the first verse of this chapter 
The ceremonies prescribed show the imper- there is a long and undescribed interval of 
fection of the Levitical priesthood, while thirty-seven years, abode in Kadesh— sup- 

117 



Land of the Amorites t^ken. 



NUMBERS, XXII. 



Ba J ah sends for Balaam. 



border of Moab, betwen Moab and the 
Amorites. 

11 Wherefore it is said in the book of the 
wars of the Lord, * What he did in the 
Bed sea, and in the brooks of Arnon, 

15 And at the stream of the brooks that 

foeth down to the dwelling of Ar, and | 
lieth upon the border of Moat). 

16 r And from thence they went m to Beer: 
that is the well whereof 'the Lord spake 
unto Moses, Gather the people together, 
and n I will give them water. 

17 Then ° Israel sang this song, 6 Spring 
up. well; < sing ye unto it: 

IS The princes digged the well, the nobles 
of the people digged it, by the direction of 
the p lawgiver, with their staves. And 
from the wilderness they went to Matta- 
nah; 

19 And from Mattanah to Nahaliel; and 
from N&haliel to Bamoth; 

20 And from Bamoth in the valley, that 
is in the s country of Moab, to the top of 
» Pisgah, which looketh « toward M Jeshi- 
mon. 

'21 f And r Israel sent messengers unto 
Sihon king of the Amorites. saying, 

22 Let "me pass through thy land: we will 
not turn into the fields, or into the vine- 
yards; we will not drink of the waters of 
the well; but we will go alohs by the king's 
high way. until we be past thy borders. 

'Jo And t Sihon would not suffer Israel to 
pass through his border ; but Sihon gathered 
ail his people together, and went out against 
Israel into the wilderness: and " became 
to Jahaz. and fought against Israel. 

34 And v Israel smote him with the edge 
of the sword, and possessed his land from 
Arnon unto J abb ok, even unto the children 
of Amnion: for the border of the children 
of Amnion was strong. 

!5 And Israel took all these cities: and 



B. C. 1452. 



Israel dwelt in all the cities of the Amo 
rites, in lleshbon, and in all the n villages 
there':> :'. 

26 For Heshbon mas the city of Sihon 
the king of the Amorites. who 'had fought 
asrainst the former king of Moab, and taken 
aD his land out of his hand, even unto 
Arnon. 

27 Wherefore they that speak in proverbs 



CHAP. 21. 
4 Or, Vaheb 
in Suphah. 
t> leaneth. 
»»Judg.9.21 
♦» Rev. 7. 17 

£x. 15. 1. 
Ps. 105. 2. 

6 Ascend. 

7 Or, answer. 
P I>eu. 33. 4. 

Is. 33. 22. I 

8 field. 

9 0r,theh;U. 

1 :-. & a 

10 Or. the 
wilderness. 

r Hen. 2.26. 

Ju<Lr.ll.l9. 
« ch. 91 17. 
t Deu. 29. 7. 
w Deu. 2. 32, 

33. 
v Deu. 29. 7. 

Jos. 12.1.2. 

Josh. 24. 8. 

Neh. 9. 22. 

Ps. i:S5. 10. 

Ps.136.19. 

Amos 2. 9. J 

11 daughters. | 
■ Is. 15. 4. 

Jer.4B.46t 

46. 
*Deu. 2.9, 

Is. 15. 1. 
y Jud. 11.24. 

1 Kin. 11. 
7, 33. 

2 Ki. 23.13. 

2 Jer. 48. 18, 



CHAP. 22. 
« ch. 33. 43. 

Gen. 35. 5. 

Ex. 23. 27. 

Deu. 2. 25. 

Josh. 2. 9. 

Jer. 32.21. 
6 Jud. 11.25. 

say. Come into Heshbon.* let the city of &&.&.&. 
Sihon be built and prepared: 

28 For there is " a fire gone out of Hesh- 
bon, a flame from the city of Sihon: it hath 
consumed ■ Ar of Moab, and the lords of 
the high places of Arnon. 

29 Woe to thee. Moab.' thou art undone, 
O people of y Chemosh: he hath given his 
sons tnat escaped, and his daughters, into 
captivity unto Sihon king of the Amo- 
rites. 

30 We have shot at them: Heshbon is 

f)erished even s unto Bibon. and we have 
aid them waste even unto 2sophah, which 
teaeheth unto Medeba. 

31 r Thus Israel dwelt in the land of the 
Amorites. 

'32 And Moses sent to spy out a Jaazer, 
and they took the villages thereof, and 
drove out the Amorites that were there. 



33 1 And they turned, and went up bv the 
way of Bashan: and Og the king of Bashan 
went out against them, he, and all his peo- 
ple, to the battle b at Edrei. 

34 And the Lord said unto Moses, c Fear 
him not: for I have delivered him into thy 

118 



hand, and all his people, and his land; and 
thou d shalt do to him as thou didst unto 
: Sihon king of the Amorites, which dwelt 
at Heshbon. 

35 So e they smote him. and his sons, and 
all his people, until there was n^ne left 
him alive: and they possessed his land. 

CHAPTER XXII. 

2 Balak's first message for Balaam refused: \5 his 
J second obtaineth mat: ^_' an t mgtl v.ould have 
Biota Mm, if his ass had not sated him. 

A XD a the children of Israel set forward, 
I xx and pitched in the plains of Moab on 
this side Jordan by Jericho. 

2 r And 6 Balak the son of Zipper saw all 
that Israel had done to the Amorites. 

3 And c Moab was sore afraid of the people, 
because they were many: and Moab was 
distressed because of the children of Is- 
rael. 

4 And Moab said unto the d elders of Mi- 
dian, Xow shall this company lick up all 
that are round about us. as the ox licketh 
up the trrass of the field. And Balak the 
son of Zippor was king of the Moabites at 
that time. 

5 He e sent messengers therefore unto 
Balaam the son of Beor, to/Pethor, which 
is by the river of the laud of the children 
of his people, to call him. saying. Behuld, 
there is a people come out 'from Egypt: 
behold, they cover the 1 face of the earth, 
and they abide over against me: 

6 Come now therefore. I pray thee, 9 curse 
me this people; for they are too mighty 
for me: peradventure I shall prevail, that 
we may smite them, and that I may drive 
them out of the land: for I wot that he 
whom thou blessest is blessed, and he 
whom thou cursest is cursed. 

7 And the elders of Moab and the elders 
of Mioian departed with the * rewards of 
divination in their hand; and they came 
unto Balaam, and spake unto him the 
words of Balak. 

8 And he said unto them, Lodge here this 
right, and I will brin? you word aeain, as 
the Lord shall speak unto me: and the 
princes of Moab abode with Balaam. 

9 And l God came unto Balaam, and said, 
What men are these with thee ! 

10 And Balaam said unto God, Balak the 
son of Zippor, king of Moab, hath sent 
unto me, saying, 

11 Behold, there is a people come out of 
Egypt. wbieh covereththe face of the earth: 
come now. curse me them; peradventure 21 
shall be able to overcome them, and drive 
them out. 

12 And God said unto Balaam, Thou shalt 
not so with them ; thou shalt not curse the 
people: fori they are blessed. 

13 And Balaam rose up in the morning, 
and said unto the princes of Balak. Get 
you into your land; for the Lord refuseth 
to give me leave to go with you. 

11 And the princes of Moab rose up. and 
they went unto Balak. and said, Balaam 
refuseth to come with us. 

15 I And Balak sent yet again princes, 
more, and more honourable than they. 

16 And they came to Balaam, and said to 
him. Thus saith Balak the son of Zippor, 
3 Let Dotting, I pray thee, hinder thee 
from coming unto me: 

17 For * 1 will promote thee unto very 
autao.26. j great honour, and I will do whatsoever 



a Jer. 48. 32. 
6 Josh. 13.12. 
e Deu. 3. 2. 
4PB.13&10. 

Ps. 136. 31. 

«Deu 3.3,4. 



e Deu. 23. 4. 

Josh. 13.22. 

Josh. 24. 9 

Neh.13.1,2. 

Mic. 6 5. 

Rev. 2. 14. 
/ Deu. 23. 4. 
1 eve. 
9 ch. 23. 7. 
h Ex. 23. 8. 

1 Sam. 9. 



Pro. 17. 23. 
i Gen. 20. 3. 

2 I shall 
prevail in 
fighting 
against 
him. 

j ch. 23. 20. 
Ge. 28. 13, 
14. 
Ro. 11. 29. 

3 Be not thou 
It- ted from, 
et«. 

k Ps. 49.17 



The Water ofMeribah. 



NUMBERS, XXI. 



Aaron dieth on Mount Hor. 



posed to be what is now known as Ain El- 
vVeibeh, three springs surrounded by palms. 
(See on ch. 13. 26. ) It was their second arrival 
after an interval of thirty-eight years. (Deu. 
11. 16.) The old generation had nearly all 
died, and the new one encamped in it with 
the view of entering the promised land, not 
however as formerly on the south, tut by 
crossing the Edomite region on the east. 
Miriam died there— four months before 
Aaron. 2-13. there was no water for the 
congregation — There was at Kadesh a 
fountain, En-Mishpat (Gen. 14. 7.), and 
at the first encampment of the Israelites 
there was no want of water. It was then 
either partially dried up by the heat of the 
season, or had been exhausted by the de- 
mands of so vast a multitude. 6. Moses and 
Aaron went from the presence of the assembly- 
Here is a fresh ebullition of the untamed 
and discontented spirit of the people. The 
leaders fled to the precincts of the sanctuary, 
both as an asylum from the increasing fury 
of the highly-excited rabble, and as their 
usual refuge in seasons of perplexity and 
danger, to implore the direction and aid of 
God. 8. take the rod— which had been de- 
posited in the tabernacle (ch. 17. 10.), the 
wonder-working rod by which so many mira- 
cles had been performed, sometimes called 
* 4 the rod of God" (Ex. 4. 20.), sometimes 
Moses, {v. 11.) or Aaron's rod, (Ex. 7. 12.) 10. 
Moses said, Hear now, ye rebels— The conduct of 
the great leader on this occasion was hasty 
and passionate, (Ps. 106. 33.) He had been 
directed to speak to the rock, but he smote 
it twice in his impetuosity, thus endanger- 
ing the blossoms of the rod, and instead of 
speaking to the rock, he spoke to the people 
in a fury, the congregation drank and their 
beasts — Physically the water afforded the 
same kind of needful refreshment to both. 
But in a religious point of view, this, which 
was only a common element to the cattle, 
was a sacrament to the people (1 Cor. 10. 3, 4.) 
—it possessed a relative sanctity imparted to 
it by its divine origin and use. 12. because 
ye believed me not, &c— The act of Moses in 
smiting twice betrayed a doubt, not of the 
power, but of the will of God to gratify such a 
rebellious people, and his exclamation seems 
to have emanated from a spirit of incredulity 
akin to Sarai's (Gen. 18. 13.) These circum- 
stances indicate the influence of unbelief, 
and there might have been others unrecorded 
which led to so severe a chastisement. 
13. this is the water of Mcribah— The word 
Kadesh is added to it to distinguish it from 
another Meribah (Ex. 17. 7.) 14-16. Moses 
sent messengers to the king of Edom— The en- 
campment at Kadesh was on the confines of 
the Edomite territory, through which the 
Israelites would have had an easy passage 
across the Arabah by AVady-el-Ghuweir, so 
that they could have continued their course 
around Moab, and approached Palestine by 
the east. [Eob.] The Edomites being the 
descendants of Esau, and tracing their line of 
descent from Abraham as their common 
stock, were recognized by the Israelites as 
brethren, and a very brotherly message 
sent to them. 17. We will go by the king's 
highway— probably Wady-el-Ghuweir [Rob.], 
through which ran one of the great lines 
of road, constructed for commercial ca- 
ravans, as well as for the progress of 
armies. The engineering necessary fori 
118 



carrying them over marshes or mountains, 
and the care requisite for protecting them 
from the shifting sands, led to their being 
under the special care of the state. B ence 
the expression, "the king's highway," which 
is of great antiquity. 19. If . . . drink of thy 
water . . . pay for it— From the scarcity of 
water in the warm climates of the East, the 
practice of levying a tax for the use or the 
wells is universal; and the jealousy of the 
natives, in guarding the collected treasures 
of rain is often so great, that water cannot be 

frocured for money. 21. Edom refused to give 
srael, &c— a churlish refusal obliged them 
to take another route. (See on ch. 21. 4; 
Deu. 2. 4; Judg. 11. 18; see also 1 Sam. 14. 47; 
2 Sam. 8. 14, which describe the retribution 
that was taken.) 22. Came unto mount Hor— 
now Gebel Haroun, the most striking and 
lofty elevation in the Seir range, called 
emphatically, [v. 28,) "the mount." It is 
conspicuous by its double top. 24-28. Aaron 
shall be gathered unto his people— In accord- 
ance with his recent doom, he, attired in the 
high priest's costume, was commanded to 
ascend that mountain and die. But although 
the time of his death was hastened by the 
Divine displeasure as a punishment for his 
sins, the manner of his death was arranged 
in tenderness of love, and to do him honour 
at the close of his earthly service. His 
ascent of the mount was to afford him a last 
look of the camp, and a distant prospect of 
the promised land. The simple narrative of 
the solemn and impressive scene implies, 
though it does not describe, the pious resig- 
nation, settled faith, and inward peace or 
the aged pontiff. 26. Strip Aaron of his gar- 
ments— i. e., his pontifical robes, in token of 
his resignation. (See Is. 22. 20-25.) put them 
on his son— as the inauguration into nis high 
office. Having been formerly anointed with 
the sacred oil, that ceremony was not re- 

Eeated, or, as some think, it was done on 
is return to the camp. 28. Aaron died on 
the top of the mount— (See on Deu. 10. 6.) A 
tomb has been erected upon or close by the 
spot where he was buried. 29. When all the 
congregation saw— Moses and Eleazar were 
the sole witnesses of his departure. Accord- 
ing to the established law, the new high 
priest could not have been present at the 
funeral of his father without contracting 
ceremonial defilement. (Le. 21. 11.) But 
that law was dispensed with in the extraor- 
dinary circumstances; the people learnt the 
event not only from the recital of the two 
witnesses, but from their visible signs or 
grief and change; and this event betokened 
the imperfection of the Levitical priesthood. 
(He. 7. 12.) mourned thirty days— the usual 
period of public and solemn mourning. (See 
on Deu. 34. 8.) 

CHAPTER XXI. 
Ver. 1-35. Israel Attacked by the 
Canaanites. 1. King Arad the Canaanite— 
rather, the Canaanite king of Arad — an 
ancient town on the southernmost borders 
of Palestine, not far from Kadesh. A hill 
called Tell Arad marks the spot, heard that 
Israel came by the way of the spies— in the way 
or manner of spies, stealthily or from spies 
sent by himself to ascertain the designs and 
motions of the Israelites. The Septuagint 
and others consider the Heb. word "spies" 
as a proper name, and render it: M Came by 
the way of Atharim towards Arad." [Ken- 



An an gel opposes Balaam, 



NUMBERS, XXIII. 



Balaam's parables. 



thou sayest unto me: come therefore, I 
pray thee, curse me this people. 

18 And Balaam answered and said unto 
the servants of Balak, If Balak would give 
me his house full of silver and gold, * I can- 
not go beyond the word of the Lord my 
God, to do less or more. 

19 Now therefore, I pray you, tarry ye also 
here this night, that I may know what the 
Lord will say unto me more. 

20 And God came unto Balaam at night, 
and said unto him, If the men come to 
call thee, rise up, and go with them; but 
yet m the word which I shall say unto thee, 
that shalt thou do. 

21 And Balaam rose up in the morning, 
and saddled his ass, ana n went with the 
princes of Moab. 

22 IT And God's anger was kindled because 
he went: "and the angel of the Lord stood 
in the way for an adversary against him. 
Now he was riding upon his ass, and his 
two servants were with him. 

23 And p the ass saw the angel of the 
Lord standing in the way, and his sword 
drawn in his hand: and the ass turned aside 
out of the way, and went into the field: 
and Balaam smote the ass, to turn her into 
the way. 

21 But the angel of the Lord stood in a 
path of the vineyards, a wall being on this 
side, and a wall on that side. 

25 And when the ass saw the angel of the 
Lord, she thrust herself unto the wall, and 
crushed q Balaam's foot against the wall: 
and he smote her again. 

26 And the angel ol the Lord went further, 
and stood in a narrow place, r where was 
no way to turn either to the right hand or 
to the left. 

27 And when the ass saw the angel of the 
Lord, she fell down under Balaam: and 
Balaam's * anger was kindled, and he 
smote the ass with a staff. 

28 And the Lord * opened the mouth of 
the ass; and she said unto Balaam, What 
have I done unto thee, that thou hast 
smitten me these three times? 

29 And Balaam said unto the ass, Because 
thou hast mocked me: I would there were 
a sword in mine hand, u for now would I kill 
thee. 

30 And v the ass said unto Balaam, Am 
not I thine ass, 4 upon which thou hast 
ridden 6 ever since / was thine unto this 
day? was I ever wont to do so unto thee? 
And he said, Nay. 

31 Then the Loud w opened the eyes of 
Balaam, and he saw the angel of the Lord 
standing in the way, and his sword drawn 
in his hand: and he * bow r ed down his head, 
and 6 fell flat on his face. 

32 And the angel of the Lord said unto 
him, Wherefore hast thou smitten thine ass 
these three times ? Behold, I went out 7 to 
withstand thee, because thy way is y per- 
verse before me: 

33 And the ass saw me, and turned from 
me these three times: unless she had turned 
from me, surely now also I had slain thee, 
and saved her alive. 

31 And Balaam said unto the angel of 
the Lord, z 1 have sinned; for I knew not 
that thou stoodest in the way against me: 
now therefore, if it 8 displease thee, I will 
get me back again. 

35 And the angel of the Lord said unto 

Balaam, Go with the men: but only the 

119 



B. C. 1452. 



CHAP. 22. 

llKi.22.14. 

2Chr.18.13. 

m p 3 . 33. 10, 

11. 

Is. 37. 29. 

Is. 46. 10. 
n 2 Pet.2.15. 

Jude 11. 
o Ex. 4. 24. 

Ex. 23. 20. 
p 2 Kin.6.17. 

3 Is. 47. 12. 

1 Cor. 3.19. 
r is. 26. 11. 

Hos. 2. 6. 
« Pro. 14. 16. 

Pro. 27.3,4. 

Jam. 1. 19. 
t Mat. 19. 26. 

1 Cor. 1.19. 

2 Pet. 2. 16. 
« Pr. 12. 10. 

Ec. 9. 3. 

Jer. 17. 9. 

Mat. 15.1 9. 

V 1 Cor. 1.27. 

4 who hast 
ridden 
upon me. 

5 Or, ever 
since thou 
wast, etc. 

W Gen. 21.19. 

2 Ki. 6. 17 

1 Chr. 21. 
16. 

Lu. 24. 16 

* Job 8. 20. 
Pro. 11. 2. 
Jer. 3. 25. 

6 Or, bowed 
himself. 

7 to be an 
adversary 
unto thee. 

y 2 Pet. 2. 
14, 15. 

* 1 Sam. 26. 
21. 

2 Sam. 12. 

ia 

8 be evil in 
thine eyes. 

a Gen.14. 17. 
b 1 Kin. 22. 

14. 

2 Chr. 18. 

13. 

9 Or, a city 
of streets. 

c Dou. 12. 2. 



CH 4P. 23. 

1 Or, he went 
solitary. 

a Deu. 18.18. 

Jer. 1. 9. 
b Job. 27. 1. 

Ps. 78. 2. 

Ezek. 17. 2. 
e Gon. 10. 22. 

Gen. 28. 5. 
dlSa. 17.10. 
e Pro. 21. 30. 

Is. 47. 12. 
/ Lev. 20. 24. 

Deu. 33.28. 

1 Ki. 8. 53. 
9 Ezra 9. 2. 

Eph. 2. 14. 
A Gen. 22. 17. 

2 ray soul, or, 
my life. 

i Ps. ne. 15. 

Is. 57. 1, 2. 

/Josh. 24.10. 

Neh. 18. 2. 



word that I shall speak unto thee, that 
thou shalt speak. So Balaam went with 
the princes of Balak. 

36 % And when Balak heard that Balaam 
was come, a he went out to meet him unto 
a city of Moab, which is in the border of 
Arnon, which is in the utmost coast. 

37 And Balak said unto Balaam, Did 1 
not earnestly send unto thee to call thee? 
wherefore earnest thou not unto me? am I 
not able indeed to promote thee to honour? 

38 And Balaam said unto Balak, Lo, 1 am 
come unto thee: have I now any power at 
all to say any thing? &the word that God 
putteth in my mouth, that shall I speak. 

39 And Balaam went with Balak, and they 
came unto 9 Kirjath-huzoth. 

40 And Balak ottered oxen and sheep, and 
sent to Balaam, and to the princes that 
were with him. 

41 And it came to pass on the morrow, 
that Balak took Balaam, and brought hira 
up into the c high places of Baal, that thence 
he might see the utmost part of the people. 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

1, 14, 28 Balak'-s sacrifices. 7, 18 Balaam's 

parables. 

A ND Balaam said unto Balak, Build me 
here seven altars, and prepare me here 
seven oxen and seven rams. 

2 And Balak did as Balaam had spoken: 
and Balak and Balaam ottered on every 
altar a bullock and a ram. 

3 And Balaam said unto Balak, Stand by 
thy burnt ottering, and I will go: per.id- 
venture the Lord will come to meet me: 
and whatsoever he showeth me I will tell 
thee. And ! he went to an high place. 

4 And God met Balaam: and he said unto 
him, I have prepared seven altars, and I 
have ottered upon every altar a bullock 
and a ram. 

5 And the Lord a put a word in Balaam's 
mouth, and said, Return unto Balak, and 
thus thou shalt speak. 

6 And he returned unto him, and, lo, he 
stood by his burnt sacrifice, he, and all the 
princes of Moab. 

7 And b he took up his parable, and said, 
Balak the king of Moab hath brought me 
from c Aram, out of the mountains of the 
east, saying, Come, curse me Jacob, and 
come, d defy Israel. 

8 How shall I curse, whom God hath not 
cursed? or e how shall I defy, whom the 
Lord hath not defied? 

9 For from the top of the rocks I see him, 
and from the hills I behold him: lo, /the 
people shall dwell alone, and g shall not be 
reckoned among the nations. 

10 Who h can count the dust of Jacob, 
and the number of the fourth part of 
Israel? Let 2 me die » the death of the 
righteous, and let my last end be like 
his! 

11 And Balak said unto Balaam, What 
hast thou done unto me? i I took thee to 
curse mine enemies, and, behold, thou hast 
blessed them altogether. 

12 And he answered and said. Must I not 
take heed to speak that which the Lord 
hath put in my mouth? 

13 And Balak said unto him, Come, I pray 
thee, with me unto another place, from 
whence thou mayest see them: thou shalt 
see but the utmost part of them, and shalt 
not see them all; and curse me them from 
thence. 



The Plague of Fiery Serpents. 



nicott.] took some of them prisoners— This 
discomfiture was permitted to teach them 
to expect the conquest of Canaan not from 
their own wisdom and valour, but solely 
from the favour and help of God. (Deu. 9. 
4; Ps. 44. 3, 4.) 2, 3. Israel vowed a vow- 
Made to feel their own weakness, they 
implored the aid of Heaven, and, in 
anticipation of it, devoted the cities of 
this king to future destruction. The na- 
ture and consequence of such anathemas are 
described. (Le. 27; Deu. 13.) This vow of ex- 
termination against Arad gave name to the 
place Hormah, (slaughter and destruction), 
though it was not accomplished till alter the 
passage of the Jordan. Others think Hor- 
mah the name of a town mentioned. (Josh. 
12. 14.) 4. They journeyed from mount Hor— 
On being refused the passage requested, they 
returned through the Arabah, tk the way of 
the Ked Sea, to Elath, at the head of the east- 
ern gulf of the Red Sea, and thence passed 
up through the mountains to the eastern 
desert, so as to make the circuit of the land 
of Edom. (< h. 33. 41, 42.) the soul of the 
people, &c— Disappointment on finding them- ! 
selves so near the confines of the promised 
land, without entering it— vexation at the 
refusal of a passage through Edom, and the 
absence of any Divine interposition in their 
favour— above all, the necessity of a retro- ; 
grade journey, by a long and circuitous route 
through the worst parts of a sandy desert, 
and the dread of being plunged into new 
and unknown difficulties— all this produced 
a deep depression of spirits. But it was 
followed, as usually, by a gross outburst of 
murmuring at the scarcity of water, and of | 
expressions of disgust at the manna. 5. Our j 
soul loatheth this light bread— i. e., bread 
without substance or nutritious quality. | 
The refutation of this calumny appears in the 
fact, that on the strength of this food they j 
performed for 40 years so many and toilsome 

{ourneys. But they had been indulging a 
lope of the better and more varied fare 
enjoyed by a settled people; and disappoint- 
ment, always the more bitter as the hope 
of enjoyment seems near, drove them to 
speak against God and against Moses. (1 Co. 
10. 9.) 6. The Lord sent fiery serpents— That 
part of the desert where the Israelites now 
were— near the head of the gulf of Akaba— 
is greatly infested with venemous reptiles, 
of various kinds, particularly lizards, which 
raise themselves in the air and swing them- 
selves from branches; and scorpions, which, 
being in the habit of lying among long grass, 
are particularly dangerous to the barelegged 
sandalled people of the East. The only 
known remedy consists in sucking the 
wound, or, in the case of cattle, in the 
application of ammonia. The species of j 
serpents that caused so great mortality 
amongst the Israelites cannot be ascertained. 
They are said to have been "fiery," an epithet j 
applied to them either from their bright, vivid i 
colour, or the violent inflammation their bite i 
occasioned. 7-9. we have sinned— The severity I 
of the scourge and the appalling extent of j 
mortality brought them to a sense of sin, 
and through the intercessions of Moses, 
which they implored, they were miracu- 
lously healed. He was directed to make 
the figure of a serpent in brass, to be ele- 
vated on a poll or standard, that it might 
be seen at the extremities of the camp, 
119 



NUMBERS, XXX SUionOvercome. 

and that every bitten Israelite who looked 
to it might be healed. This peculiar method 
of cure was designed, in the first instance, 
to show that it was the efficacy of God's 
power and grace, not the effect of nature or art, 
and also that it might be a type of the power 
of faith in Christ to heal all who look to Him 
of their sins (Jo. 3. 14, 15; see also on 2 Kings 
18. 4.) 10. the children of Israel set forward- 
Along the eastern frontier of the Edomites, 
encamping in various stations. 12. pitched in 
the valley— lit, the brook-valley of Zared— 
i.e., the woody (Deu. 2. 13; Is. 15. 7; Amos 
6. 14.) This torrent rises among the moun- 
tains to the east of Moab, and flowing 
west, empties itself into the Dead Sea. Ije- 
Abarim is supposed to have been its ford." 
[Calmet.] 13. pitched on the other side of 
Arnon— now El-Mojib, a deep, broad, and 
rapid stream, dividing the dominions of 
the Moabites and Amorites. 14. book of 
the wars of the Lord — A fragment or pas- 
sage is here quoted from a poem or history 
of the wars of the Israelites, principally with 
a view to decide the position of Arnon. 
Ar— the capital of Moab. 16. from thence 
they went to Beer— i. e., a well. The name 
was probably given to it afterwards, as it 
is not mentioned, (ch. 33.) 17, 18. then Is- 
rael sang— this beautiful little song was in 
accordance with the wants and feelings of 
travelling caravans in the east, where water is 
an occasion both of prayer and thanksgiving. 
From the princes using their official rods 
only, and not spades it seems probable that 
this well was concealed by the brushwood or 
the sand, as is the case with many wells in 
Idumea still. The discovery of it was season- 
able, and owing to the special interposition 
of God. 21-23. Israel sent messengers unto 
Sihon— The rejection of their respectful and 
pacific message was resented— Sihon was dis- 
comfited in battle— and Israel obtained by 
right of conquest the whole of the Amorite 
dominions. 24. from Arnon unto the Jabbok— 
now the Zurka. These rivers formed the 
southern and northern boundaries of his 
usurped territory, for the border of Ammon 
was strong— a reason stated for Sihon not 
being able to push his invasion further. 
25. Israel dwelt in all the cities— after ex- 
terminating the inhabitants who had been 
previously doomed, (Deu. 2. 34.) 26. Hesh- 
bon— (Song 7. 4.)— situated sixteen English 
miles north of the Arnon, and from its 
ruins appears to have been a large city. 
27-30. wherefore they that speak in proverbs- 
Here is given an extract from anAmorite song 
exultingly anticipating an extension of their 
conquests to Arnon. The quotation from th© 
poem of the Amorite bard ends at verse 
28. The two following verses appear to be 
the strains in which the Israelites expose the 
impotence of the usurpers. 29. people of 
Chemosh— the name of the Moabite idol (1 
Kings 11. 7-33; 2 Kings 23. 13; Jer. 48. 46.) 
he— i. e., their god, hath surrendered his 
worshippers to the victorious arms of Sihon. 
33. they went up by the way of Bashan— a name 
given to that district from the richness of 
the soil— now Batanea or El-Bottein— a hilly 
region east of the Jordan, lying between the 
mountains of Hermon on the north and those 
of Gilead on the south. Og— giant, an Amo- 
ritish prince, who, having opposed the pro- 
gress of the Israelites, was defeated. 34. fear 
him not— a necessary encouragement, for his 



Balaam prophesieth 



NUMBERS, XXIV. 



of Israel's prosperity. 



mjud. 3.20. 
n 1 Sam. 15. 

28. 

Ps.102.26, 

27. 

Mai. 3. 6. 

Ro. 11. 29. 

Tit. 1. 2. 

Jam. 1.17. 
o Gen. 12. 2. 
P Rom. 4. 7. 
q Ex. 13. 21. 
r Ps. 98. 6. 
8 Deu. 33. 17. 

4 Or, in. 
«Ps.31.19. 

5 Or, the 
wilderness, 

u 2 Pet. 2.16, 



CHAP. 24. 

1 to the 
meeting of 
enchant- 
ments. 

a 1 Sam. 19. 



14 11 And he brought him into the field of b. c. 1452. 
Zophim, to the top of 3 Pisgah. * and built 
seven altars, and offered a bullock and a 
rain on every altar. 

15 And he said unto Balak, Stand here by 
thy burnt offering, while I meet the LOB D 
yonder. 

16 And the Lord met Balaam, and put a 
word in his mouth, and said, Go again 
unto Balak, and say thus. 

17 And when he came to him, behold, he 
stood by his burnt offering, and the princes 
of'Moab with him. And Balak said unto 
him, L What hath the Lord spoken? 

18 And he took up his parable, and said, 
Rise " up, Balak, and hear; hearken unto 
me, thou son of Zippor: 

19 God n is not a man, that he should he ; 
neither the son of man, that he should re- 
pent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? 
or hath he spoken, and shall he not make 
it good? 

20 Behold, I have received commandment 
to bless: and ° he hath blessed; and I can- 
not reverse it. 

21 He p hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, 
neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel: 
the * Lord his God is with him, r and the 
shout of a king is among them. 

22 God brought them out of Egypt : he 
hath as it were 8 the strength ot an uni- 
corn. 

23 Surely there is no enchantment 4 against 
Jacob, neither is there any divination 
against Israel: according to this time it 
shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, * What 
hath God wrought! 

24 Behold, the people shall rise up as a 
great Hon, and lift up himself as a young 
Eon: he shall not lie down until he eat of 
the prey, and drink the blood of the 
slain. 

25 H And Balak said unto Balaam, Neither 
curse them at all, nor bless them at all. 

26 But Balaam answered and said unto 
Balak, Told not I thee, saying, All that 
the Lord speaketh, that I must do? 

27 % And Balak said unto Balaam, Come, 
1 pray thee, I will bring thee unto another 
place ; peradventure it will please God 
that thou mayest curse me them from 
thence. 

28 And Balak brought Balaam unto the 
top of Peor, that looketh toward 5 Jeshi- 
mon. 

29 And u Balaam said unto Balak, Build 
me here seven altars, and prepare mc here 
seven bullocks and seven rams. 

30 And Balak did as Balaam had said, 
and offered a bullock and a ram on every 
altar. 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

1 Balaam, foretelletk Israel's happiness: 15 he 

prophesieth of the Star of Jacob, etc. 

AND when Balaam saw that it pleased the 
•"- Lord to bless Israel, he went not, as 
at other times, * to seek for enchant- 
ments, but he set his face toward the wilder- 
ness. 

2 And Balaam lifted up his eyes, and he 
saw Israel abiding in his tents according to 
their tribes; and a the Spirit of God came 
upon him. 

3 And b he took up his parable, and said, 
Balaam the son of Beor hath said, and the 
man 2 whose eyes are open hath said: 

4 He hath said, which heard the words of 
God, which saw the vision of the Almighty, 



falling c into a trance, but having his eyes 
jopen: 
J 5 How goodly are thy tents, Jacob! and 

thy tabernacles, O Israel! 
6 As the valleys are they spread forth, 



CHAP. 23. I 
3 Or, the hill. 
* Is. 1.10,11. , 

Hos. 12.11. gardens by the river's side, as the trees of 
1 sa. 3. 17. 1 lign aloes, d which the Lord hath planted, 
and as cedar trees beside the waters. 

7 He shall pour the water out of his buck- 
ets, and his seed shall be in many waters, 
and his king shall be higher than* A gag, 
and his kingdom/ shall be exalted. 

8 God brought him forth out of Egypt ; he 
hath as it were the strength of an unicorn: 
he shall eat up the nations his enemies, 
and shall break their bones, and pierce 
them through with his arrows. 

9 He couched, he lay down as a lion, and 
as a great Hon : who shall stir him up? 
Blessed ° is he that blesseth thee, and 
cursed is he that curseth thee. 

10 1T And Balak's anger was kindled against 
Balaam, and he smote his hands together: 
and Balak said unto Balaam, I called thee 
to curse mine enemies, and, behold, thou 
hast altogether blessed them these three 
times. 

11 Therefore now flee thou to thy place: 
I thought to promote thee unto great 
honour; but, lo, the Lord hath kept thee 
back from honour. 

12 And Balaam said unto Balak, Spake I 
not also to thy messengers which thou 
sentest unto me, saying, 

13 If Balak would give me his house full 
of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the 
commandment of *he Lord, to do either 
good or bad of mine own mind; but what 
the Lord saith, that will I speak? 

li And now, behold, I go unto my people: 
come therefore, and I will advertise thee 
what this people shall do to thy people in 
the latter days. 

15 And he took up his parable, and said, 
Balaam the son of Beor hath said, and the 
man whose eyes are open hath said; 

16 He hath said, which heard the words of 
God, and knew the knowledge of the Most 
High, which saw the vision of the Almighty, 
falling into a trance, but having his eyes 
open: 

17 I h shall see him, but not now; I shall 
behold him, but not nigh: there shall come 
a • Star out of Jacob, and i a Sceptre shall 
rise out of Israel, and shall 3 smite the 
corners of Moab, and destroy all the chil- 
dren of Sheth. 

18 And * Edom shall be a possession, Seir 
also shall be a possession for his enemies; 
and Israel shall do valiantly. 

19 Out of J acob shall come he that shall 
have dominion, and shall destroy him that 



2Chr.l5.l, 
Matthew 7 
21-23. 

1 Cor. 12. 
8, 10. 

b ch. 23. 7. 
2 who had his 

eyes shut, 

but now 

opened, 
e 1 Sam. 19. 

24. 

Ezek. 1. 28. 

Dan. 10. 15. 

2 Cor. 12. 2. 
d Ps. 1. 3. 

Jer. 17. 8. 
e 1 Sa. 15. 32. 
f 2 Sam. 5. 

12. 

lChr.14.2. 
<j Gen. 27. 29. 
h Rev. 1. 7. 
i Jer. 23. 5. 

Dan. 2. 44. 

Lu. 1. 32, 

33. 

Heb. 1. 8. 

Rev. 22. 16. 
j Gen. 49. 10. 

Ps. 110. 2. 

3 Or, smite 
through the 
princes of 
Moab. 

* Gen. 27. 37. 
2 Sa. 8. 14. 

4 Or, the first 
of the na- 
tions that 
warred 
•gainst 
Israel. 

5 Or, shall 
be even to 
destruc- 
tion. 
1 Sa. 15. 3. 

6 Kain. 

7 Or, how 
long shall 
it be ere 
Asshur 
carry thee 
away cap- 
tive! 



remaineth of the city. 

20 And when he looked on Amalek, he 
took up his parable, and said, Amalek was 
* the first of the nations, but his latter end 
5 shall be that he perish for ever. 

21 And he looked on the Kenites, and took 
up his parable, and said, Strong is thy 
dwelling-place, and thou puttest thy nest 
in a rock: 

22 Nevertheless 6 the Kenite shall be 
wasted, ? until Asshur shall carry thee 
away captive. 

23 And he took up his parable, and said, 
Alas! who shall live when God doeth 
this? 

21 And ships sJiaU come from the coast 



Balak sends for Ba laam. LUMBERS, X XII, XXIII. An Angel opposes Balaam, 

gigantic stature (Deu. 3. 11.) was calculated his outer cloak. God's anger was kindled 
to inspire terror. He and all his were put to j because he went— The displeasure arose partly- 
neglecting the condition on whicn 



the sword 

CHAPTER XXII. 
Ver. 1-20. Balak's First Message for 
Balaam refused. 1. Israel pitched in the 
plains of Moab— So called from having formerly 
belonged to that people, though wrested from 
them by Sihon. . It was a dry, sunken, desert 
region on the east of the Jordan valley, oppo- 
site Jericho. 2. Balak— i.e., empty. Terrified 
(Deu. 2. 25; Ex. 15. 15.) at the approach of so 
vast a multitude, and not daring to encounter 
them in the field, he resolved to secure their 
destruction by other means, elders of Midian 
—called kings (ch. 31. 8.) and princes (Josh. 
13. 21.) The Midianites, a distinct people on 
the southern frontier of Moab, united with 
them as confederates against Israel their 
common enemy. 5. sent messengers unto 
Balaam— i.e., "lord" or " devourer" of people, 
a famous soothsayer (Josh. 13. 22.) son of Beor 
or, in the Chaldee form, Bosor— i. e., destruc- 
tion. Pethor— a city of Mesopotamia, situated 
ontheEuphrates. 6. come, curse me tins people— 
Among the heathen an opinion prevailed, that 
prayers for evil or curses, would be heard by 
the unseen powers as well as prayers for good, 
when offered by a prophet or priest, and ac- 
companied by the use of certain rites. Many 
examples are found in the histories of the 
Greeks and Romans, of whole armies being 
devoted to destruction, and they occur 
among the natives of Inaia and other hea- 
then countries still. In the Burmese war, 
magicians were employed to curse the British 
troops. 7. the rewards of divination— like the 
fee of a fortune-teller, and being a royal 
present, it would be something handsome. 
8-14. lodge here this night, <fec— God usually 
revealed His will in visions and dreams; 
and Balaam's birth and residence in Meso- 
potamia, where the remains of patriar- 
chal religion still lingered, account for his 
knowledge of the true God. His real 
character has long been a subject of discus- 
sion. Some, judging from his language, 
have thought him a saint; others, looking to 
his conduct, have described him as an irreli- 

Sious charlatan; and a third class consider 
im a novice in the faith, who had a lear of 
God, but who had not acquired power over 
his passions." [Heng.] 13. the Lord refaseth 
to give me leave— This answer has an appear- 
ance of being good.but it studiouslyconcealed 
the reason ot the divine prohibition, and it 
intimated his own willingness and desire to 
go— if permitted. Balak despatched a second 
mission, which held out flattering pro- 
spects both to his avance and his ambition. 
(Ge. 31. 30. ) 19. tarry aiao here this night— The 
divine will, as formerly declared, not being 
according to his desires, he hoped by a second 
request to bend it, as he had already bent his 
own conscience to his ruling passions of pride 
and covetousness. The permission granted 
to Balaam is in accordance with the ordinary 
procedure of providence. God often gives 
up men to follow the impulse of their own 
lusts; but there is no approval in thus leaving 
them to act at the prompting of their own 
wicked hearts, Jo. 13. 27. J 

21-41. The Journey. 21. Balaam saddled 
his ass— Probably one of the white sprightly 
animals which persons of rank were accus- 
tomed to ride. The saddle, as usually in the 



from his 

leave was granted him— viz., to wait till the 
princes of Moab "came to call him," and 
because, through desire for "the wages of 
unrighteousness," he entertained the secret 
purpose of acting in opposition to the solemn 
charge of God. 24. the angel of the Lord stood 
in a path of the vineyards— The roads which 
lead through fields and vineyards are so nar- 
row that in most parts a man could not pass a 
beast without care and caution. A stone or 
mud fence flanks each side of these roads, to 
prevent the son being washed off by the rains. 
28. the Lord opened the mouth of the ass— 
To utter, like a parrot, articulate sounds, 
without understanding them. That this was 
a visionary scene is a notion, which seems in- 
admissible, because of the improbability of 
a vision being described as an actual occur- 
rence in the middle ol a plain history. Besides, 
the opening of the ass's mouth must have been 
an external act, and that with the manifest 
tenor of Peter's language, strongly favours 
the literal view. The absence of any sur- 
prise at such a phenomenon on the part of 
Balaam may be accounted for by his mind 
being wholly engrossed with the prospect of 
gain, which produced "the madness of the 
prophet." "It was a miracle, wrought to 
humble his proud heart, which had to be first 
subjected in the school of an ass before he was 
brought to atten d to the voice of God speaking 
by the angel." [Calvin.] 34,35. I have sinned 
... if it displease thee— Notwithstanding this 
confession, he evinced no spirit of penitence, 
as he speaks of desisting only from the out- 
ward act. The words "go with the men" 
was a mere withdrawal of farther restraint, 
but the terms in which leave was given are 
more absolute and peremptory than those in 
v. 20. 36, 37. Balak went out to meet him— 
The higher the rank of the expected guest, 
politeness requires a greater distance to be 
gone to welcome his arrival. 38. the word 
that God putteth in my mouth— This appears a 
pious answer. It was an acknowledgment 
that he was restrained by a superior power- 
39. Kirjath-huzoth— a city of streets. 40. 
Balak offered oxen and sheep— made prepara- 
tions for a grand entertainment to Balaam 
and the princes of Midian. 41. High places 
of Baal— eminences consecrated to the wor- 
ship of Baal-peor, (ch. 25. 3,) or Chemosh. 
CHAPTER XXHI. 
Ver. 1-30. Balak's Sacrifices. 1. Build 
me here seven altars— Balak, being a heathen, 
would naturally suppose these altars were 
erected in honour of Baal, the patron deity 
of his country. It is evident, from v. 4, 
that they were prepared for the worship of 
the ;true God, although in choosing the high 
places of Baal as their site, and rearing a 
number .of altars, (2 Ki. 18. 22- Is. 17. 8; Jer. 
11. 13; Hos. 8. 11; 10. 1,) instead of one only, 
as God had appointed, he blended his own 
superstitions .with the divine worship. The 
heathen, both in ancient and modern times, 
attached a mysterious virtue to the num- 
ber seven; and Balaam, in ordering the prepa- 
ration of so many altars, designed to mystify 
and delude the king. 3. Stand by thy burnt- 
offering— as one in expectation of an import- 
ant favour, showethme— i. e., makes known to 
me .by word or sign, went to an high place 



East, would be nothing more than a pad or I —a part by himself, where he might practise 
120 



Israel's idolatry with Moab. NUMRERS, XXV, XXVL 



The sum of all IsratL 



of l Chittim, and shall afflict Asshur, and 
Bhall afflict m Eber, and n he also shall 
perish for ever. 

25 And Balaam rose up, and went and re- 
turned to his place: and Balak also went 
his way. 

CHAPTER XXV. 
1 The Israelites' whoredom and idolatry with 

Moab. 6 Zimri and Cozbi slain. 16 God com- 

tnandeth to vex the Midianites. 

A ND Israel abode in a Shittim, and b the 
xx people began to commit whoredom 
with the daughters of Moab. 

2 And c they called the people unto d the 
sacrifices of their gods: and the people did 
eat, and • bowed down to their gods. 

3 And Israel joined himself unto Baal- 
peor: and / the anger of the Lord was 
kindled against Israel. 

4 And the Lord said unto Moses, 8 Take 
all the heads of the people, and hang them 
up before the L ord against the sun, h that 
the fierce anger of the Lord maybe turned 
away from Israel. 

5 And Moses said unto the judges of Israel, 
Slay « ye every one his men that were 
joined unto Baal-peor. 

6 If And, behold, one of the children of 
Israel came and brought unto his brethren 
a Midianitish woman in the sight of Moses, 
and in the sight of all the congregation of 
the children of Israel, 4 who were weeping 
before the door of the tabernacle of the 
congregation. 

7 And when Phinehas, * the son of Elea- 
zar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he 
rose up from among the congregation, and 
took 1 a javelin in his hand; 

8 And he went after the man of Israel into 
the tent, and thrust both of them through, 
the man of Israel, and the woman through 
her belly. So the plague was stayed from 
the children of Israel. 

9 And ' those that died in the plague 
were twenty and four thousand. 

10 IF And the Lord spa^e unto Moses, 
saying, 

11 Phinehas, m the son of Eleazar, the son 
of Aaron the priest, hath turned my wrath 
away from the children of Israel, while he 
was zealous 2 for my sake among them, that 
I consumed not the children of Israel in 
my n jealousy. 

12 \Y herefore say, ° Behold, I give unto 
him my covenant of peace: 

13 And he shall have it, and p his seed 
after him, even the covenant of q an ever- 
lasting priesthood ; because he was r zealous 
for his God, and * made an atonement for 
the children of Israel. 

14 Now the name of the Israelite that was 
slain, even that was slain with the Midian- 
itish woman, was Zimri, the son of Salu, 
a prince of a 3 chief house among the 
Simeonites. 

15 And the name of the Midianitish 
woman that was slain was Cozbi, the 
daughter * of Zur: he was head over a 
people, and of a chief house in Midian. 

16 H And the Lord spake unto Moses, 
saying, 

17 Vex the Midianites, and smite them: 

18 For they vex you with their wiles, 
wherewith they have beguiled you in the 
matter of Peor, and in the matter of Cozbi, 
the daughter of a prince of Midian, their 
Bister, which was slain in the day of the 
plague for Peer's sake. 

121 



CHAP. 24. 

I Gen. 10. 4. 

Dan 11. 30. 

«* Gen.11.14. 

nLev. 26.28. 

Den. 28.36. 

Mat. 23.37. 

CHAP. 25. 

« ch. 33. 49. 

Mic. 6. 5. 
b ch. 31. 16. 

1 Cor. 10.8. 

Rer. 2. 14. 
e Josh. 22.17. 

Ps. 106. 28. 

Hos. 9. 10. 
d Ex. 34. 15. 

1 Cor. 10. 

20. 
■ Ex. 20. 5. 
/Pa. 106. 29. 
g Josh. 22.17. 
h Deu.13.17. 
i Ex. 32. 27. 

Deu. 13. 6. 
/ Joel 2. 17. 
* Ex. 6. 25. 

1 a spear, or 
pike. 

1 1 Cor. 10. 8. 
♦» Pa 106.30. 

2 with my 
seal. 

n Ex. 20. 5. 

1 Kin. 14. 

22. 

Erek.16.38. 

Zeph.1.18 

Zeph. 3. 8 

Heb. 12.29 
o Mai. 3. 1. 
p 1 Chr. 6. 4 
q Ex. 40. 15, 
r Acts 22. 3 

Ro. 10. 2. 
« Heb. 2. 17. 

3 house of a 
father. 

t Josh. 13.21, 



CHAP. 26. 
a Ex. 30. 12. 

ch. 1.2. 
6 ch. 22. 1. 

ch. 31. 12. 

ch. 33. 48. 

ch. 35. 1. 
C Gen. 46. 8. 

Ex. 6. 14. 

1 Chr. 5. 1. 
dch.16.1,2. 

Deu. 11. 6. 

Is. 65. 16. 

Ps. 106. 17. 
« ch. 16. 38. 

Ezek. 14. 8. 

1 Cor. 10.6. 

2 Pet. 2. 6. 
Jude7. 

/Ex. 6. 24. 

1 Chr. 6. 22. 

Ere. 18. 20. 
g Gen. 46.10. 

Ex. 6. 15, 

Jemuel. 
h 1 Chr. 4. 

24. 

Jarib. 
tGen.46.10> 

Zobar. 
j Gen. 46. 16, 

Ziphion. 
1 Or, Ezbon. 
* Gen. 46. 16, 

Arodi. 
I Gen. 38. 2. 
WlChr.2^. 



CHAPTER XXVL 

1 Israel numbered. 52 The inheritance of the 
land divided. 63 Of Caleb and Joshua. 

A ND it came to pass after the plague, 
that the Lord spake unto Moses and 
unto Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest, 
saying, 

i 2*Take a the sum of all the congregation 
of the children of Israel, from twenty years 
old and upward, throughout their fathers' 
house, all that are able to go to war in 
Israel. 

3 And Moses and Eleazar the priest spake 
with them ° in the plains of Moab, by Jor- 
dan near Jericho, saying, 

4 Take the sum of the people, from twenty 
years old and upward; as the Lord com- 
manded Moses and the children of Israel, 

j which went forth out of the land of Egypt. 

5 IT Reuben, the c eldest son of Israel: the 
! children of Reuben • Hanoch, of whom 

come.th the family or the Hanochites: of 
; Pallu, the familv of the Palluites: 
| 6 Of Hezron, the family of the Hezronites: 

of Carmi, the family of the Carmites. 

7 These are the families of the Reubenites: 
and they that were numbered of them were 
forty and three thousand and seven hundred 
and thirty. 

8 And the sons of Pallu: Eliab. 

9 And the sons of Lliab; JSemuel, and 
Dathan, and Abiram. This is that Dathan 
and Abiram which were d famous in the 
congregation, who strove against Moses 
and against Aaron in the company of 
Korah. when they strove against the Lord: 

10 And the earth opened her mouth, and 
swallowed them up together with Korah, 
when that company died, what time the 
tire devoured two hundred and fifty men: 
and they « became a sign. 

li Notwithstanding / the children of 
Korah died not. 

It H The sons of Simeon after their fami- 
lies: of 9 Nemuel, the family of the 
iN'emuelites: of Jamin, the family of the 
Jaminites: of * Jachin, the family of the 
Jachinites: 

13 Of i Zerah, the family cf the Zarhites: 
of Shaul, the family of the Shaulites. 

14 These are the families of the Simeon- 
ites, twenty and two thousand and two 
hundred. 

15 H The children of Gad after their fami- 
lies: of.?' Zephon.the family of theZephon- 
ites: of Haggi, the family of the Haggites: 
of Shuni, the family of the Shunites: 

16 Of 1 Ozni, the family of the Oznites: of 
Eri, the family of the Elites: 

17 Of * Arod, the family of the Arodites: 
of Areli, the family of the Arelites. 

18 These are the families of the children 
of Gad according to those that were num- 
bered of them, forty thousand and five 
hundred. 

19 1T The l sons of Judah vjtre Er and 
Onan: and Er and Onan died in the land 
of Canaan. 

20 And m the sons of Judah after their 
families were ; of Shelah, the family of the 
Shelanites: of Pharez, the family of the 
Pharzites: of Zerah, the family of the 
Zarhites. 

21 And the sons of Pharez were ; of 
Hezron, the family of the Hezronites: of 
Hamnl, the family of the Hamulites. 

22 These are the families of Judah ac- 
cording to those that were numbered of 



Balaam Foretelleth 



NUMBERS, XXTV. 



JsraeVs Happiness. 



rites and ceremonies, with a view to obtain 
a response of the oracle. 4-6. God met Balaalm 
—not in compliance with his incantations, 
but to frustrate his wicked designs, and com- 
pel him, contrary to his desires and in- 
terests, to pronounce the following bene- 
diction. 7. Took up his parable— i.e., spoke 
under the influence of inspiration, and in 
the highly poetical, figurative, and oracular 
style of a prophet, brought me from Aram— 
This word, joined with " the mountains of 
the East," denotes the upper portion of 
Mesopotamia, lying on the east of Moab. 
The East enjoyed an infamous notoriety for 
magicians and soothsayers. (Is. 2. 6.) 8. How 
shall I curse whom God hath not cursed— A 
Divine blessing has been pronounced over 
the posterity of Jacob; and therefore, what- 
ever prodigies can be achieved by my charms, 
all magical skill, all human power, is ut- 
terly impotent to counteract the decree 
of God. 9. From the top — lit., "a bare 
place" on the rocks, to which Balak had 
taken him, for it was deemed necessary to 
see the people who were to be devoted to 
destruction. But that commanding prospect 
could contribute nothing to the accomplish- 
ment of the king's object, for the destiny of 
Israel was to be a distinct peculiar people, 
separated from the rest of the nations in 
government, religion, customs, and divine 
protection. (Deu. 33. 28.) So that although 
I might be able to gratify your wishes against 
other people, I can do nothing against them, 
(Ex. 19. 5; Le. 20. 24.) who can count the dust of 
Jacob?— An Oriental hyperbole for a very po- 
pulous nation, as Jacob's posterity was pro- 
mised to be. (Ge. 13. 16: 28. 14.) the number 
of the fourth part of Israel — i. e., the camp 
consisted of four divisions; every one of 
these parts was formidable in numbers. 
10. let me die the death of the righteous— H eb. , of 
Jeshurun; or, the Israelites. The meaning is, 
they are a people happy, above all others, not 
only in life, but at death, from their know- 
le dge of the true God, and their hope through 
His grace. Balaam is a representative of a 
large class in the world, who express a wish 
for the blessedness which Christ has pro- 
mised to His people, but are averse to imi- 
tate the mind that was in Him. 13-15. Come 
with me unto another place— Surprised and 
disappointed at this unexpected eulogy on 
Israel, Balak hoped that, if seen from a 
different point of observation, the prophet 
would give utterance todifferent feelings ; and 
so having made the same solemn prepara- 
tions, Balaam retired, as before, to wait the 
Divine afflatus, field of Zophim, top of Pisgah 
—a flat surface on the summit o, the moun- 
tain range, which was cultivated land. 
Others render it " the field of sentinels," an 
eminence where some of Balak's guards 
were posted to give signals. [Calmet.] 18. 
Rise up— As Balak was already standing, (v. 
17,) this expression is equivalent to "now at- 
tend to me." The counsel and promises of God 
respecting Israel are unchangeable; and no 
attempt to prevail on Him to reverse them 
will succeed as they may with a man. 21. He 
hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob— Many sins 
were observed and punished in this people . 
But no such universal and hopeless apostacy 
had as yet appeared, to induce God to aban- 
don or destroy them, the Lord his God is with j put for a whole country. (Ex. 8. 2; Ps.' 74. 17.) 
him— has a favour for them, and the shout ' children of Sheth — some prince of Moab; or, 
ot a king is among them— Such joyful ac- 1 according to some, " the children of the 
121 



clamations as of a people rejoicing in the 
presence of a victorious prince. 22. He 
hath ... the strength— i.e., Israel is not as 
they were at the Exodus, a horde of poor, 
feeble, spiritless people, but powerful and 
invincible as a reem— i.e. , a rhinoceros. (Job, 
39. 9;Ps. 22. 21; 92. 10.) 23. Surely there is no en- 
chantment— No art can ever prevail against a 
people who are under the shield oi Umn po- 
tence and for whom miracles have been, and 
yet shall be performed, which will be a 
theme of admiration in succeeding ages. 26. 
All that the Lord speaketh, that I must do— A 
remarkable confession that he was divinely 
constrained to give utterances different from 
what it was his purpose and inclination to 
do. 28. Brought Balaam to the top of Peor— 
or, Beth-peor, (Deu. 3. 29,) the eminence on 
which a temple of Baal stood, that looketh 
toward Jeshimon— the desert tract in the south 
of Palestine, on both sides of the Dead Sea. 
CHAPTER XXIV. 
Ver. 1-25. Balaam Foretelleth Is- 
rael's Happiness. 1. To seek for— i. e., to 
use enchantments. His experience on the 
two former occasions had taught him that 
these superstitious accompaniments of his 
worship were useless, and therefore he now 
simply looked towards the camp of Israel, 
either with a secret design to curse them, or 
to await the Divine afflatus. 2. According to 
their tents— i. e., in the orderly distribution 
of the camp. (ch. 2.) the Spirit of God came 
upon him— Before the regular ministry of the 
prophets was instituted, God made use of 
various persons as the instruments through 
whom He revealed His will, and Balaam was 
one of these. (Deu. 23. 5.) 3. The man whose 
eyes are open — i.e., a seer, (1 Sam. 9. 9,) a 
I prophet, to whom the visioned future was 
j disclosed — sometimes when falling into a 
i sleep, (Ge. 15. 15.) frequently into "a trance." 
5-7. How goodly are thy tents, Israel!— a fine 
burst of admiration, expressed in highly 
poetical strains. All travellers describe the 
beauty which the circular range of Bedouin 
tents impart to the desert. How impres- 
sive, then, must have been the view, as 
seen from the heights of Abarim, of the 
immense camp of Israel, extended over the 
subjacent plains. 6. As the valley — Heb. t 
brooks, the water-courses of the mountains, 
lign aloes— an aromatic shrub on the banks 
of his native Euphrates, the conical form of 
which suggested an apt resemblance to a 
tent. The redundant imagery of these verses 
depicts the origin, rapid progress, and pro- 
sperity oi Tsrael. /. Higher than Agag— The 
Amalekites were then the most powerful of 
all the desert tribes, and Agag a title com- 
mon to their kings. 10-14. Balak's anger was 
kindled— The "smiting of the hands together" 
is, amongst Oriental people, an indication of 
the most violent rage, (see Ez. 21. 17 : 22. 13,) 
and ignominious dismissal. 15. Took up his 
parable— or prophecy, uttered in a poetical 
style. 17. I shall see him— rather, "I do see" 
or "have seen him,"— a prophetic sight, like 
that of Abraham. (Jo. 8. 50.) him — i.e., 
Israel, a star, a sceptre— This imagery, in the 
hieroglyphic language of the East, denotes 
some eminent ruler,— primarily David; but 
secondarily and pre-eminently, the Messiah, 
(See on Ge. 49. 10.) corners — border, often 



Numbering of Israel 



NUMBERS, XXVI. 



in the plains of Moab, 



them, threescore and sixteen thousand and 
five hundred. 

23 1FO/ n the sons of Issachar, after their 
families: o/Tola. the family of the Tolaites: 
of 2 Pua, the family of the Punites: 

24 Of $ Jashub, the family of the Ja- 
shubites: of Shimron, the tamily of the 
Shimronites. 

25 These are the families of Issachar ac- 
cording to those that were numbered of 
them, threescore and four thousand and 
three hundred. 

26 1F Of ° the sons of Zebulun after their 
families: of Sered, the family of the Sar- 
dites: of Elon, the family of the Elonites: 
of J ahleel, the family of the Jahleelites. 

27 These are the families of the Zebulun- 
ites according to those that were numbered 
of them, threescore thousand and five hun- 
dred. 

28 1T The P sons of Joseph after then- 
families were Manasseh and Ephraim. 

29 Of the sons of Manasseh: of « Machir, 
the family of the Machirites: and Machir 
begat Gilead: of Gilead come the family of 
the Gileadites. 

30 These are the sons of Gilead: o/ r Jeezer, 
the family of the Jeezerites: of Helek, the 
family of the Helekites: 

31 And of Asriel, the family of the Asriel- 
ites: and of Shechem, the family of the 
Shechemites: 

32 And of Shemida, the family of the She- 
midaites: and of Hepher, the family of the 
Hepherites. 

33 And * Zelophehad the son of Hepher 
had no sons, but daughters: and the names 
of the daughters of Zelophehad were Mah- 
lah, and Noah, Hoglah, Milcah. and Tirzah. 

34 These are the families of Manasseh, 
and those that were numbered of them, 
fifty and two thousand and seven hundred. 

35 1T These are the sons of Ephraim after 
their families: of Shuthelah, the family of 
the Shuthalhites : of * Becher. the family 
of the Bachrites: of Tahan, the family of 

36 And these are the sons of Shuthelah: 
of Eran, the family of the Eranites. 

37 These are the families of the sons of 
Ephraim according to those that were num- 
bered of them, thirty and two thousand 
and five hundred. These are the sons u of 
Joseph after their families. 

38 11 The v sons of Benjamin after their fa- 
milies: of Bela, the family of the Belaites: 
of Ashbel, the family of the Ashbelites: 
of w Ahiram, the family of the Ahiramites: 

39 Of x Shupham, the family of the Shu- 
phamites: of Hupham, the family of the 
Buphamites. 

40 And the sons of Bela were * Ard and 
Naaman: of Ard, the family of the Ar- 
dites: and of Naaman, the family of the 
Naamites. 

41 These are the sons of Benjamin after 
then* families: and they that were num- 
bered of them were forty and five thousand 
and six hundred. 

42 1F These z are the sons of Dan after their 
families: of * Shuham, the family of the 
Shuhamites. These are the families of 
Dan after their families. 

43 All the families of the Shuhamites, ac 
cording to those that were numbered of 
them, were threescore and four thousand 
and four hundred. 

44 If Of a the children of Asher after their 

122 



B. C. 1452. 



CHAP. 26. 

n Gen. 46.13. 

1 Chr. 7. 1. 

2 Or, Phu- 
yah. 

3 Or, Job. 

o Gen. 46. 14. 
P Gen. 46. 20. 

Deu.33. 17. 
9 Josh. 17. 1. 

1 Chr. 7. 

14, 16. 
r Called 

Abieeer, 

Josh. 17. 2. 

Judg. 6. 11, 

24,34. 
8 ch. 27. 1. 

ch. 36. 11. 

Josh. 17. 3. 

* 1 Chr. 7. 
20, 
Bered. 

t* Deut. 33. 

13-17. 
v Gen. 46. 21. 
1 Chr. 7. 6. 
vi Gen. 46. 

21, 

Ehi. 

1 Chr. 8.1, 

Aharah. 

* Gen. 46. 21, 
Muppim, 
and 
Huppim. 

V 1 Cbr. 8. 3, 

Addar. 
Z Gen. 46. 23. 

4 Or, Hu- 
shim. 

a Gen. 46.17. 

1 Chr.7.30. 
6 Gen. 46.24, 

1 Chr. 7.13. 
c 1 Chr. 7. 

13, 

Shallum. 
d ch. 1.46. 
e Thus each 



be fifteen 
acres. 
Josh.11.23. 
Josh. 14.1. 
/ ch. 33. 54. 

5 multiply 
his inheri- 
tance. 

6 diminish 
his inheri- 
tance. 

g ch. 33. 54. 

ch. 34. 13. 

Josh. 11.23. 

Josh. 14. 2. 
h Gen. 46.11. 

Ex. 6. 16. 

1 Chr. 6. 

1, 16. 
i Ex. 2. 1, 2. 

Ex. 6. 20. 
g Lev. 10.1,2. 

ch. 3. 4. 

1 Chr. 24.2. 
k ch. 3. 39. 
I ch. 1. 49. 
m ch. 18. 20. 

Deu.10.9. 

Jos. 13. 14. 
» ch. 1. 1. 

Deu. 2. 14. 
o ch. 14. 28. 

Psalm 90. 

3-8. 

Ro. 11. 22. 

i Cor.10.5. 



families: of Jimna, the family of the Jim. 
nites: of Jesui, the family of the Jesuites: 
of Beriah, the family of the Beriites. 

45 Of the sons of Beriah: of Heber, the 
family of the Heberites: of Malchiel, the 
family of* the Malchielites. 

46 And the name of the daughter of Asher 
was Sarah. 

47 These are the families of the sons of 
Asher according to those that were num- 
bered of them, who were fifty and three 
thousand and four hundred. 

48 IF Of b the sons of Naphtali after their 
families: of Jahzeel, the family of the 
Jahzeelites: of Guni, the family of the 
Gunites: 

49 Of Jezer, the family of the Jezerites: 
of c Shillem, the family of the Shillemites. 

50 These are the families of Naphtali ac- 
cording to their families: and they that 
were numbered of them were forty and 
five thousand and four hundred. 

51 These d were the numbered of the chil, 
dren of Israel, six hundred thousand and a 
thousand seven hundred and thirty. 

52 1F And the Lord spake unto Moses, 
saying, 

53 Unto e these the land shall be divided 
for an inheritance, according to the num- 
ber of names. 

54 To /many thou shalt 5 give the more 
inheritance, and to few thou shalt 6 give 
the less inheritance: to every one shall his 
inheritance be given according to those 
that were numbered of him. 

55 Notwithstanding the land shall be 
divided y by lot: according to the names of 
the tribes of their fathers they shall inherit. 

56 According to the lot shall the posses- 
sion thereof be divided between many and 
lew. 

57 f And h these are they that were num- 
bered of the Levites after their families: of 
Gershon, the family of the Gershonites: of 
lvohath, the family of the Kohathites: of 
Merari, the family of the Merarites. 

58 These are the families of the Levites: 
the family of the Libnites, the family of the 
Hebronites, the family of the Mahlites. the 
family of the Mushites, the family or the 
lvorathites And lvohath begat Amram. 

59 And the name of Amram 's wife ' was 
Jochebed, the daughter of Levi, whom her 
mother bare to Levi in Egypt: and she bare 
unto Amram Aaron and Moses, and Miri- 
am their sister. 

60 And unto Aaron was born Nadab and 
Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. 

61 And 9 Nadab and Abihu. died, when 
they offered strange fire before the Lord. 

02 And k those that were numbered of 
them were twenty and three thousand, all 
males from a month old and upward: * for 
they were not numbered among the chil- 
dren of Israel, because there was m no in- 
heritance given them among the children 
of Israel. 

63 % These are they that were numbered 
by Moses and Eleazar the priest, who num- 
bered the children of Israel in the plains of 
Moab by Jordan near Jericho. 

64 But n among these there was not a 
man of them whom Moses and Aaron the 
priest numbered, when they numbered the 
children of Israel in the wilderness of 
feiuai: 

65 For the Lord had said of them, They 
shall ° surely die in the wilderness. Ana 



Nwnibering of Israel. 



NUMBERS, XXV, XXVI. 



in the Plains of Moab. 



East." 18. Edom shall be a possession — This 
prophecy was accomplished by David. (2 
bam. 8. 14.) Seir— seen in the south, and 
poetically used for Edom. The double con- 
quest of Moab and Edom is alludsd to. (Ps. 
60. 8; 108. 9.) 19. He that shall have dominion 
—David, and particularly Christ, that re- 
maineth of the city— those who flee from the 
field to fortified places. ( Ps. 60. 9. ) 20. 
Amalek . . . perish for ever— Their territory was 
seen at the remote extremity of the desert. 
(See on Ex. 17. 14- also 1 Sam. 15.) 21. Kenite 
. . nest in a rock— Though securely established 
among the clefts in the high rocks of Engeddi 
towards the west, they should be gradually 
reduced by a succession of enemies, till the 
Assyrian invader carried them into cap- 
tivity. (Judg. 1. 16; 4. 11, 16, 17 ; also 2 
Ki. 15. 29; 17. 6.) 23. Who shall live — 
few shall escape the desolation that shall 
send a Nebuchadnezzar to scourge all those 
regions. 24. Chittim— the countries lying on 
the Mediterranean, particularly Greece and 
Italy. (Dan. 11. 29, 30.) The Assyrians were 
themselves to be overthrown— first, by the 
Greeks, under Alexander the Great and his 
successors; secondly, by the Romans. Eber 
—the posterity of the Hebrews. (Ge. 10. 24.) 
he also shall perish-^i.e., the conqueror of 
Asher and Eber, viz., the Greek and Roman 
empire. 25. went to his place— Mesopotamia, 
to which, however, he did not return. (See 
on ch. 31. 8.) 

CHAPTER XXV. 
Ver. 1-18. The Israelites' Whoredom 
and Idolatry with Moab. 1. Israel abode 
in Shittim— a verdant meadow, so called from 
a grove of acacia trees which lined the eastern 
side of the Jordan. (See ch. 33. 49.) 3. Israel 
joined himself unto Baal-Peor — Baal was a 
general name for "lord," and Peor for a 
* 4 mount" in Moab. The real name of the 
idol was Chemosh, and his rites of worship 
were celebrated by the grossest obscenity. 
In participating in this festival, then, the 
Israelites committed the double offence of 
idolatry and licentiousness. 4. Take all the 
heads of the people and hang them up— Israelite 
criminals, who were capitally punished, were 
first stoned or slain, and then gibbeted. The 
persons ordered here for execution were the 
principal delinquents in the Baal-peor out- 
rage—the subordinate officers, rulers of tens 
or hundreds, before the Lord— For vindicating 
the honour of the true God. against the sun 
—i.e., as a mark of public ignominy; but they 
were to be removed towards sunset. (Deu. 
21. 23.) 5. Judges of Israel— the 70 elders, who 
were commanded not only to superintend 
the execution within their respective juris- 
dictions, but to inflict the punishment with 
their own hands. (See on 1 Sam. 15. 33.) 6, 7. 
Behold, one of the children of Israel brought— 
This flagitious act most probably occurred 
about the time when the order was given, 
and before its execution, weeping before the 
door— some of the rulers and well-disposed 
persons were deploring the dreadful wicked- 
ness of the people, and supplicating the 
mercy of God to avert impending judgments, 
the plague— some sudden and wide-spread 
mortality. 9. Twenty and four thousand— 
Only 23 (>00 perished (1 Co. 10. 8.) from pesti- 
lence. Moses includes those who died by the 
execution of the judges. 10-13. Phinehas . . . 
hath turned away my wrath— This assurance 
was a signal mark of honour, that the stain 
122 



oi blood, instead of defiling, confirmed him 
in office, and that his posterity should con- 
tinue as long as the national existence of 
{ Israel. 14. Znnri, a prince among the Simeon- 
i ites— The slaughter of a man of such high 
rank is mentioned as a proof of the undaunt- 
ed zeal of Phinehas, for there might be nu- 
merous avengers of his blood. 17. Vex the 
Midianites— They seem to have been the most 
guilty parties, (cf, ch. 22. 4; 31. 8.) 18. Thoy 
vex you;with their wiles— Instead of open war, 
they plot insidious ways of accomplishing 
your ruin by idolatry and corruption, their 
sister— their countrywoman. 

CHAPTER XXVI. 
Ver. 1-51. Israel Numbered. 1. After the 
plague— That terrible visitation had swept 
away the remnant of the old generation, to 
whom God sware in His wrath that they 
should not enter Canaan (Ps. 95. 11.) 2. take 
the sum of the congregation— The design of 
this new census, after a lapse of thirty-eight 
years, was primarily to establish the vast 
multiplication of the posterity of Abraham 
in spite of the severe judgments inflicted 
upon them; secondarily, it was to preserve 
the distinction of families, and to make ar- 
rangements preparatory to an entrance into 
the promised land, for the distribution of the 
country according to the relative population 
of the tribes. 7. these are the families— the 
principal households, which were subdivided 
into numerous smaller families. Eeuben had 
suffered great diminution by Korah's con- 
spiracy and other outbreaks. 10. together 
with Korah— rather, the things of Korah. 
(See on ch. 16. 32-35; cf. Ps. 106. 17.) 11. Not- 
withstanding the children of Korah died not— 
Either they were not parties to their father's 
crime, or they withdrew from it by timely 
repentance. His descendants became famous 
in the time of David, and are often men- 
tioned in the Psalms, also 1 Chron. 6. 22. 38. 
12. the sons of Simeon— It is supposed that this 
tribe had been pre-eminent in the guilt of 
Baal-peor, and had consequently been greatly 
reduced in numbers. 



Tribes. 



Reuben, 
Simeon, 

Gad, 

Judah, 

Issachar,.... 
Zebulun, . . . 
Ephraim, . . . 
Manasseh, .. 
Benjamin,. . 

Dan, 

Asher, 

Naphthali, . 



Chap.i. Chapter 



46,500 
59,300 
45,650 
74,600 
59,400 
57,400 
40,500 
32,200 
35,400 
62,700 
41,500 
53,400 



43,730 
22,200 
40,500 
76,500 
64,300 
60,500 
32,500 
52,700 
45,600 
64,400 
53,400 
45,400 



603,550 601,730 59,200 
Total decrease,.. 



Incr. 



1,900 
9,900 
3,100 

20,500 

10,200 

1,700 

11,900 



Deer. 



2,770 

37,100 

5,150 



8,000 



,000 



61,020 
1,820 



Thus the justice and holiness, as well as 
truth and faithfulness of God, were strikingly 
displayed; His justice and holiness in the 
sweeping judgments that reduced the ranks of 
some tribes; while His truth and faithfulness 
were manifested in the extraordinaryincrease 
of others, so that the posterity of Israel con- 
tinued a numerous people. 53. the land 



The law of inheritance. 



there was not left a man of them, save 
Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua 
the son of .Nun. 

CHAPTER XXVI I. 

1 The daughters of Zelophehad sue for an inherit- 
ance. 6 The law of inheritances. 12 Hoses, , 
being told of his death, sueth for a successor: i 
Id Joshua appointed to succeed him. 

HHHEN came the daughters of a Zelophe- j 
x had, the son of Hepher, the sou of 
Gilead, the sou of Maehir. the son of Man- 
asseh, of the families of Manasseh the son 
of Joseph: and these are the names of his 
daughters- Mahlah, Noah, and Hoglah, 
and Mileah, and Tirzah. 

2 And they stood before Moses, and before 
Eleazar the priest, and before the princes I 
and all the congregation, by the door of, 
the tabernacle of the congregation, saying, 

3 Our lather & died in the wilderness" and 
he was not in the company of them that ] 
gathered themselves together against the 
Lord ° m the company of Korah;but d died 
in his own sin, and had no sons. 

4 Why should the name of our father : 
be ! done away from among his family, I 
because he ha'th no son? Give unto us 
therefore a possession among the brethren 
of our father. 

5 And Moses e brought their cause before ' 
the Lord. 

6 H And the Lord spake unto Moses, ! 
saying, 

7 The daughters of Zelophehad speak ' 
right : thou / shalt surely give them a ' 

Eossession of an inheritance among then | 
ither's brethren; and thou shalt cause the | 
inheritance of their father to pass unto 
them. 

8 And thou shalt speak unto the children 
of Israel, saying. If a man die, and have no 
son, then ye" shall cause his inheritance to 
pass unto his daughter. 

9 And if he have no daughter, then ye 
shall give his inheritance unto his brethren. 

10 And if he have no brethren, then ye 
shall give his inheritance unto his father's 
brethren. 

11 And if his father have no brethren, 
then ye shall give his inheritance unto his 
kinsman that is next to him of his family, 
and he shall possess it: and it shall be unto 
the children of Israel g a statute of judg- 
ment ; as the Lord commanded Moses. 

12 f And the Lord said unto Moses, h Get 
thee up into this mount Abarim, and see 
the land which I have given unto the chil- 
dren of Israel. 

13 And when thou hast seen it, thou also 
shalt * be gathered unto thy people, as 
Aaron thy brother was gathered. 

11 For ye J* rebelled against my command- 
ment in the desert of "Zin, in the strife of 
the congregation, to sanctify me at the 
water before their eyes: that L* the * water 
of Meribah in Kadesh hi the wilderness of 
Zin. 

15 1T And Moses spake unto the Lord, 
Baying, 

16 Let the Lord, the l God of the spirits of 
all flesh, set a man over the congrega- 
tion, 

17 Which m may go out before them, and 
which may go in before them, and which 
may lead them out, and which may bring 
them in; that the congregation of the Loud j 
be not n as sheep which have no shep- j 
herd. i 

123 



NUMBERS, XXY II, XXVIIL Laws concerning eatrifices. 
I b. c. 1452. 18 IT And the Lord said unto Moses, Take 



CHAP. 27. 

ch. 26. 33. 
b ch. 26. 64, 

65. 
c ch. 16. 1, 2. 
d ch. 14. 

22-37. 

Ro. 5. 12. 

Ro. 6. 23. 

1 diminished. 
« Ex. 18. 15. 
/ch. 36.2. 
g ch. 35. 29 



thee Joshua the son of .Nun, a man "in 

whom is the spirit, and lay thine hand upon 

him; 
ly And set him before Eleazar the priest, 

and before all the congregation ; and p give 

him a charge in their sight. 
j 20 And 'Ahou shalt put some of thine 
! honour upon him, that all the congregation 

of the children of Israel r may be obedient. 

21 And * he shall stand before Eleazar the 
priest, who shall ask counsel for him t after 
the judgment of I'rini before the Lord: at 
his "word shall they go out, and at his 

h Deu. 3.27. ' word they shall come in, both he. and all 
' the children of Israel with him, even all the 
congregation. 

22 And Moses did as the Lord commanded 
him: and he took Joshua, and set him be- 
fore Eleazar the priest, and before all the 
congregation: 

23 And he laid his hands upon him, v and 
gave him a charge; as the Lord com- 
manded by the hand of Moses. 

CHAPTER XXVIIL 
1 Offerings to be observed. 3 The continual burnt 
offering. 9 The sabbath offering. 11 at the ntw 
moons, 16 at the passover, 26 of first fruits. 
A XI) the Lord spake unto Moses, saying. 
* Mat 9 36 2 Command the children of Israel, and 

o G.n. 4i. as! say unto them, My offering, and a my bread 
for my sacrifices made by fire, for ! a sweet 
savour unto me, shall ye observe to offer 
uuto me in their due season. 

And thou shalt say unto them, b This is 
the offering made by fire which ye shall 
offer unto the Lord ; two lambs of the first 
year without spot, - day by day, for a con- 
tinual burnt offering. 

1 The one lamb shalt thou offer in the 
morning, and the other lamb shalt thou 
offer 3 at even; 

5 And c a tenth part of an ephah of flour 
for a d meat offering, mingled with the 
fourth part of an e hin of beaten oil. 

6 It is a continual burnt offering, which 
was ordained in mount Sinai for a sweet 
savour, a sacrifice made by fire unto the 
Lord. 

7 And the drink offering thereof shaU be 
the fourth part of an hin for the one lamb; 
in /the holy place shalt thou cause the 
strong wine to be poured unto the Lord 
for a drink offering. 



DeUt 

49. 

Deu. 34. 1. 
t Deu. lu. 6. 
j Deu. 1. 37. 

Deut. 32. 

51. 
k Ex. 17. 7. 
I ch. 16. 22. 

Heb. 12. 9. 

Zech. 12.1. 
m 1 Sam. 8. 
20. 

1 Sam. IS. 
13. 

2 Chr. 1. 
10. 



Jud^. 3. 10. 
V Deu. 31. 7. 
q ch. 11. 17- 

1 Sa. 10. 6. 

2 Kin. 2. 
15. 

r Deu. 34. 9. 

Josh. 1. 16. 
8 Josh. 9. 14. 

Judg. 1. 1. 

Judg. 20. 

18. 

1 Sa. 23. 9. 

1 Sa. 30. 7. 
t Ex. 28. 30. 
« Josh. 9.14. 

1 Sam. 22. 

10. 
v Deu. 3. 28. 

Is. 55. 4. 



CHAP. 28. 
a Lev. 3. 11. 
Eev. 21. 
6.8. 

Mai. 1. 7, 
12. 

1 a savour of 
eqy rest. 

6 Ex. 29. 38. 

2 in a day. 

3 between 
the two 
evenings. 
Ex. 12 6. 

c Ex. 16. 36. 

ch. 15. 4. 
d Lev. 2. 1. 
e Ex. 29. 40. 
/ Ex. 29. 42. 
3 Ezek. 46. 4. 
h ch. 10. 10. 
1 Sa. 20. 5. 

1 C.u-. 23. 
31. 

2 Chr. 2. 4. 
Ezra 3. 5. 
Neh.l -oJ. 
Is. 1.13,14. 



8 And the other famb shalt thou offer at 
even: as the meat offering of the morning, 
and as the drink offering thereof, thou shaft 
offer it, a sacrifice made by fire, of a sweet 
savour unto the Lord. 

9 f And ou the sabbath day two lambs of 
the first year without spot, and two tenth 
deals of flour for a meat offering, mingled 
with oil, and the drink ottering thereof. 

10 This is ^the burnt offering of every 
sabbath, beside the continual burnt offer- 
ing, and his drink offering. 

11 T And * in the beginnings of your 
months ye shall offer a burnt ottering unto 
the Lord; two young bullocks, and one 
ram, seven lambs of the first year without v 
spot: 

12 And • three tenth deals of flour for a 
meat offering, mingled with oil, for one 

, bullock; and two tenth deals of flour for 
Ezek. 4o. | a meat 0l j er i I1 g ) mingled with oil, for one 
ram ; 

I 13 And a several tenth deal of flour 
I mingled with oil for a meat offering unto 



Hos. 2. 11. 
Col. 2 16. 
i ch. 15. 4. 



The Law of Inheritance. NUMBERS, XXVII, XXVIII. 



Offerings to be Observed. 



sJiali be divided according to the number of 
names— The portion of each tribe was to be 
greater or less, according to its populousness. 
64. to many thou shalt give the more— i.e., to 
the more numerous tribes a larger allotment 
shall be granted, according to those that were 
numbered— i.e., the number of persons twenty 
years old at the time of the census being 
made, without taking into account either 
the increase of those who might have at- 
tained that age, when the land should be 
actually distributed, or the diminution from 
that amount, occasioned during the war of 
invasion. 55. the land shall be divided by 
lot — The appeal to the lot did not place 
the matter beyond the control of God; for it 
is at His disposal, (Pro. 16. 33.) and He has 
fixed to all the bounds of their habitation. 
The manner in which the lot was taken has 
not been recorded. But it is evident that 
the lot was cast for determining the quarter 
of the country on which each tribe should 
be located— not the quantity of their pos- 
sessions. In other words, when the lot had 
decided that a particular tribe was to be 
settled in the north or the south, the east or 
the Jwest, the extent of territory was allo- 
cated according to the rule {v. 54.). 57. Fami- 
lies of the Levites— The census of this tribe 
was taken separately and on a different 
principle from the rest. See Ex. 6. 16-19.) 
62. Twenty and three thousand— So that there 
was an increase of a thousand, (ch. 3. 39.) 
males from a month old and upward— (See on 
ch. 3. 15.) 64. Among these there was not a 
man . . . numbered in the wilderness of Sinai— 
The statement in this verse must not be 
considered absolute. For, besides Cale b and 
Joshua, there were alive at this time Eleazar 
and Ithamar, and in all probability a con- 
siderable number of Levites, who had no 
participation in the popular defections in 
the wilderness. The tribe of Levi, having 
neither sent a spy into Canaan, nor being 
included in the enumeration at Sinai, must 
be regarded as not coming within the range 
of the fatal sentence; and therefore would 
exhibit a spectacle not to be witnessed in the 
other tribes of many in their ranks above 
sixty years of age. 

CHAPTEK XXVTI. 
Ver. 1-11. The Daughters or Zelophe- 
had Sue for an Inheritance. 4. Give us 
a possession among the brethren of our father— 
Those young women, perceiving that the 
males only in families had been registered 
in the census, and that in consequence of 
none in their household, their family, was 
omitted, made known their grievance to 
Moses, and the authorities conjoined with 
him in administering justice. The case 
was important; and as the peculiarity of 
daughters being the sole members of a 
family would be no unfrequent or uncommon 
occurrence, the law of inheritance, under 
Divine authority, was extended not !only to 
meet all similar cases, but other cases also- 
such as when there were no children left by 
the proprietor, and no brothers to succeed 
him. A distribution of the promised land was 
about to be made; and it is interesting to 
know the legal provision made in these com- 
paratively rare cases for preserving a patri- 
mony from being alienated to another tribe. 
(See on ch. 36. 6, 7.) 3. Our father died ... not 
in the company of Korah— This declaration 
might be necessary, because his death might 
123 



have occurred about the time of that rebel- 
lion; and especially because, as the children 
of these conspirators were involved along 
with themselves in the awful punishment, 
their plea appeared the more proper and 
forcible that their father did not die for any 
cause that doomed his family to lose their 
lives or their inheritance, died in his own 
sin— i.e., by the common law of mortality to 
which men, through sin, are subject. 

12-17. Moses, being Told of his Death, 
Sueth for a Successor. 12. Get thee up into 
this mount Abarim— Although the Israelites 
were now on the confines of the promised 
land, Moses was not privileged to cross the 
Jordan, but died on one of the Moabite range 
of mountains, to which the general name of 
Abarim was given, (ch. 33. 47.) The priva- 
tion of this great honour was owing to the 
unhappy conduct he had manifested in the 
striking of the rock at Meribah; and whilo 
the pious leader submitted with meek ac- 
quiescence to the Divine decree, he evinced 
the spirit of genuine patriotism in his fervent 
prayers for the appointment of a worthy and 
competent successor. 16. God of the spirits of 
all flesh — The request was most suitably 
made to God in this character, as the Author 
of all the intellectual gifts and moral graces 
with which men are endowed, and who can 
raise up qualified persons for the most'ardu- 
ous duties and the most difficult situations. 

18-23. Joshua Appointed to Succeed 
Him. Take Joshua ... a man in whom is the 
spirit— A strong testimony is here borne to 
the personality of the Divine Spirit— the 
imposition of hands was an ancient ceremony. 
(See on Ge. 48. 14; Le. 1. 4; 1 Ti. 4. 14.) 20. Put 
some of thine honour upon him— In the whole 
history of Israel there arose no prophet or 
ruler in all respects like unto Moses, till the 
Messiah appeared, whose glory eclipsed all. 
But Joshua was honoured and qualified in 
an eminent degree, through the special ser- 
vice of the high priest, who asked counsel 
for him after the judgment of Urim before 
the Lord. 

chapter xxvrn. 

Ver. 1-31. Offerings to be Observed. 
2. command the children of Israel, and say unto 
them— The repetition of several laws formerly 
enacted, which is made in this chapter, was 
seasonable and necessary, not only on ac- 
count of their importance and the frequent 
neglect of them, but because a new genera- 
tion had sprung up since their first institu- 
tion, and because the Israelites were about 
to be settled in the land where those ordi- 
nances were to be observed. My offering 
and my bread— used generally for the ap- 
pointed offerings, and the import of the 
prescription is to enforce regularity and care 
m their observance. 9, 10. This is the burnt- 
offering of every Sabbath— There is no previous 
mention of a Sabbath burnt-offering, which 
was additional to the daily sacrifices. 11-15. 
In the beginnings of your months— These were 
held as sacred festivals; and though not pos- 
sessing the character of solemn leasts, they 
were distinguished by the blowing of trum- 
pets over the sacrifices, (ch. 10. 10, i by the 
suspension of all labour, except the domestic 
occupations of women, (Amos, 8. 5,) by the 
celebration of public worship, ( 2Ki. 4. 23,) 
and by social or family feasts. (1 Sam. 20. 5.) 
These observances are not prescribed in the 
law, though they obtained in the practice of 



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The Feast of Trumpets. 



NUMBERS, XXIX, XXX. Vows are not to be Broken. 



a later time. The beginning of the month 
was known, not by astronomical calculations, 
but, according to Jewish writers, by the tes- 
timony of messengers appointed to watch the 
first visible appearance of the new moon, and 
then the fact was announced through the 
whole country by signal-fires kindled on the 
mountain tops. The new moon fastivals 
having been common amongst the heathen, 
it is probable that an important design of 
their institution in Israel was to give the 
minds of that people a better direction; and 
assuming this to have been one of the objects 
contemplated, it will account "for one of the 
kids being offered unto the Lord" (v. 15,! not 
unto the moon, as the Egyptians and Syrians 
did. The Sabbath and the new moon are 
frequently mentioned together. 16-25. In 
the fourteenth day of the first month is the pass- 
over— The law for that great annual festival 
is given (Le. 23. 5,) but some details are 
here introduced, as certain specified offer- 
ings are prescribed to be made on each of 
the seven days of unleavened bread. 26, 27. 
In the day of the first-fruits . . . offer the burnt- 
offering— A new sacrifice is here ordered for 
the celebration of this festival, in addition 
to the other offering, which was to accom- 
pany the first-fruits. (Le. 23. 18.) 
CHAPTER XXIX. 
Ver. 1-40. The Offering at the Feast 
of Trumpets. 1. On the seventh month— of 
the ecclesiastical year, but the first month of 
the civil year, corresponding to our Septem- 
ber. It was, in fact, the New Year's Day, 
which had been celebrated among theHebrew 
and other contemporary nations with great 
festivity and joy, and ushered in by a flour- 
ish of trumpets. This ordinance was de- 
signed to give a religious character to the 
occasion by associating it with some solemn 
observances, (cf. Ex. 12. 2 ; Le. 23. 2\.) it is a 
blowing of the trumpets unto you— This made it 
a solemn preparation for the sacred feasts— 
a greater number of which were held during 
this month than at any other season of the 
year. Although the institution of this feast 
was described before, there is more particu- 
larity here as to what the burnt-offering 
should consist of, and, in addition to it, a 
sin-offering is prescribed. The special 
offerings, appointed for certain days, were 
not to interfere with the offerings usually 
requisite on these days, for in v. 6 it is said 
that the daily offerings, as well as those for 
the first day of the month, were to take place 
in their ordinary course. 7-11. Ye shall have 
on the tenth day of the seventh, month— This 
was the great day of atonement. Its institu- 
tion, together with the observance to which 
that day was devoted, was described, (Le. 
16. 29, 30.). But additional offerings seem to 
be noticed, viz., the large animal sacrifice 
for a general expiation, which was a sweet 
savour unto the Lord, and the sin-offering 
to atone for the sins that mingled with that 
day's services. The prescriptions in this 
passage appear supplementary to the former 
statement in Leviticus. 12-34. On the fifteenth 
day— was to be held the feast of booths or 
tabernacles. (See on Le. 23. 34, 35.) The feast 
was to last seven days, the first and last of 
which were to be kept as sabbaths, and a 
particular offering was prescribed for each 
day, the details of which are given with a 
minuteness suited to the infant state of the 
Church. Two things are deserving of notice 
124 



—first, that this feast was distinguished by 
a greater amount and variety of sacrifices 
than any other— partly because, occurring 
at the end of the year, it might be intended 
to supply any past deficiencies— partly be- 
cause, being immediately after the in -gather- 
ing or the fruits, it ought to be a liberal 
acknowledgment— and partly, perhaps, be- 
cause God consulted the weakness of man- 
kind, who naturally grow weary both of the 
charge and labour of such services when 
they are long continued, and made them 
every day less toilsome and expensive. 
[Patrick.] Secondly, it will be remarked, 
that the sacrifices varied in a progressive 
ratio of decrease every day. after the man- 
ner—according to the ritual order appointed 
by Divine authority— that for meat-offer- 
ings (v. 3-10.). and drink-offerings. (See on 
ch. 28. 7, 14.) 35-40. on the eighth day — 
The feast of tabernacles was brought to 
a close on the eighth day. which was the 
great day. (Jo. 7. 37.) Besides the common 
routine sacrifices, there were special offer- 
ings appointed for that day, though these 
were fewer than on any of the preceding 
days; and there were also, as was natural 
on that occasion, when vast multitudes were 
convened for a solemn religious purpose, 
many spontaneous gifts and services, so 
that there was full scope for the exercise of 
a devout spirit in the people, both by their 
obedience to the statutory offerings, and by 
the presentation of those which were made 
by free will or in consequence of vows. 39. 
These things ye shall do unto the Lord in your 
set feasts— From the statements made in this 
and the preceding chapter, it appears that 
the yearly offerings made to the altar at the 
public expense, without taking into account 
a vast number of voluntary vow and tres- 
pass-offerings, were calculated at the follow- 
ing amount:— Goats, 15; kids, 21; rams, 72; 
bullocks, 132; lambs, 1,101; sum total of ani- 
mals sacrificed at public cost, 1,241. This, of 
course, is exclusive oi the prodigious addi- 
tion of lambs slain at the passover, which in 
later times, according to Josephus, amounted 
in a single year to the immense number of 
255,600. 

CHAPTEE XXX. 
Ver. 1-16. Vows are Not to be Broken. 
1. This is the thing which the Lord hath com- 
manded—The subject of this chapter relates 
to vowing, which seems to have been an 
ancient usage, allowed by the law to remain; 
and by which some people declared their 
intention of offering some gift on the altar, 
of abstaining from particular articles of meat, 
or drink, of observing a private fast, or doing 
something to the honour, or in the service of 
God,over and above what was authoritatively 
required. In v. 39 of the preceding chapter, 
mention was made of "vows and free-will 
offerings," and it is probable, from the ex- 
planatory nature of the rules laid down in 
this chapter, that these were given for the 
removal of doubts and difficulties which 
conscientious persons had felt about their 
obligation to perform their vows in certain 
circumstances that had arisen. 2. If a man 
vow a vow— A mere secret purpose of the 
mind was not enough to constitute a vow; 
it had to be actually expressed in words; 
and though a purely voluntary act, yet when 
once the vow was made, the performance of 
it, like that of every other promise, became 



Solemnities of seventh month. NUMBERS, XXX, XXXI. 



Laws concerning vows. 



offerings for the bullocks, for the rams, and 
for the lambs, shall be according to their 
number, after the manner; 

25 And one kid of the goats for a sin 
offering, beside the continual burnt offer- 
ing, his meat offering, and his drink offer- 
ing. 

26 1T And on the fifth day nine bullocks, 
two rams, and fourteen lambs of the first 
year, m without spot: 

27 And their meat offering and their drink 
offerings for the bullocks, for the rams, and 
for the lambs, shall be according to their 
number, after the manner; 

28 And one goat for a sin offering, beside 
the continuarburnt offering, and his meat 
offering, and his drink offering. 

29 1[ And on the sixth day eight bullocks, 
two rams, and fourteen lambs of the first 
year, without blemish: 

30 And their meat offering and their drink 
offerings for the bullocks, for the rams, and 
for the lambs, shall be according to their 
number, after the manner; 

31 And one goat for a sin offering, beside 
the continual burnt offering, his meat offer- 
ing, and his chink offering. 

32 1T And on the seventh day seven bul- 
locks, two rams, and fourteen iambs of the 
first year, without blemish: 

33 And their meat offering and their drink 
offerings for the bullocks, for the rams, and 
for the lambs, shall be according to their 
number, after the manner; 

34 And one goat for a sin offering, beside 
the continual burnt offering, his meat offer- 
ing, and his drink offering. 

35 1T On the eighth day ye shall have a 
solemn n assembly; ye shall do no servile 
work therein: 

36 But ye shall offer a burnt offering, a 
sacrifice made by fire, of a sweet savour 
unto the Lord : one bullock, one ram, 
seven lambs of the first year, without 
blemish: 

37 Their meat offering and their drink 
offerings for the bullock, for the ram, and 
for the lambs, shall be according to then 
number, after the manner; 

38 And one goat for a sin offering, beside 
the continual burnt offering, and his meat 
offering, and his drink offering. 

39 These things ye shall 2 do unto the 
Lord in your ° set feasts, beside your ^vows, 
and your free-will offerings, for your burnt 
offerings, and for your meat offerings, and 
for your drink offerings, and for your peace 
offerings. 

40 And Moses told the children of Israel 
according to all that the Lord commanded 
Moses. 

CHAPTER XXX. 
1 Vows are not to be broken. 3 Of a maid's vow; 

9 Of a widow's, or of her that is divweed. 
AND Moses spake unto a the heads of 
"*■*■ the tribes concerning the children of 
Israel, saying, This is the thing which the 
Lord hath commanded. 

2 If b a man vow a vow unto the Lord, or 
swear c an oath to bind his soul with a 
bond; he shall not i break his word, he 
shall d do according to all that proceedeth 
out of his mouth. 

3 If a woman also vow a vow unto the 
Lord, and bind herself by a bond, being in 
her father's house in her youth; 

4 And her father hear her vow, and her 
bond wherewith she hath bound her soul, 

125 



CHAP. 29. 
m John 1.29. 

Heb. 7. 26. 

1 Pet. 1. 

19. 

Rev. 5. 

6-14. 
n Lev. 23.36. 

Pa. 47.5,6. 

Is. 11. 10. 

Is. 54. 1. 

Is. 00. 1. 

Mat. 28. 1. 

Jolui 7. 37. 

Heb. 1. 3. 

Heb. 4. 9. 

Rev. 7. 

9-17. 

Rev. 11.15. 

Rev. 21. 1. 

Rev. 22. 1. 
2 Or, offer. 
o Lev. 23. 2. 

1 Chr. 23. 
31. 

2 Chr. 31.3. 
Ezra 3. 5. 
Neh. 10.33. 
Is. 1. 14. 

P Lev. 22. 21. 



CHAP. 30. 
a ch. 1. 4, 16. 

ch. 7. 2. 
6 Lev. 27. 2. 

Deu. 23.21. 

Judg.11.30, 

35. 

Ec. 5. 4. 
c Lev. 5. 4. 

Mat. 14. 9. 

Acts 23.14. 

1 profane. 
Ps. 55. 20. 

d Ps. 50. 14. 
Ps. 66. 13, 
14. 

Ps. 116. 14. 
18. 
Nah. 1. 15. 

2 her vows 
were upon 
her. 

Ps. 56. 12. 
6 Gen. 3. 16. 

1 Cor. 7. 4. 

1 Cor. 14. 

34. 

Eph. 5. 

22-24. 

Col. 3. 18. 

1 Pet. 3. 1. 

1 Tim. 2. 

11, 12. 
/Lev. 21. 7. 

3 making 
void hath 
made them 
void. 

4 Or, take 
away. 
Lev. 5. 1. 
Lev. 20. 17. 



CHAP. 31. 

«ch. 25. 17, 
Deut. 32, 
35,43. 
Ps. 94. 1. 

b ch. 27. 13. 
Gen. 15. 15 

c Jer. 50. 28. 

1 A thou- 
sand of a 
tribe, a 
thousand 
of a tribe. 



and her father shall hold his peace at her; 
then all her vows shall stand, and every 
bond wherewith she hath bound her soul 
shall stand. 

5 But if her father disallow her in the day 
that he heareth ; not any of her vows, or 
of her bonds wherewith she hath bound 
her soul, shall stand: and the Lord shall 
forgive her, because her father disallowed 
her. 

6 And if she had at all an husband when 
2 she vowed, or uttered ought out of her 
lips, wherewith she bound her soul; 

7 And her husband heard it, and held his 
peace at her in the day that he heard it; 
then her vows shall stand, and her bonds 
wherewith she bound her soul shall stand. 

8 But if her husband e disallowed her on 
the day that he heard it; then he shall 
make her vow which she vowed, and that 
which she uttered with her lips, wherewith 
she bound her soul, of none effect: and the 
Lord shall forgive her. 

9 But every vow of a widow, and of her 
that is /divorced, wherewith they have 
bound their souls, shall stand against her. 

10 And if she vowed in her husband's 
house, or bound her soul by a bond with 
an oath ; 

11 And her husband heard it, and held 
his peace at her, and disallowed her not; 
then all her vows shall stand, and every 
bond wherewith she bound her soul shall 
stand. 

12 But if her husband hath s utterly made 
them void on the day he heard them; then 
whatsoever proceeded out of her lips con- 
cerning her vows, or concerning the bond 
of her soul, shall not stand: her husband 
hath made them void; and the Lord shall 
forgive her. 

13 Every vow, and every binding oath to 
afflict the soul, her husband may establish 
it, or her husband may make it void. 

14 But if her husband altogether hold his 
peace at her from day to day; then he 
establisheth all her vows, or all her bonds, 
which are upon her: he confinneth them, 
because he held his peace at her in the day 
that he heard them. 

15 But if he shall any ways make them 
void after that he hath heard them; then 
he shall * bear her iniquity. 

16 These are the statutes which the Lord 
commanded Moses, between a man and his 
wife, between the father and his daughter, 
being yet in her youth in her father's house. 

CHAPTER XXXI. 

1 The Midianites spoiled, and Balaam slain. 13 
Moses is wroth with the ojficers for saving the 
women alive. 

A 2s D the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 
xx 2 Avenge ° the children of Israel of 
the Midianites: afterward shalt thou &be 
gathered unto thy people. 

3 And Moses spake unto the people, say- 
ing, Arm some of yourselves unto the war, 
and let them go against the Midianites, 
and c avenge the Lord of Midian. 

4 x Of every tribe a thousand, throughout 
all the tribes of Israel, shall ye send to the 
war. 

5 So there were delivered out of the thou- 
sands of Israel, a thousand of every tribe, 
twelve thousand armed for war. 

6 And Moses sent them to the war, a thou- 
sand of every tribe, them and Phinehas the 
son of Eleaiar the priest, to the war, witb 



The Execution of a Maid's Vow. NUMBEES, XXXI. 



The Midianites Spoiled. 



an indispensable duty— all the more that, entering into a hostile league with the Amo- 
referring to a sacred thing, it could not be j rites. (Josh. 13. 21.) The Moabites were at 
neglected without the guilt of prevarication j this time spared in consideration of Lot, 
and unfaithfulness to God. shall not break— \ (Deu. 2. 9,) and because the measure of their 
lit, profane his word— render it vain and I iniquities was not yet full, God spoke of 
contemptible. (Ps. 55. 20; 89. 34.) But as it j avenging "the children of Israel;" Moses 



would frequently happen that parties would 
vow to do things, which were neither good 
in themselves nor in their power to perform, 
the law ordained that their natural superiors 
should have the right of judging as to the 
propriety of those vows, with discretionary 
power to sanction or interdict their fulfil- 
ment. Parents were to determine in the 
case of their children, and husbands in that 
of their wives;— being, however, allowed 
only a day for deliberation after the matter 
became known to them, and their judgment, 
if unfavourable, released the devotee from 
all obligation. 3. A woman in her father's house 
in her youth— Girls only are specified; but 
minors of the other sex, who resided under 
the paternal roof, were included, according 
to Jewish writers, who also consider the 
name "father" as comprehending all guard- 
ians of youth, and tell us that the age at 
which young people were deemed capable of 
vowing, was 13 for boys, and 12 for girls. 
The judgment of a father or guardian on the 
vow of any under his charge, might be given 
either by an expressed approval, or by 
silence, which was to be construed as ap- 
proval. But in the case of a husband— who, 
after silence from day to day, should ulti- 
mately disapprove or hinder his wife's vow, 
the sin of non-performance was to be im- 
puted to him and not to her. 9. Every vow 
of a widow— In the case of a married woman, 
who, in the event of a separation from her 
husband, or of his death, returned, as was 
not uncommon, to her father's house, a doubt 
might have been entertained whether she was 
not, as before, subject to paternal jurisdic- 
tion, and obliged to act with the paternal 
consent. The law ordained that the vow 
was binding, if it had been made in her hus- 
band's life-time.andhe, on being made aware 
of it, had not interposed his veto: as, for 
instance, she might have vowed, when not a 
widow, that she would assign a proportion 
of her income to pious and charitable uses, 
of which she might repent, when actually a 
widow- but by this statute she was required 
to fulfil the obligation, provided her circum- 
stances enabled her to redeem the pledge. 
The rules laid down must have been exceed- 
ingly useful for the prevention or cancelling 
of rash vows, as well as for giving a proper 
sanction to such as were legitimate in their 
nature, and made in a devout, reflecting 
spirit. 

CHAPTEE XXXI. 
Ver. 1-54. The Midianites Spoiled and ! the sword— This unprincipled man, on his dis 
Balaam Slain. 1, 2. The Lord spake unto missal from Balak,set out for his home in Me- 
Moses, Avenge ... of the Midianites— a semi- 1 sopotamia. (ch. 24. 25.) But, either diverging 
nomade people, descended from Abraham j from his way to tamper with the Midianites, 
and Keturah, occupying a tract of country j he remained among them, without proceed- 
east and south east of Moab, which lay on ing further, to incite them against Israel, and 
the eastern coast of the Dead Sea. They to watch the effects of his wicked counsel ; 
seem to have been the principal instigators | or, learning in his own country that the 
of the infamous scheme of seduction,planned j Israelites had fallen into the snare which he 
to entrap the Israelites into the double crime j had laid, and which he doubted not would 
of idolatry and licentiousness, by which, it ! lead to their ruin, he had, under the impulse 
was hoped, the Lord would withdraw from j of insatiable greed, returned to demand his 
that people the benefit of His protection and reward from the Midianites. He was an 
favour. Moreover, the Midianites had ren- object of merited vengeance. In the im- 
dered themselves particularly obnoxious by mense slaughter of the Midianitish people— 
125 



poke of avenging the Lord, as dishonour 
had been done to God, and an injury inflict- 
ed on His people. The interests were iden- 
tical. God and His people have the same 
cause, the same friends and assailants. This, 
in fact, was a religious war, undertaken by 
the express command of God against idola- 
ters, who had seduced the Israelites to prac- 
tise their abominations, arm yourselves— This 
order was issued but a short time before 
the death of Moses. The announcement to 
him of that approaching event seems to 
have accelerated, rather than retarded, his 
warlike preparations. 5. There were delivered 
— i. e., draughted, chosen, an equal amount 
from each tribe, to prevent the outbreak 
of mutual jealousy or strife. Considering 
the numerical force of the enemy, this was 
a small quota to furnish. But the design 
was to exercise their faith, and animate 
them to the approaching invasion of Ca- 
naan. 6. Moses sent .... Eleazar the priest 
—Although it is not expressly mentioned, 
it is highly probable that Joshua was the 
general who conducted this war. The pre- 
sence of the priest, who was always with 
the army, (Deu. 20. 2,) was necessary to pre- 
side over the Levites, who accompanied the 
expedition, and to inflame the courage of the 
combatants by his sacred services and coun- 
sels, holy instruments— As neither the Ark 
nor the Urim and Thummim were carried to 
the battle-field till a later period in the his- 
tory of Israel, the "holy instruments" must 
mean the " trumpets. " (ch. 10. 9.) And 
this view is agreeable to the text, by simply 
changing "and" into "even," as the Heb. 
particle is frequently rendered. 7. they slew 
all the males— This was in accordance with 
a Divine order in all such cases. (Deu. 20. 
13.) But the destruction appears to have 
been only partial— limited to those who were 
in the neighbourhood of the Hebrew camp, 
and who had been accomplices in the villan- 
ous plot of Baal-peor, while a large portion of 
the Midianites were absent on their pastoral 
wanderings, or had saved themselves by 
flight, (cf. Jud. 6. 1.) 8. The kings of Midian— 
so called, because each was possessed of abso- 
lute power within his own city or district- 
called also dukes or princes of Sihon, (Josh. 
13. 21,) having been probably subject to that 
Amorite ruler, as it is not uncommon in the 
East to find a number of governors or pachas 
tributary to one great king. Zur— father of 
Cozbi. (ch. 25. 15.) Balaam also they slew with 



The Midianites spoiled. 



NUMBERS, XXXI. 



the holy instrimients, and d the trumpets 
to blow in his hand. 

7 And they warred against the Midianites, 
as the Lord commanded Moses; and e they 
slew all the /males. 

8 And they slew the kings of Midian, 
besides the rest of them that were slain ; 
namely, ?Evi, and Kekem, and Zur, and 
Mm, and Reba, five kings of Midian: h Ba- 
laam also the son of Beor they slew with 
the sword. 

9 And the children of Israel took all the 
women of Midian captives, and their little 
ones, and took the spoil of all their cattle, 
and all their flocks, and all their goods. 

10 And they burnt all their cities wherein 
they dwelt, and all their goodly castles, 
with fire. 

11 And * they took all the spoil, and all 
the prey, both of men and of beasts. 

12 And they brought the captives, and 
the prey, and the spoil, unto Moses, and 
Eleazar the priest, and unto the congrega- 
tion of the children of Israel, unto the camp 
at the plains of Moab, which are by Jor- 
dan near J ericho. 

13 V And Moses, and Eleazar the priest, 
and all the princes of the congregation, 
went forth to meet them without the camp. 

11 And Moses was wroth with the officers 
of the host, with the captains over thou- 
sands, and captains over hundreds, which 
came from the a battle. 

15 And Moses said unto them, Have ye 
saved all i the women alive ? 

16' Behold, * these caused the children of 
Israel, through the l counsel of Balaam, to 
commit trespass against the Lord in the 
matter of Peor, and there was a plague 
among the congregation of the Lord. 

17 Now therefore m kill every male among 
the little ones, and kill every woman that 
hath known man by lying with 3 him. 

18 But all the women children, that have 
not known a man by lying with him, keep 
alive for yourselves. 

19 And n do ye abide without the camp 
seven days: whosoever hath killed any per- 
son, and whosoever ° hath touched any 
skin, purify both yourselves and your cap- 
tives on the third day, and on the seventh 
day. 

20 And purify all your raiment, and all 
* that is made of skins, and all work of 
goats' hair, and all things made of wood. 

21 H And Eleazar the priest said unto the 
men of war which went to the battle, This 
is the ordinance of the law which the Lord 
commanded Moses; 

22 Only the gold, and the silver, the brass, 
the iron, the tin, and the lead, 

23 Every thing that may abide the fire, ye 
shall make it go through the fire, and it 
shall be clean ; nevertheless it shall be 
purified with p the water of separation: 
and all that abideth not the fire ye shall 
make go through the water. 

21 And * ye shall wash your clothes on 
the seventh day, and ye shall be clean, and 
afterward ye shall come into the camp. 

25 H And the Lord spake unto Moses, 
saying, 

26 Take the sum of the prey 5 that was 
taken, both of man and of beast, thou, and 
Eleazar the priest, and the chief lathers of 

•he congregation ; 

27 And r divide the prey into two parts, 
Detween them that took the war upon 

126 



B. C. 1452. 

CHAP. 31. 

d ch. 10. 9. 
« Deut. 20. 

13. 

Judg. 21. 

11. 

1 Sa. 27. 9. 

1 Kin. 11. 

15, 16. 
f Judg. 6. 1, 

2,33. 
g Josh.13.21. 
h Josh. 13. 

22. 

Ps. 9. 16. 

Pro. 16. 5. 

Pro. 26. 27. 

Mat. 7. 22, 

23. 

1 Tim. 6. 9, 
10. 

2 Pet. 2. 
14-22. 
Jude 11. 
Rev. 2. 14. 

i Deu. 20.14. 

2 host of 
war. 

j Deu. 20.13. 

1 Sa.15. 3. 
k ch. 25. 2. 

I ch. 24. 14. 

2 Peter 2. 
15. 

Rev. 2. 14. 
m Judg. 21. 
11. 

3 a male. 
» ch. 5. 2. 

o ch. 19. 11. 
4instrument, 

or, vessel 

of skins. 
P ch. 19. 9, 

17. 
q Lev. 11. 25. 

ch. 19. 10. 

22. 

Ps. 51. 2. 

Zech. 13. 1. 

£ph. 5. 26. 

Heb. 9. 9, 

10. 

Heb. 10.22. 

1 John 1. 7. 
5 of the 

captivity. 
r Josh. 22. 8. 

1 Sa. 30 4. 

5 2 Sam. 8. 
11. 

1 Chr. 26. 
27. 

Is. 18. 7. 

Is. 23. 18. 

t ch. 18. 26. 

6 Or, goats. 
t*ch. 3. 7, 8, 

25, 31, 36. 
ch. 18. 3, 4. 

V Pro. 3. 9. 
Mat. 22.21. 
Mark 12. 
17. 

Luke 20. 
25. 
w ch. 18. 8, 
19. 

7 hand. 

* £x. 23. 27. 
Lev. 20. 
7-9. 

Ps. 72. 14. 
Ps. 116.15. 
1 Sam. 30. 
19. 

8 found. 

V Ex. 30. 12, 
16. 



Hie division of the prep. 

them, who went out to battle, and between 
all the congregation: 

28 And levy a 8 tribute unto the Lord of 
the men of war which went out to battle: 
one * soul of five hundred, both of the per- 
sons, and of the beeves, and of the asses, 
and of the sheep: 

29 Take it of their half, and give it unto 
Eleazar the priest, for an heave ottering of 
the Lord. 

30 And of the children of Israel's half, 
thou shalt take one portion of fifty, of the 
persons, of the beeves, of the asses, and of 
the ° flocks, of all manner of beasts, and 
give them unto the Levites, u which keep 
the charge of the tabernacle of the Lord. 

31 And Moses and Elpazar the priest did 
as the Lord commanded Moses. 

32 And the booty, being the rest of the 
prey which the men of war had caught, 
was six hundred thousand and seventy 
thousand and five thousand sheep, 

33 And threescore and twelve thousand 
beeves, 

34 And threescore and one thousand asses, 

35 And thirty and two thousand persons 
in all, of women that had not known man 
by lying with him. 

36 And the half, which was the portion of 
them that went out to war, was in number 
tliree hundred thousand and seven and 
thirty thousand and five hundred sheep : 

37 And the Lord's v tribute of the sheep 
was six hundred and threescore and fifteen. 

38 And the beeves were thirty and six 
thousand; of which the Lord's tribute was 
threescore and twelve. 

39 And the asses were thirty thousand 
and five hundred; of which the Lord's 
tribute was threescore and one. 

40 And the persons were sixteen thousand ; 
of which the Lord's tribute was thirty and 
two persons. 

41 And Moses gave the tribute, which was 
the Lord's heave offering, unto Eleazar the 
priest; w as the Lord commanded Moses. 

42 And of the children of Israel's' half, 
which Moses divided from the men that 
warred, 

43 (Now the half that pertained unto the 
congregation was three hundred thousand 
and thirty thousand and seven thousand 
and five hundred sheep, 

44 And thirty and six thousand beeves, 

45 And thirty thousand asses and five 
hundred, 

46 And sixteen thousand persons ;) 

47 Even of the children of Israel's half, 
Moses took one portion of fifty, both of 
man and of beast, and gave them unto the 
Levites, which kept the charge of the 
tabernacle of the Lord ; as the Lord 
commanded Moses. 

48 If And the officers which were over 
thousands of the host, the captains of 
thousands, and captains of hundreds, came 
near unto Moses: 

49 And they said unto Moses, Thy servants 
have taken the sum of the men of war 
which are under our 1 charge, and there 
lacketh not one * man of us. 

50 We have therefore brought an oblation 
for the Lord, what every man hath 8 gotten, 
of jewels of gold, chains, and bracelets, 
rings, earrings, and tablets, v to make an 
atonement for our souls before the Lord. 

51 And Moses and Eleazar the priest took 
the gold of them, even all wrought jewels. 



Purification of the Soldiers, dkc. NUMBERS, XXXII. 



The Voluntary Oblation. 



in the capture of their women, children, and 
property— and in the destruction of all their 
places of refuge,— the > everity of a righteous 
God fell heavily on that base and corrupt 
race. Bat, more than all others, Balaam de- 
served, and got the just reward of his deeds. 
His conduct had been atrociously sinful, 
considering the knowledge he possessed, and 
the revelations he had received, of tlie wilJ 
of God. For any one in his circumstances 
to attempt defeating the prophecies he had 
himself been the organ of uttering, and 



portions:— Sheep, 675,000— half to soldiers, 
337; deducted to God, 675; half to congrega- 
tion, 337,500; deducted to the Levites, 6,750. 
Beeves, 72,000— half to soldiers, 36,000; de- 
ducted to God, 72; half to congregation, 36,000; 
deducted to the Levites, 720. Asses, 61,000— 
half to soldiers, 30,500; deducted to Cod, 61; 
half to congregation, 30,500; deducted to the 
Levites, 610. Persons, 32,000— hah" to sol- 
diers, 16,000; deducted to God. 32 ; half to 
congregation, 16 000; deducted to the Le- 
vites, 320. 48-54. Officers said. There lacketh not 



Slotting to deprive the chosen people of the ! one of us— A victory so signal, and the glory of 
>ivine favour and protection, was an act of ; which was untarnished by the loss of a single 
desperate wickedness, which no language Jsraelitish soldier, was an astonishing mira 



can adequately characterize. 13, went forth 
to meet them without the camp— partly as a 
token of respecb and congratulation on 
their victory, partly to see how they had 
executed the Lord's commands, and partly 
to prevent the defilement of the camp 
by the entrance of warriors stained with 
blood. 14-18. Moses was wrotn— The dis- 
pleasure of the great leader, though it ap- 
pears the ebullition of a fierce and sanguin- 
ary temper, arose in reality from a pious and 
enlightened regard to the best interests of 
Israel. No order had been given for the 
slaughter of the women, and in ancient war 
they were commonly reserved for slaves. 
By their antecedent conduct, however, the 
Midianitish women had for eited all claims 
to mildor mercLul treatment; and the sacred 
character, the avowed object of the war, (v. 
2,3,) made their slaughter necessary without 
any special order. But why " kill every 
male among the little ones?" It was de- 
signed to be a war of extermination, such as 
God himself had ordered against the people 
of Canaan, whom the Midianites equalled 
in the enormity of their wickedness. 19-24. 
Abide without the camp seven days— Though 
the Israelites had taken the field in obedience 
to the command of God, they had become 
defiled by contact with the dead. A pro- 
cess of purification was to be undergone, as 
the law required, iLe. 15. 13; ch. 19. 9-12,) 
and this purifying ceremony was extended 
to dress, houses, tents, to every thing on 
which a dead body had lain, which had been 
touched by the blood-stained hands of the 
Israelitish warriors, or which had been the 
property of idolaters. This became a stand- 
ing ordinance in all time coming. (Le. 6. 28; 
11. 33 ; 15. 12.) 25-39. Take the sum of the 
prey— 4. e. , of the captives and cattle, which, 
having been first slumped together according 
to ancient usage, (Ex. 15. 9 ; Judg. 5. 30,) were 
divided into two equal parts: the one to the 
people at large, who had sustained a common 
injury from the Midianites, and who were 
all liable to serve; and the other portion to 
the combatants, who, having encountered 
the labours and perils of war, justly received 
the largest share. From both parts, how- 
ever, a certain jdeduction was taken for the 
.sanctuary, as a thank-offering to God for 
preservation and for victory. The soldiers 
had greatly the advantage in the distribu- 
tion; for a five-hundredth part only of 
their half went to the priest, while a fiftieth 
part of the congregation's half was given to 
the Levites. 32. the booty being the rest of the 
prey— Some of the captives having been kill- 
ed, [v. 17,) and part oi the cattle taken for the 
support of the army, the total amount of the 
booty remaining was in the following pro- 
126 



cle, and so clearly betokening the direct in- 
terposition of Heaven, might well awaken the 
liveliest feelings of grateful acknowledgment 
to God. Ps. 44. 2, 3. The oblation they 
brought for the Lord " was partly an atone- 
ment" or reparation for their error, {v. 14-16,) 
for it could not possess any expiatory virtue, 
and partly a tribute of gratitude for the stu- 
pendous service rendered them. It consisted 
of the " spoil," which, being the acquisition 
of individual valour, was not divided like 
the " prey," or live stock, each soldier retain- 
ing it in lieu of pay; it was offered by the 
"captains" alone, whose pious feelings were 
evinced by the dedication of the spoil which 
fell to their share. There were jewels to the 
amount of 16,750 shekels, equal to £87,869 
16s. 5d. sterling. 

CHAPTER XXXII. 
Ver. 1-42. The Reubenites and Gadites 
sue foe, an Inheritance.— The land of 
Jazer and the land of Gilead— A complete 
conquest had been made of the country east 
of the Jordan, comprising " the land of 
Jazer," which formed the southern district 
between the Arnon and Jabbok ; " the land 
of Gilead," the middle region between the 
Jabbok and Jarmouk, or Hieromax, includ- 
ing Bashan, which lay on the north of that 
river. The whole of this region is now called 
the Belka. It has always been famous for its 
rich and extensive pastures, and it is still the 
favourite resort of the Bedouin shepherds, 
who frequently contend for securing to their 
immense flocks the benefit of its luxuriant 
vegetation. In the camp of ancient Israel, 
Reuben and Gad were pre-eminently pas- 
toral ; and as these two tribes, being placed 
under the same standard, had frequent op- 
portunities of conversing and arranging 
about their common concerns, they united 
in preferring a request that the Transjor- 
danic region, so well suited to the habits of 
a pastoral people, might be assigned to 
them. 6-19. shall your brethren go to war, and 
shall ye sit here— Their language was am- 
biguous—and Moses, suspicious that this 
proposal was an act of unbelief— a scheme of 
self-policy and indolence to escape the perils 
of warfare and live in ease and safety, ad- 
dressed to them a reproachful and passionate 
remonstrance. Whether they had really 
meditated such a withdrawal from all share 
in the war of invasion, or the effect of their 
leader's expostulation, was to drive them 
from their original purpose, they now, in 
answer to his impressive appeal, declared in 
to be their sincere intention to co-operate 
with their brethren : but, if so, they ought 
to have been more explicit at first. 16. they 
came near— The narrative gives a picturesque 
description of this scene. The suppliants 



The Pev.beirites and Gadites 



NUMBERS, XXXII. 



sue for their inheritance. 



52 And all the sold of the » offering that 
thev offered up to the Lord, of the cap- 
tains of thousands, and of the captains 01 
hundreds, was sixteen thousand seven hun- 
dred and lift v shekels. 

63 (For z the men of war had taken spoil, 
every man for himself) . 

54 And Moses and Eleazar the pnest took 
the --old of the captains of thousands and 
of hundreds, and hroucht it into the taber- 
nacle of the congregation, for a a memorial 
for the children of Israel before the Lord. 

CHAPTER XXXII. 
The 2?«iNr>u'f« and GudiUs sue for their in- 
heritance on the east side of Jordan. 
VQW the children of Reuben and the 
■^ children of Gad had a very great mul- 
titude of cattle: and when they saw the 
land a of Jazer. and the land of Gilead, 
that, behold, the place was a place for 
cattle; 

2 The children of Gad and the children of 
Reuben came and spake unto Moses, and 
to Eleazar the priest, and unto the princes 
of the congregation, saying. 

3 Ataroth, and Dibon, and Jazer, b and 
Nimrah, and Heshbon, and Elealeh, c and 
Shebam, and Xebo. and d JBeon, 

4 Even the country e which the Lord 
smote before the congregation of Israel, is 
a land for cattle, and thy servants have 
cattle: 

5 Wherefore, said they, if we have found 
grace in thy suht, let this land be given 
unto thy servants for a possession, and 
bring us not over Jordan. 

6 r And Moses said unto the children of 
Gad and to the children of Reuben, Shall 
your brethren go to war, and shall ye sit 
here? 

7 And wherefore * discourage ye the heart 
of the children of Israel from going over 
into the land which the Lord hath given 
them? 

8 Thus did your fathers, /when I sent 
them from Ivadesh-barnea 9 to see the 
land. 

9 For * when they went up unto the valley 
of Eschol, and saw the land, they discour- 
aged the heart of the children of Israel. 
that they should not go into the land which 
the Lord had given them. 

10 And ■ the Lord's anger was kindled the 
same time, and he sware. saying, 

11 Surely none of the men that came up 
out of Egypt, i from twenty rears old and 
upward, shall see the J and which I sware 
unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto 
Jacob; because * they have not 2 wholly 
followed me ; 

12 Save Caleb the son of Jephunneh the 
Kenezite, and Joshua the son oi'Xun: L for 
they have wholly followed the Lord. 

13 And the Lord's anger was kindled 
against Israel, and he made them m wander 
m the wilderness forty years, until n all the 
generation, that had done evil in the sight 
ot the Lord, was consumed. 

14 And, behold, ye are risen up in vour 
lathers stead, an increase of sinful men, to 
augment yet the ° tierce anger of the Lord 
toward IsraeL 

15 For if ye p turn away from after him, 
he will yet again leave them in the wilder- 
ness: and ye shall destroy all this people. 

x ^\ Ana. they came near unto him. and 
6aid,W e will build sheep-folds here for our 
cattle, and cities lor our little ones; 
\2~i 



C. 1452. 



CHAP. 31. 
9 heave 

ofierinsr. 
* Deu. 20.14. 
a Ex. 30. 16. 



CHAP. 32. 
a Josh. 13. 

25. 

2 Sa. 24. 5. 
6 ver. 30, 

Beth-nim- 

rah. 
c ver. 38, 

Shibmah. 
d ver. 3S. 

Baal -tn eon. 
« ch. 21. 24, 

34. 

1 break, 
/'ch. 13. 3. 
g Deu. 1. 22. 
h eh. 13. 24, 

31. 

Deu. 1. 24. 

i ch. 14. 11. 

Deu. 1. 34. 

j Deu. 1. 35. 

A ch. 14. 24. 

2 fultiUed 
after me. 

I Deu. 1. 36. 

Josh. 14. 

8.9. 

Job 4. 7. 

Ps. ST. 29. 

Pro. 11. 31. 
M ch. 14. 33. 
» ch. 20. 64. 
o Deu. 1. 34. 
P Deu. 30.17. 

Josh. 22.16, 

18. 

2Chr.7.19. 

2Chr.l5.2. 
q Josh. 4. 12, 

13. 
r Josh. 22.4. 
« Josh. 12. 1. 

Josh. 13. 8. 
t 2 Kin. 5. 

32, 33. 

lCij.5.25. 
" Deu. 3. 18. 

Josh. 1.14. 

Josh. 4. 12, 

13. 
v Deu. 3. 20. 

Jo.-h.ll.23. 

Josh. 18. 1. 
f Josh. 22. 4. 
* Deu. 3. 12. 

15. 16, 18. 

J.sh.1.15. 

Jcsh. 13. 8, 

32. 

Josh. 22. 

4.9. 
V Gen. 4. 7. 

Gen. 44.16. 

Is. 59. 12. 
z ver. 16, 34. 
o Josh. 1. 14. 
6 Josh. 4. 12. 
e Deu. 3. 12. 

Josh. 12. 6 

Josh. 13. 8. 

Joeh. 22.4. 
d ch. 21. 24. 
« ch. 33. 45. 
/ Deu. 2. 36. 
g ver. 1. 3, 

Jazer. 
h ver. 3, 

>~imrah. 
i Is. 46. 1. 
j ch. 22. 41. 
k Ex. 23. 13. 



17 But q we ourselves will go ready armed 
before the children of Israel, until we have 
brought them unto their place: and our 
little ones shall dwell in the fenced cities 
because of the inhabitants of the land. 

18 We r will not return unto our houses, 
until the children of Israel have inherited 
every man his inheritance: 

ly For we will not inherit with them on 
yonder side Jordan, or forward; e because 
bur inheritance is fallen to us * on this side 
Jordan eastward. 

2JQ r And u Moses said unto them, If ye 
will do this thing, if ye will go armed be- 
fore the Lord to war, 

21 And will go all of you armed over Jor- 
dan before the Lord, "until he hath driven 
out his enemies from before him. 

22 And v the land be subdued before the 
Lord ; then afterward M ' ye shall return, 
and be guiltless before the Lord, and be- 
fore Israel: and ■ this land shall be your 
possession before the Lord. 

23 But if ye will not do so, behold, ye 
have sinned'a^ainst the Lord: and be sure 
your v sin will lind you out. 

24 Build z you cities for your little ones, 
and folds for your sheep ; and do that which 
hath proceeded out of your mouth. 

25 And the children of Gad and the chil- 
dren of Reuben spake unto Moses, saying, 
Thy servants will do as my lord com- 
maudeth. 

26 Our a little ones, our wives, our flocks, 
and all our cattle, shall be there in the 
cities of Gilead: 

27 But b thy servants will pass over, every 
man armed for war, before the Lord to 
battle, as my lord saith. 

28 So concerning them Moses commanded 
Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of 
]\un, and the chief fathers of the tribes of 
the children of Israel: 

29 And Moses said unto them, If the chil- 
dren of Gad and the children of Reuben 
will pass with you over Jordan, every man 
armed to battle, before the Lord, and the 
land shall be subdued before you ; then ye 
shall give them the land of 'Gilead for* a 
possession: 

30 But if they will not pass over with you 
armed, they shall have possessions among 
you in the land of Canaan. 

31 And the children of Gad and the chil- 
dren of Reuben answered, saying, As the 
Lord hath said unto thy servants, so will 
we do. 

32 We will pass over aimed before the 
Lord into the land of Canaan, that the 
possession of our inheritance on this side 
Jordan may be ours. 

33 And c Moses gave unto them, even to 
the children of Gad, and to the children of 
Reuben, and unto half the tribe of Manas- 
seh the son of Joseph. d the kingdom of 
Sihon king of the Amorites, and the king- 
dom of Og king of Bashan, the land. with 
the cities thereof in the coasts, even the 
cities of the country round about. 

M 1 And the children of Gad built e Di- 
bon, and Ataroth, and/ Aroer, 

35 And Atroth, Shophan, and 9 Jaazer, 
and Jogbehah, 

36 Anu h Beth-nimrah. and Beth-haran, 
fenced cities ; and folds for sheep. 

37 And the children of Reuben built Hesh- 
bon, and Elealeh, and Khjathaini, 

38 And » 2sebo, and j Baal-meon, (* their 



The Reubenitcs and GadiUs 



NUMBERS, XXXIH. 



Obtain their Inheritance. 



had shrunk back, dreading from the undis- 
guised emotions of their leader, that their 
request would be refused, But, perceiving, 
from the tenor of his discourse, that his 
objection was grounded only on the sup- 

Josition that they would not cross tiie 
ordan to assist their brethren, they be- 
came emboldened to approach him with 
assurances of their good-will. "We will 
build. . . cities for our little ones— i.e., rebuild, 
repair. It would have been impossible 
within two months to found new cities, or 
even to re-construct those which had been 
razed to the ground. Those of the Amorites 
were not absolutely demolished, and they 

Srobably consisted only of mud-built, or 
ry-stone walls. 17. because of the inhabit- 
ants of the laud— There was good policy in 
leaving a sufficient force to protect the con- 
quered region, lest the enemy should attempt 
reprisals; and as only 40,000 of the Reubenites 
and the Gadites, and a half of Manasseh, 

}>assed over the Jordan (Josh. 4. 13,) there was 
eft for the security of the new possessions 
70, '^80 men, besides women and child; en 
under 20 years (cf. ch. 26. 17.). We will go 
armed— i.e., all of us in a collective body, or 
as many as may be deemed necessary, while 
the rest of our number shall remain at home 
to provide for the sustenance and secure the 

Sirotection of our families and flocks (see on 
osh. 4. 12, 13.). 20-33. if ye will do this thing 
—with sincerity and zeal, go before the Lord 
to war— The phrase was used in allusion to 
the order of march in which the tribes of 
Eeuben and Gad immediately preceded the 
ark (see on ch. 12. 10-77). or to the passage 
over the Jordan, in which the ark stood in 
mid-channel, while all the tribes marched 
by in succession, (Josh. 3. 4,), of course in- 
cluding those of Eeuben and Gad, so that, 
literally, they passed over before the Lord and 
before the rest of Israel (Josh. 4. 13.). Per- 
haps, however, the phrase is used merely in 
a general sense to denote their marchinu on 
an expedition, the purpose of which was bles- 
sed with the presence, and destined to pro- 
mote the glory of God. The displeasure which 
Moses had felt on the first mention of their 
proposal had disappeared on the strength of 
their solemn assurances. But a lurking sus- 
picion of their motives seems still to have 
been lingering in his mind— he continued to 
speak to them in an admonitory strain; and 
concluded by warning them that, in case of 
their failing to redeem their pledge, the 
judgments of an offended God would assur- 
edly fall upon them. This emphatic caution 
against such an eventuality throws a strong 
doubt on the honesty of their first inten- 
tions; and yet, whether through the opposing 
attitude or the strong invectives of Moses, 
they had been brought to a better state of 
mind, their final reply showed that now all 
was right. 26-32. concerning them Moses 
commanded — The arrangement itself, as weJl 
as the express terms on which he assented 
to it, was announced by the leader to the 
public authorities— i.e.. The pastoral coun- 
try the two tribes had desired was to be 
granted them on condition of their lending 
their aid to their brethren in the approaching 
invasion of Canaan. If they refused, or 
failed to perform their promise, those pos- 
sessions should be forfeited, and themse ves 
compelled to go across the Jordan, and fi<rht 
for a settlement like the rest of their breth- 
127 



, ren. 33. half the tribe of Manasseh— It is 
i no where explained in the record how they 
were incorporated with the two tribes, or 
what broke this great tribe into two parts,of 
which one was left to follow the fortunes of 
its brethren in the settled life of the western 
hills, while the other was allowed to wander 
as a nomadic tribe over the pasture lands oi 
Gilead andBashan. They are not mentioned 
as acompanying Reuben and Gad in their ap- 
plication to Moses, neither were they includ- 
ed in his first directions (ver. 25) ; but as they 
also were a people addicted to pastoral pur- 
suits, and possessed as immense flocks as the 
other two, Moses invited the half of them 
to remain, in consequence, probably, of 
finding that this region was more than 
sufficient for the pastoral wants of the 
others, and gave them the preference, as 
some have conjectured, for their valorous 
conduct in the contests with the Amorites 
(cf. v. 39. with Josh. 17. 1.). 34-36. the chil- 
dren of Gad built— (see on v. 16,)— Dibon iden- 
tified with Dhebsn, now in ruins, an hour's 
distance from the Arnon, (Mojeb,) Ataroth 
crownsj— the^e are several towns so-called 
in Scripture ; but this one in the tribe of 
Gad has not been identified. Aroer, now 
Arair, standing on a precipice on the north 
bank of the Arnon. 35. Atroth, Shophan, or 
Zapuon— (Josh. 13. 27.) Jaazer, near a famed 
fountain, Ain Hazier, the waters of which 
flow into Wady Schaib, about 15 miles 
from Hesbon. Beth-nimrah, now Nimrin ; 
Heshbon, now Hesban ; Elealeh, (the high), 
now Elaal ; Kirjathaim (the double 'City) ; 
IS ebo, now Neba, near the mountain of that 
name ; Baal-meon, now Myoun, in ruins, 
where was a temple of Baal Josh. 13. 17 ; 
Jer. 48. 23.' ; Shibmah, or Snebam [v. 2.); near 
Heshbon, famous for vines (Is. 16. 9, 10; Jer. 
4s. 32.). their names being changed— either be- 
cause it was the general custom of con- 
querors to do so ; or, rather, because from 
the prohibition to mention the names of other 
gods (Ex. 23. 13,), as JS"ebo and Baal were, it 
was expedient on the first settlement of the 
Israelites to obliterate all remembrance of 
those idols. (See on Jo*h. 13. 17-20.) 39. 
Gilead — now Jelud. 41. liavoth-Jair — i.e., 
tent-villages. Jair, who captured them, was 
a descendant of Manasseh on the mother's 
side (i Chron. 2. 21, 22.). 42. Nobah— also a dis- 
tinguished person connected with the eastern 
branch of this tribe. 

CHAPTER XXXni. 
Ver. 1-15. Two and Forty Journeys 
of the Israelites — from Egypt to 
Sinai. These are the journeys — This chap- 
ter may be said to form the winding- 
up of the history of the travels of the 
Israelites through the wilderness ; for the 
three following chapters relate to matters 
connected with the occupation and division 
of the promised land. As several apparent 
discrepancies will be discovered on compar- 
ing the records here given of the journey - 
ings from Sinai, with the detailed account 
of the events narrated in the book of Exodus, 
and the occasional notices of places that are 
found in that of Deuteronomy, it is proba- 
ble that this itinerary comprises a list of the 
most important stations only in their jour- 
neys; those where they lormed prolonged en- 
campments, and whence they dispersed their 
flocks and herds to pasture on the adjacent 
plains till the surrounding herbage was 



Swrnma-rt; of the journeys 



NUMBERS, XXX III. 



of the Israelites. 



names being changed,) and Shibmah: and 
3 gave other names unto the cities which 
they builded. 

89 And the children of* Aiachir the son of 
Manaasefa went to Gilead, and took it, and 
dispossessed the Amorite which was in it. 

40 And Moses gave m Gilead unto Machir 
the son of ManaVseh; and he dwelt therein. 

41 And n Jan the son of Manasseh went 
and took the small towns thereof, and 
called them ° Havoth-jair. 

42 And Nobah went and took Kenath, and 
the villages thereof, and called it Nobah, 
after ? his own name. 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 

1 Two and forty journeys of the Israelites. 60 
The Canaanites are to be destroyed. 

HPHESE are the journeys of the children 
x of Israel, which went forth out of the 
land of Egypt with their armies under the 
hand of Moses and Aaron. 

2 And Moses wrote their goings out ac- 
cording to their journeys by the command- 
ment of the Loud : and these ore then* 
journeys according to their goings out. 

3 And they a departed from Rameses in 
the b first month, on the fifteenth day of 
the first month: on the morrow after the 
passover the children of Israel went out 
with c an liigh hand in the sight of all the 
Egyptians. 

4 For the Egyptians buried all their first- 
born, which the Lord had smitten among 
them: d upon their gods also the Lord 
executed judgments. 

5 And e the children of Israel removed 
from Rameses, and pitched in Succoth. 

6 And they departed from / Succoth, and 
pitched in Etham, which is in the edge of 
the wilderness. 

7 And g they removed from Etham, and 
turned again unto Pi-hahiroth, which is 
before Baal-zephon: and they pitched be- 
fore Migdol. 

8 And they departed from before Pi-hahi- 
roth, and h passed through the midst of the 
sea into the wilderness, and went three 
days' journey in the wilderness of Etham, 
and pitched in Marah. 

9 And they removed from Marah, and 
came unto Elim: and in Elim were twelve 
fountains of water, and threescore and ten 
palm trees; and they pitched there. 

10 And they removed from Elim, and en- 
camped by the Red sea. 

11 And they removed from the Red sea, 
and encamped in the » wilderness of Sin. 

12 And they took their journey out of 
the wilderness of Sin, and encamped in 
Dophkah. 

13 And they departed from Dophkah, and 
encamped in Alush. 

14 And they removed from Alush, and en- 
camped at i Rephidim, where was no water 
for the people to drink. 

15 And they departed from Rephidim, and 
pitched in the k wilderness of Sinai. 

10 And they removed from the desert of 
Sinai, and pitched * at i Kibroth-hattaa- 
Vah. 

17 And they departed from Kibroth-hat- 
taavah, and encamped at Hazeroth. 

13 And they departed from Hazeroth, and 
pitched in m Rithmah. 

19 And they departed from Rithmah, and 
pitched at Rimmon-parez. 

20 And they derailed from Rimmon-parez, 
and pitched in * Libnah. 

12S 



CHAP. 32. 

3 they called 

by names 

the names 

of the 

cities. 
I Gen 50.23. 
Ml Deu. 3. 12. 

Josh. 17.1. 
n Deu. 3. 14. 

Josh. 13. 

30. 

1 Chr.2. 

21. 
o Judy. 10.4. 

1 Kin. 4. 

13. 
p 2 Sam. 18. 

IS. 

Ps. 49. 11. 



CHAP. 33. 
a Ex. 12. 37. 
6 Ex. 13. 4. 
c Ex. 14. 8. 
d Ex. 18. 11. 
Is. 19. 1. 
Rev. VZ. 8. 
e Ex. 12. 37. 
/ Ex. 13. 20. 
9 Exod. 14. 

2,9. 
h Ex. 15.22. 
i Ex. 16. 1. 
j Ex. 17. 1. 

Ex. 19. 2. 
k Ex. 16. 1. 
I ch. 11. 34. 

1 That is, 
the graves 
of lust. 

m ch.12. 16. 
n Deu. 1. 1, 

Laban. 
o Deu. 10. 6. 

V Gen .36.27. 
Deu. 10. 6. 
1 Chr. 1. 
42. 

q Deu. 10. 7, 

Gudgodah. 
r Deu. 2. 8. 

1 Kin. 9. 

26. 

1 Kin. 22. 

48. 
8 ch. 20. 1. 
t ch. 21. 4. 
«■ Deu. 10.6. 

Deut. 32. 

50. 
v ch. 21. 1. 

2 Or, heaps 
of Aba- 
ci.. 21. 11. 

W ch. 32. 34. 
* Jer. 48. 22. 

E«2k. 6. 

14. 

V ch. 21. 20. 
Deut. 32. 
49. 

z ch. 22. 1. 

3 Mournful 
Shittira, 
or, the 
plains of 
Shittim. 
ch. 25. 1. 
Josh. 2. 1. 

a Josh. 3. 

17. 
b Exod. 23. 

24. 

Josh. 11. 

12. 

Judg. 2.2. 



21 And they removed from Libnah, and 
pitched at Rissah. 

22 And they journeyed from Rissah, and 
pitched in Kehelathah. 

23 And they went from Kehelathah, and 
pitched in mount Shapher. 

24 And they removed from mount Sha- 
pher, and encamped in Ilaradah. 

25 And they removed from Haradah, and 
pitched in Makheloth. 

26 And they removed from Makheloth, and 
encamped at Tahath. 

27 And they departed from Tahath, and 
pitched at Tarah. 

28 And they removed from Tarah, and 
pitched in Mithcah. 

29 And they went from Mithcah, and 
pitched in Hashmonah. 

30 And they departed from Hashmonah, 
and ° encamped at Moseroth. 

31 And they departed from Moseroth, and 
pitched in Bene-jaakan. 

32 And they removed from ^ Bene-jaakan, 
and encamped at q Hor-hagidgad. 

33 And they went from Hor-hagidgad, and 
pitched in Jotbathah. 

34 And they removed from Jotbathah, 
and encamped at Ebronah. 

35 And they departed from Ebronah, r and 
encamped at Ezion-gaber. 

36 And they removed from Ezion-gaber, 
and pitched in the 8 wilderness of Zin, 
which is Kadesh. 

37 And they removed from * Kadesh, and 
pitched in mount Hor, in the edge of the 
land of Edom. 

38 And u Aaron the priest went up into 
mount Hor, at the commandment of the 
Lord, and died there, in the fortieth year 
after the children of Israel were come out 
of the land of Egypt, in the first day of the 
fifth month. 

3D And Aaron was an hundred and twenty 
and three 3 ears old when he died in mount 
Hor. 

40 And v king Arad the Canaanite, which 
dwelt in the south in the land of Canaan, 
heard of the coming of the children or 
Israel. 

41 And they departed from mount Hor, 
and pitched in Zalmonah. 

42 And they departed from Zalmonah, 
and pitched in Punon. 

43 And they departed from Punon, and 
pitched in Oboth. 

44 And they departed from Oboth, and 
pitched in 2 Ije-abarim, in the border of 
Moab. 

45 And they departed from Iim, and pitched 
in w Dibon-gad. 

46 And they removed from Dibon-gad, 
and encamped hi x Almon-diblathaim. 

47 And they removed from Almon-dibla- 
thaim, y and pitched in the mountains of 
Abarim, before Nebo. 

48 And they departed from the mountains 
of Abarim, and z pitched in the plains of 
Moab, by Jordan near Jericho. 

49 And they pitched by Jordan, from 
Beth-jesimo.th even unto 3 Abel-shittim hi 
the plains of Moab. 

50 11 And the Lord spake unto Moses 
in the plains of Moab, by Jordan near 
Jericho, saying, 

51 Speak unto the children of Israel, and 
say unto them, a When ye are passed over 
Jordan into the land of Canaan; 

52 Then *> ye shall drive out all the 



Two and Forty Journeys 



NUMBERS, XXXIH. 



of the Israelites. 



exhausted. The catalogue extends from their 
departure out ofiigypt to their arrival on the 
plains of Moab. went forth with their armies— 
i.e., a, vast multitude marshalled in separate 
companies, but regular order. 2. Moses wrote 
by the commandment of the Lord— The wisdom 
of this divine order is seen in the import- 
ance of the end to which it was subservient, 
viz.— partly to establish the truth of the 
history, partly to preserve a memorial of 
God's marvellous interpositions on behalf of 
Israel, and partly to confirm their faith in 
the prospect of the difficult enterprise on 
which they were entering, the invasion of 
Canaan. 3. Rameses— generally identified 
with Heroopolis, now the modern Abu-Kei- 
sheid (see on Ex. 12. 37,), which was probably 
the capital of Goshen, and, by direction of 
Moses, the place of general rendezvous pre- 
vious to their departure. 4. upon their gods 
—used either according to Scripture phrase- 
ology to denote their rulers, the first-born of 
the king and his princes, or the idolatrous 
objects of Egyptian worship. 5. pitched in 
Succoth— i.e., booths— a place of no note ex- 
cept as a temporary halting-place, at JBirket- 
el-Hadji ithe Pilgrim's Pool;, [Calmet.] 6. 
Etham— edge, or border of all that part of 
Arabia-Petrcea which lay contiguous to 
Egypt, and was known by the general name of 
Shur. 7. Pi-hiharoth, tsaal-Zephon, andMigdol 
—(see on Ex. 14. 1-4. ) 8. Marah— thought to be 
Ain Howarah, both from its position and 
the time (three days) it would take them 
with their children and flocks to march from 
the water of Ayun Musa to that spot. 9. 
Elim— supposed to be Wady Ghurundel (see 
on Ex. 15. 27. . 10. Encamped by the Red sea 
—The road from Wady Ghurundel leads into 
the interior, in consequence of a high conti- 
nuous ridge which excludes all view of the 
sea. At the mouth of Wady-et-Tayibeh, 
after about three days' march, it opens again 
on a plain along the margin of the Red Sea. 
The minute accuracy of the Scripture narra- 
tive, in corresponding so exactly with the 
geographical features of this region, is re- 
markably shown in describing the Israelites 
as proceeding by the only practicable route 
that could be taken. This plain, where they 
encamped, was the Desert of Sin (see on Ex. 
16. l.i. 12-14. Dophkah, Alush, and Rephidim 
—these three stations, in the great valleys of 
El Sheikh and Feiran, would be equivalent 
to four days' journey for such a host. Re- 
phidim (Ex. 17. 6,) was in Horeb, the burnt 
region— a generic name for a hot moun- 
tainous country. 15. Wilderness of Sinai— 
The Wady Er Raheh. 

16-56. From Sinai to Kadesh and Plains 
OF Moab. 16-37. Kibroth-Hattaavah, (the 
graves of lust, see on ch. 11, 4-34.)— The 
route, on breaking up the encampment at 
Sinai, led down Wady Sheikh, then crossing 
Jebel-et-Tyh, which intersected the penin- 
sula, they descended into Wady Zalaka, 
pitching successively at two brief, though 
memorable stations, |(Deu. 9. 22,) and en- 
camped at Hazeroth, un wailed villages), sup- 
posed to be at Ain-Hadera (ch. 11. 35.). Kadesh 
or Kadesh-barnea, is supposed to be the 
great valley of the Ghor, and the city Kadesh 
to have been siiuated on the border of this 
valley, iBurckhabdt, Robinson.) But as 
there are no less than eighteen stations in- 
serted between Hazeroth and Kadesh, and 
only eleven days were spent in performing 
128 



that journey (Deu. 1. 2,) it is evident that 
the intermediate stations here recorded be- 
long to another and totally different visit 
to Kadesh. The first was when they left Sinai 
in the second month, (ch. 1. 11; ch. 13,20,) and 
were in Kadesh in August (Deu. 1. 45,! and 
"abode many days" in it, and murmuring at 
the report of the spies, were commanded to 
return into the desert "by the way of the 
Red Sea." The arrival at Kadesh, mentioned 
in this catalogue, corresponds to the second 
sojourn at that place, being the first month, 
or April, (ch. 20. 1.) Between the two visits 
there intervened a period of thirty-eight 
years, during which they wandered hither 
and thither through all the region of El-Tyh, 
(wanderings,) often returning to the same 
spots as the pastoral necessities of their 
flocks required; and there is the strongest 
reason for believing that the stations named 
between Hazeroth, [1?. 8.) and Kadesh, (v. 36,; 
belong to the long interval of wandering. No 
certainty has yet been attained in ascertain- 
ing the locale of many of these stations, and 
there must have been more than what are 
recorded;— for it is probable that those 
only are noted where they remained some 
time, where the taberna^o was pitched, 
and where Moses and the t „ers encamped, 
the people being scattered for pasture in 
various directions. From Ezion-gaber, for 
instance, which stood at the head of the 
gulf of Akaba, to Kadesh, could not be much 
less than the whole length of the great val- 
ley of the Ghor, a distance of not less than 
100 miles, whatever might be the exact 
situation of Kadesh; and, of course, there 
must have been several intervening stations, 
though none are mentioned. The incidents 
and stages of the rest of the journey to the 
plains of Moab are sufficiently explicit from 
the preceding chapters. Rithma— the place of 
the broom, a station possibly in some wady 
extending westward of the Ghor, (ch. 10. 40.) 
Rimr.on-Parez, or Rimmon— a city of Judah 
and Simeon (Josh. 15. 32,) Libnah, so called 
from its white poplars (Josh. 10. 29 A or, as 
some think, a white hill between Kadesh 
and Gaza Josh. 10. 29,) Rissah, (El-arish,) 
mount Shapher, (Uassius,) Moseroth, ad- 
jacent to mount Hor, in Wady Mousa. 
Ezion-Gaber, near Akabah, a sea-port on 
the western shore oi the Elamitic gulf ; 
Wilderness of Zin, on the east side of the 
peninsula of Sinai ; Punon, in the rocky 
ravines of Mount Hor, and famous for 
the mines and quarries in its vicinity, as 
well as for its fruit-trees, now Tatyle, on the 
border of Edom ; Abarim, a ridge of rugged 
hills, north-west of the Anion — the part 
called Nebo was one of its highest peaks- 
opposite Jericho (See on Deut. 10. 6.). 50-53. 
Ye shall drive out— not, however, by expul- 
sion, but extermination (Deu. 7. 1.). destroy 
all their pictures— obelisks for idolatrous 
worship (see on Lev. 20. 1.), molten images 
—by metonymy for all their groves and altars, 
and materials of worship on the tops of hills. 
54. ye shall divide the land by lot— the parti- 
cular locality of each tribe was to be deter- 
mined in this manner, while a line was to be 
used in measuring the proportion Josh. 18, 
10; Ps. 16. 5, 6.). 55. but if ye will not drive- 
No associations were to be formed with the 
inhabitants; otherwise, " if let remain, they 
will be pricks in your eyes, and thorns in 
your sides"— i.e., they would prove trouble- 



The boundaries of Canaan. NUMBERS, XXXIV, XXXV. 



The cities of the Levites. 



inhabitants of the land from before yon, 
and destroy all their pictures, and destroy 
all their molten images, and quite pluck 
down all their hicrh places: 

53 And ye shall dispossess the inhabitants 
o/the land, and dwell therein: for c I have 
fciven you the land to possess it. 

54 And d ye shall divide the land by lot 
for an inheritance amons your faimlies: 
and to the more ye shall 4 give the more 
inheritance, and to the fewer ye shall 5 give 
the less inheritance: every man's inherit- 
ance shall be hi the place where his lot 
falleth; according to the tribes of your 
fathers ve shall inherit. 

55 But if ye will not drive out the inhabi- 
tants of the land from before you: then it 
shall come to pass, that those which ye let 
remain of them shall be e pricks in your 
eyes, and thorns in your sides, and shall 
vex vou in the land wherein ye dwelL 

5ti Moreover it shall come to pass, that I 
shall do unto you, as I thought to do unto 
them. 

CHAPTER XXXIV. 

1 The borders of the land of Canaan: 16 The 
names of the ihen which were assigned to divide 
it. 

A XT) the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 
■"■ 2 Command the children of Israel, and 
say unto them, When ye come into a the 
land of Canaan, (this is the land that shall 
fall unto you for an inheritance, even the 
land of Canaan, with the coasts thereof,) 

3 Then b your south quarter shall be from 
the wilderness of Zin along by the coast of 
Edom, and your south border shall be the 
outmost coast of" the salt sea eastward: 

4 And your border shall turn from the 
south to the ascent of Akrabbhn, and pass 
on to Zin : and the going forth thereof 
shall be from the south d to Kaclesh-barnea, 
and shall go ou to Hazar-addar, and pass 
on to Azmon: 

5 And the border shall fetch a compass 
from Azmon e unto the river of Egypt, and 
the goings out of it shall be at the aea. 

6 And as for the western border, ye shall 
even have/ the great sea for a border: this 
shall be your west border. 

7 And this shall be your north border: 
from the great sea ye shall point out for 
you mount g Hon 

8 From mount Hor ye shall point out 
your border '-unto the entrance of Hamath ; 
and the goings forth of the border shall be 
to ' Z"edad: 

9 And the border shall go on to Ziphron, 
and the goings out of it shall be at i Hazar- 
enan: this shall be your north border. 

10 And ye shall point out your east border 
from Hazar-enan to Shepham. 

11 And the coast shall go down from 
Shepham * to Riblah. on the east side of 
Ain ; and the border shall descend, and 
shall reach unto the 1 side of the sea * of 
Chinnereth eastward: 

12 And the border shall so down to Jor- 
dan, and the goings out of it shall be at the 
salt sea: this shall be your land with the 
coasts thereof round about. 

13 And Moses commanded the children of 
Israel, saying. m This Is the land which ve 
shall inherit by lot. which the Lord com- 
manded to give unto the nine tribes, and 
to the half tribe : 

14 For n the tribe of the children of 
lleuben according to the house of their 

12* 



B. C. 1452. 

CHAP. 33. 
c Ps. 24. 1. 

Deu. 10.14. 

Job 41. 11. 

Dan. 4. 35. 
d ch. 26. 53. 

4 multiply 
his inheri- 
tance. 

5 diminish 
his inheri- 
tance. 

8 Josh. 23.13. 
Ps. 106. 34. 
Ex. 23. 33. 
Ezek. 28. 
24. 



CHAP. 34. 
a Gen. 17. 8. 

Den. 1. 7. 

Ps. 78. 55. 

Ps. 105.11. 
6 Josk 15. 1. 

Ezek. 47. 

13. 
c Gen. 14. 3. 
d ch. 32. 8. 
e Gen. 15. IS. 

1 Ki. 8. 65. 
Is. 27. 12. 

/The Medi- 
terranean. 

9 Not the 
Mount 
Hor 
on the 
border 
of Edom.. 
where 
Aaron 
died, but 
Mount 
Hor north 
of Leba- 
non. 

h ch. 13. 21. 

2 Kin. 14. 
25 

{ Ezek. 47. 

15. 
j Ezek. 47. 

k 2 Kin. 23. 

33. 

Jer. 39. 5. 
1 shoulder. 
I Deu. 3 17. 

Josh. 11.2. 

Josh. 19.35. 

Mat. 14. 34. 
m Josh. 14. 

1, 2. 

n ch 32. 33. 
Josh. 14. 

2. 3. 

o Ex.6.23-25. 

Josh. 14. 1. 

Josh. 19.51. 
P Heb. 4. 8. 
q ch. 1. 4, 16. 



CHAP. 35 
a Josh. 14. 

3.4. 

Josh. 21. 2. 

Ezek. 45.1. 

Ezek. 48.8. 
6 Six hun- 
dred and 

ei^-ht 

vards. 
c beu. 4. 41. 

Josh. 20. 2. 

J.sli. 21.3. 
1 a:.o e them 

ye slmll 

give. 



fathers, and the tribe of the children of Gad 
according to the house of their fathers, 
have received their inheritance; and half 
the tribe of Manasseh have received their 
inheritance: 

15 The two tribes and the half tribe have 
received their inheritance on this side Jor- 
dan near Jericho eastward, toward the 
sun-rising. 

16 11 And the Lord spake unto Moses, 
saying, 

17 These are the names of the men which 
shall divide the land unto you: ° Eleazar 
the priest, and p Joshua the'son of Nan. 

IS And ye shall take one q prince of every 
tribe, to divide the land by inheritance. 

19 And the names of the men are these : 
Of the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of 
Jephunneh. 

20 And of the tribe of the children of 
Simeon, Shemuel the son of Ammihud. 

21 Of the tribe of Benjamin, Elidad the 
son of Chislon. 

22 And the prince of the tribe of the chil- 
dren of Dan. Bukki the son of Jogli. 

23 The prince of the children of Joseph, 
for the tribe of the children of Alanasseh, 
Hanniel the son of Ephod. 

24 And the prince of the tribe of the 
children of Ephraiin, Kemuel the son of 
Shiphtan. 

25 And the prince of the tribe of the chil- 
dren of Zebulun, Elizaphau the son of 
Parnaeh. 

26 And the prince of the tribe of the chil- 
dren of Issacnar, Paltiel the son of Azzan. 

27 And the prince of the tribe of the chil- 
dren of Asher, Ahihud the son of Snelomi. 

28 And the prince of the tribe of the 
children of >"aphtali, Pedahel the son of 
Ammihud. 

29 These are they whom the Lord com- 
manded to divide the inheritance unto the 
children of Israel in the land of Canaan. 

CHAPTER XXXV. 

I Eight andf>rri'j cities given to the Levites: 6 sit 
of them to be cities <->fref\we. 9 The laws coi»- 
ceming murder aud maiislaughter. 

A ND the Lord spake unto Moses in the 

II plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho, 
saying, 

2 Command a the children of Israel, that 
they give unto the Levites, of the inherit- 
ance of their possession, cities to dwell in; 
and ye shall give also unto the Levites 
suburbs for the cities round about them. 

3 And the cities shall they have to dwell 
in; and the suburbs of thcin shall be for 
then cattle, and for their goods, and for 
all then beasts. 

4 And the suburbs of the cities, which ye 
shall eave unto the Levites, shall reach 
from the wall of the city and outward b a 
thousand cubits round about. 

5 And ve shall measure from without the 
city on the east side two thousand cubits, 
and on the south side two thousand eubits, 
and on the west side two thousand cubits, 
and on the north side two thousand cubits- 
and the city shall be mthe midst: this shall 
be to them the suburbs of the cities. 

6 And among the cities which ye shall give 
unto the Levites there shall be c six cities 
lor refuge, which ve shall appoint for the 
manslayer, that he may tiee thither: and 

1 1 to them ye shah add forty and two 

, chieS. 

I 7 ib'o all the cities which ye shail give to 



TTte Borders of the Land. ft UMBERS, XXXTV, XXXV. Cities Given to the Levites. 



some and dangerous neighbours, enticing to 
idolatry, and consequently depriving you of : 
the Divine favour and blessing. The ne- 
glect of the counsel against union with the 
idolatrous inhabitants became fatal to them, i 
This earnest admonition given to the Israel- j 
ites in their peculiar circumstances conveys ; 
a salutary lesson to us to allow no lurking 
habits of sin to remain in us. That spirit- i 
ual enemy must be eradicated from our j 
nature, otherwise it will be ruinous to our J 
present peace and future salvation. 
CHAPTER XXXIV. 
Ver. 1-15. The Borders of the Land of ! 
Canaan. 2. This is the . . . land of Canaan— The j 
details given in this chapter mark the general ' 
boundary of the inheritance of Israel west 
of the Jordan. The Israelites never actually 
possessed all the territory comprised within 
these boundaries, even when it was most 
extended by the conquests of David and Solo- 
mon. 3-5. Your south quarter— The line which 
bounded it on the south is the most difficult 
to trace. According to the best Biblical 
geographers, the leading points here defined 
are as follows :— The south-west angle of the 
southern boundary should be where the wil- 
derness of Zin touches the border of Edom, 
so that the southern boundary should extend 
eastward irom the extremity of the Dead Sea, 
wind round the precipitous ridge of Akrab- 
bim, (scorpions,) thought to be the high and 
difficult Pass of Safeh, which crosses the 
stream that flows from the south into the Jor- 
dan— i.e., the great valley of the Arabah, 
reaching from the Dead to the Red Sea. river 
of Egypt— the ancient brook Sihor,the Rhino- 
colura of the Greeks, a little to the south of 
El- Arish, where this Wady gentlydescends to- 
wards the Mediterranean (J osh. 13. 3.) . 6. The 
western border— There is no uncertainty 
about this boundary, as it is universally 
allowed to be the Mediterranean, which is 
called "the great sea" in comparison with 
the small inland seas or lakes known to the 
Hebrews. 7-9. North border— The principal 
difficulty in understanding the description j 
here arises from what our translators have 
called Mount Hor. The Hebrew words, 
however, Hor-ha-Hor, properly signify " the 
mountain of the mountain"— "the high 
double mountain," which, from the situa- 
tion, can mean nothing else than the moun- 
tain Amana {Song 4. 8,), a member of the 
great Lebanon range (.losh. 13. 5.}. Entrance 
of Haifa ath — The northern plain between 
those mountain ranges, now the valley of 
Baalbeck usee on ch. 13. 21-24.). Zedad— iden- 
tified as the present Sudud (Ez. 17. 15.). 
Ziphron (sweet odour) ; Hazar-Enan (vil- 
lage of fountains) ; but the places are un- 
known. "An imaginary line from mount 
Cassius, on the coast along the northern base 
of Lebanon to the entering into the Bekaa 
(Valley of Lebanon) at the Kamosa Hermel, 
must be regarded as the frontier that is 
meant. [Van de Velde.] 10-12. East bor- 
der—This is very clearly defined. Shepham 
and Riblah, which were in the valley of Le- 
banon, are mentioned as the boundary line, 
which commenced a little higher than the 
sources of the Jordan. Ain is supposed to 
be the source of that river : and thence the 
eastern boundary extended along the Jor- 
dan, the sea of Chinnereth (Lake of Tiberias) 
—the Jordan; and again terminated at the 
Dead Sea. The line being drawn on the east 
12U 



of the river and the seas, included thos6 
waters within the territory of the western 
tribes. 13-15. The two tribes and the halt 
tribe have received— The conquered territo- 
ries of Sihon and Og, lying between the Arnon 
and Mount Hermon, were allotted to them 
—that of Reuben in the most southerly part, 
Gad north of it, and the half Manasseh in 
the northernmost portion. 16-29. names of the 
men who shall divide the land— This appoint- 
ment by the Lord before the passage of the 
Jordan tended not only to animate the Israel- 
ites' faith in the certainty of the conquest,but 
to prevent all subsequent dispute and discon- 
tent, which might have been dangerous. in 
presence of the natives. The nominees were 
ten princes for the nine-and-a-half tribes, 
one of them being selected from the western 
section of Manasseh, and all subordinate to 
the great military and ecclesiastical chief, 
Joshua and Eleazar. The names are men- 
tioned in the exact order in which the tribes 
obtained possession of the land, and accord- 
ing to brotherly connection. 

CHAPTER XXXV. 

Ver. 1-5. Eight and Forty Cities 
Given to the Levites. 2. Give unto tie 
Levites . . . cities to dwell in— As the Levites 
were to have no territorial domain allocated 
to them like the other tribes on the con- 
quest of Canaan, they were to be distributed 
throughout the land in certain cities appro- 
priated to their use; and these cities were to 
be surrounded by extensive suburbs. There 
is an apparent discrepancy between v. 4 and 
5, with regard to the extent of these suburbs; 
but the statements in the two verses refer 
to totally different things— the one to the 
extent of the suburbs from the walls of the 
city, the other to the space of 2,000 cubits 
from their extremity. In point of fact, there 
was an extent of ground, amounting to 3,000 
cubits, measured from the wall ot the city. 
One thousand were most probably occupied 
with out-houses for the accommodation of 
shepherds and other servants, with gardens, 
vineyards, or oliveyards. And these which 
were portioned out to different families (1 
Chron. 6. 60,) might be sold by one Levite to 
another, but not to any individual of 
another tribe (Jer. 32. 7.). The other two 
thousand cubits remained a common for the 
pasturing of cattle, (Le. 25. 34,) and, consider- 
ing their number, that space would be fully 
required. 

6-8. Cities of Refuge. There shall be six 
cities ... for the man-slayer— The establish- 
ment of those privileged sanctuaries amongst 
the cities of the Levites is probably trace- 
able to the idea, that they would be the 
most suitable and impartial judges— that 
their presence and counsels might calm or 
restrain the stormy passions of the blood- 
avenger— and that, from their being invested 
with the sacred character, they might be 
types of Christ, in whom sinners find a re- 
fuge from the destroyer (see Deu. 4. 43 ; Josh. 
20. 8.). The cities shall be of the possession . . . 
of Israel— The burden of furnishing those 

E laces for the residence and support of the 
^vitical order was to tall in equitable pro- 
portions upon the different tribes (see ch. 
33. 54 ; Josh. 20. 7.). 

9-15. The Blood-Avenger. Slayer may 
flee, which killeth any person at unawares 
—The practice of Goelism— i.e., of the nearest 
relation of an individual who was killed 



The. cities of refuge. 



NUMBERS, XXX VI. 



Inheritance of daughters. 



the Levites sliall be d forty and eieht cities: 
them sludl ye give with their suburbs. 

8 And the' cities which ye shall dve shall 
be e of the possession of the children of 
Israel: from/ them that have many ye shall 
give many; but lrum them that have few ye 
shall srive few: every one shall give of his 
cities unto the Levites according to his in- 
heritance which - he inheriteth. 

9 1 And the Loud spake unto Moses, 
Baying, 

10 Speak unto the children of Israel, and 
say unto them, g When ye be come over 
Jordan into the land of Canaan, 

11 Then h ye shall appoint you cities to be 
cities of refuge for you ; that the slayer may 
flee thither, which killeth any person a a t 
unawares. 

12 And « they shall be unto you cities for 
refuge from the avenger ; that the manslayer 
die not, until he stand before the congre- 
gation in judgment. 

13 And of these cities which ye shall give, 
six cities shall ye have for refuge. 

14 Ye J shall give three cities on this side 
Jordan, and three cities shall ye give in the 
land of Canaan, which shall be cities of 
refuge. 

15 These six cities shall be a refuge, both 
for the children of Israel, and k for the 
stranger, and for the sojourner among 
them ; that every one that killeth any per- 
son unawares may flee thither. 

ltJ And l if he smite him with an instru- 
ment of iron, so that he die. he is a mur- 
derer: the murderer shall surely be put to 
death. 

17 And if he smite him 4 with throwing a 
6tone, wherewith he may die, and he cue, 
he is a murderer: the murderer sh.dl surely 
be put to death. 

IS Or if he smite him with an hand-weapon 
of wood, wherewith he may die, and he 
die, he is a murderer: the murderer shall 
surelv be put to death. 

19 The " revenger of blood himself shall 
slay the murderer: when he meeteth him, 
he shall slay him. 

20 But n if he thrust him of hatred, or 
hurl at him ° by laying of wait, that he 
die; 

21 Or in enmity smite him with his hand, 
that he die: he that smote him shall surely 
be put to death; for he is a murderer: the 
revenger of blood shall slay the murderer 
when he meeteth him. 

22 But if he thrust him suddenly without 
enmity, or have cast upon him any thing 
without laying of wait, 

23 Or with any stone, wherewith a man 
may die. seeing him not, and cast it upon 
him. that he die, and icas not his enemy, 
neither Bought his harm ; 

24 Then * the congregation shall judge 
between the slayer and the revenger of 
blood according to these judgments: 

25 And the congregation shall deliver the 
slayer out of the hand of the revenger of 
blood, and the congregation shall restore 
him to the city of his refuge, whither he 
was tied: and he ? shall abide in it unto the 
death of the high priest, r which was 
anointed with the holy oil. 

26 But if the slayer shall at any time come 
without the border of the city of his refuge, 
whither he was tied; 

27 And the revenger of blood find him 
without the borders of the city of his refuge, 

130 



B. C. 1451. 



CHAP. 3d. 
d Josh.21.41. 
e Josh. 21.3. 
/ ch. 26. 64. 

2 i hey 
inherit. 

9 Deu. 19. 2. 

Josh. 20. 2. 

h Ex. 21. 13. 

3 by error. 

i Josh. 20. 3. 
j Deu. 4 .41. 
k ch. 15. 10. 
I Ex. 21. 12, 

14. 

Lev. 24.17. 

Deu. 19. 11, 

12. 

4 with a 
stone of 
the hand. 

m Deu. 19. 6, 
12. 

He was the 
nearest 
kinsman 
of the per- 
son slain. 

n Gen. 4. 8. 
2 Sa. 3. 27. 
2 Sam. 20. 
10. 
lKi.2.31. 

o Ex. SL 14. 
Deu. 19.11. 

P Josh. 20. 6. 

9 Eph. 1. 7. 

rEx. 29. 7. 
Lev. 4. 3. 
Lev. 21. 10. 

5 no blood 
shall be 
to him. 
Ex. 22. 2. 

8 ch. 27. 11. 
t Deu. 17. 6. 

Deu. 19. 15. 

Mat. 13. 16. 

2 Cor. 13.1. 

Heb. 10. 28. 

6 faulty to 
die. 

t* Acts 4. 12. 
Gal. 2. 21. 

V Gen 4. 
9-12. 

Ps. 106. 38. 
Mic 4. 11. 

7 there can 
be no ex- 
piation for 
the land. 

w Gen. 9. 6. 

» Lev. 18.25. 

Deu. 21.23. 

V Ex. 29. 45, 
46. 

Ps. 76. 2. 
Hos. 9. 3. 
2 Cor.6.16. 



CHAP. 36. 

ch. 26. 29. 
b ch. 2o. 5o. 

ch. 33. 54. 

Josh. 17. 3. 

C ch. 27. 1, 7. 

Jos. 17. 3,4. 

1 unto whom 
they 
shall be. 

d Lev. 25.10. 
e ch. 27. 7. 

2 be wives. 

/iKi. 2i. a 

3 cleave to 
the, etc. 

g 1 Cu. iB.22. 



and the revenger of blood kill the slayer; 
6 he shall not be sniiltv of blood: 

28 Because he sliould have remained in 
the city of his refuge until the death of the 
hisrh priest: but after the death of the high 
priest the slayer shall return into the land 
of his possessi-n. 

29 So these things shall be for 8 a statute 
of judgment unto you throughout your 
generations in all your dwellings. 

3d Whoso killeth any person, the mur- 
derer shall be put to death by the * mouth 
of witnesses: but one witness shall not 
testify against any person to cause him to 
die. 

31 Moreover ye shall take no satisfaction 
for the life of a murderer, which is 6 guilty 
of death; but he shall be surely put to 
death. 

32 And ye shall take tt no satisfaction for 
him that is fled to the city of his refuge, 
that he should come again to dwell in the 
land, until the death of the priest. 

33 bo ye shall not pollute the land where- 
in ye are; for blood v it deflleth the land: 
and 7 the land cannot be cleansed of the 
blood that is shed therein, but w by the 
blood of him that shed it. 

31 Defile ^not therefore the land which 
ye shall inhabit, wherein I dwell: for v l 
the Lord dwell among the children of 
Israel. 

CHAPTER XXXVI. 

1 The inconvenience of the inheritance of daugh- 
ters, 5 is remedied, by marrying in- their own 
tribes. 

A XD the chief fathers of the families of 
the children a of Gilead, the son of 
Machir, the son of Manasseh, of the families 
of the sons of J oseph, came near, and spake 
before Moses, and before the princes, the 
chief fathers of the children of Israel: 

2 And they said, *> The Lord commanded 
my lord to give the land fur an inheritance 
by lot to the children of Israel: and c my 
lord was commanded by the Lord to give 
the inheritance of Zelophehad our brother 
unto his daughters. 

3 And if they be married to any of the 
sons of the other tribes of the children of 
Israel, then shall their inheritance be taken 
from the inheritance of our fathers, and 
shall be put to the inheritance of the tribe 
1 whereunto they are received: so shall it be 
taken from the lot of our inheritance. 

4 And when d the jubilee of the children 
of Israel shall be, then shall their inheri- 
tance be put unto the inheritance of the 
tribe whereunto they are received: so shall 
their inheritance be taken away from the 
inheritance of the tribe of our fathers. 

5 And Moses commanded the children of 
Israel according to the word of the Lord, 
saying, The tribe of the sons of Joseph 
hath * said well. 

6 This is the thing which the Lord doth 
command concerning the daughters of 
Zelophehad, saying, Let them - marry to 
whom they think best ; only to the family 
of the tribe of then father shall they marry: 

7 So shall not the /inheritance of the 
children of Israel remove from tribe to 
tribe ; for every one of the children of Israel 
shall 3 keep himself to the inheritance of 
the tribe of his fathers. 

8 And o every daughter, that possesseth 
an inheritance in any tribe of the children 
of Israel, shall be wile unto one of the 



Tfie Blood-Avenger. 



NUMBERS, XXXVI. Of the Inheritance of Daughters. 



being bound to demand satisfaction from 
the author of his death, existed from a very 
remote antiquity(Gen. 4.14 ; 27.45.). It seems 
to have been an established usage in the age 
of Moses ; and, although in a rude and im- 
perfect state of society, it is a natural and 
intelligible principle of criminal jurispru- 
dence, it is liable to many great abuses ; the 
chief of the evils inseparable from it are, 
that the kinsman, who is bound in duty and 
honour to execute justice, will often be pre- 
cipitate — little disposed, in the heat of pas- 
sion, or under the impulse of revenge, to 
examine into the circumstances of the case, 
to discriminate between the premeditated 
purpose of the assassin, and the misfortune 
of the unintentional homicide. Moreover, it 
had a tendency, not only to foster a vindic- 
tive spirit, but, in case of the Goel being un- 
successful in finding his victim, to transmit 
animosities and feuds against his descend- 
ants from one generation to another. This 
is exemplified among the Arabs in the pre- 
sent day. Should an Arab of one tribe 
happen to kill one of another tribe, there is 
" blood" between the tribes, and the stain 
can only be wiped off by the death of some 
individual of the tribes with which the 
offence originated. Sometimes the penalty 
is commuted by the payment of a stipulated 
number of sheep or camels. But such an 
equivalent, though offered, is as often re- 
fused, and blood has to be repaid only by 
blood. This practice of Goelism obtained 
among the Hebrews to such an extent that 
it was not perhaps expedient to abolish it ; 
and Moses, while sanctioning its continu- 
ance, was directed, by divine authority, to 
make some special regulations, which tended 
both to prevent the unhappy consequences 
of sudden and personal vengeance, and, at 
the same time, to afford an accused person 
time and means of proving his innocence. 
This was the humane and equitable end 
contemplated in the institution of cities of 
refuge. There were to be six of these legal- 
ized asyla, three on the east of Jordan, both 
because the territory there was equal in 
length, though not in breadth, to Canaan ; 
and because it might be more convenient for 
some to take refuge across the border. They 
were appointed for the benefit, not of the 
native Israelites only, but of all resident 
strangers. 16-21. ]f he smite him, &c. — Va- 
rious cases are here enumerated, in which 
the Goel or avenger was at liberty to take 
the life of the murderer, and every one of 
them proves a premeditated purpose. 22- 
28. But if he thrust him suddenly without 
enmity, &c. — Under the excitement of a sud- 
den provocation, or violent passion, an in- 
jury might be inflicted issuing in death; 
and for a person who had thus undesignedly 
committed slaughter, the Levitical cities 
offered the benefit of full protection. Once 
having reached the nearest, for one or 
other of them was within a day's journey of 
all parts of the land, he was secure. But he 
had to " abide in it." His confinement within 
its walls was a wise and salutary rule, de- 
signed to shew the sanctity of human blood 
in God's sight, as well as to protect the man- 
slayer himself, whose presence and inter- 
course in society might have provoked the 
passions of deceased's relatives. But the 
period of his release from this confinement 
was not until the death of the High Priest. 

130 



That was a season of public affliction, when 
private sorrows were sunk or overlooked 
under a sense of the national calamity — 
and when the death of so eminent a servant 
of God naturally led all to serious consider- 
ation about their own mortality. The 
moment, however, that the refugee broke 
through the restraints of his confinement, 
and ventured beyond the precincts of tbe 
asylum, he forfeited the privilege, and if he 
was discovered by his pursuer, might be 
slain with impunity. 29-34. These things 
shall be for a statute of judgment — The law of 
the blood-avenger, as thus established by di- 
vine authority, was a vast improvement on 
the ancient practice of Goelism. By the 
appointment of cities of refuge, the man- 
slayer was saved, in the meantime, from the 
blind and impetuous fury of vindictive rela- 
tives ; but he might be tried by the local 
court, and if proved guilty on sufficient evi- 
dence, condemned and punished as a mur- 
derer, without the possibility of deliverance 
by any pecuniary satisfaction. The enact- 
ment of Moses, which was in adaptation to 
the character and usages of the Hebrew 
people, secured the double advantage of 
promoting the ends both of humanity and 
of justice. 

CHAPTER XXXVI. 

Ver. 1-13. The Inconvenience of the 
Inheritance of Daughters. 1. The chief 
fathers of the families of Gilead — Being the 
tribal governors in Manasseh, they con- 
sulted Moses on a case that affected the 
public honour and interests of their tribe. 
It related once more to the daughters of 
Zelophehad. Formerly they had applied, at 
their own instance.to be recognized, for want 
of heirs male in their family, as entitled to 
inherit their father's property : now the ap- 
plication was made on behalf of the tribe to 
which they belonged — that steps might be 
taken to prevent the alienation of their 
patrimony by their alliance with husbands 
of another tribe. The unrestricted mar- 
riages of daughters in such circumstances 
threatened seriously to affect the tenure of 
land in Israel, as their inheritance would go 
to the children, who, by the father's side, 
would belong to another tribe, and thus lead, 
through a complication of interests and the 
confusion of families, to an evil for which 
even the jubilee could not afford a remedy. 
(See on Lev. 25. 13.) 5-12. Moses commanded 
. . . according to the word of the Lord — The 
plea appeared just and reasonable ; and ac- 
cordingly, an enactment was made by which 
the daughters of Zelophehad, while left to 
the free choice of their husbands, were re- 
stricted to marry not only within their own 
tribe, but within the family of their father's 
tribe — i.e., one of their cousins. This re- 
striction, however, was imposed only on 
those who were heiresses. The law was not 
applicable to daughters in different circum- 
stances (1 Chron. 23. 22.)— for they might 
marry into another tribe ; but if they did so, 
they were liable to forfeit their patrimonial 
inheritance, which, on the death of their 
father or brothers, went to the nearest of 
the family kinsmen. Here was an instance 
of progressive legislation (see also Ex. 18. 
ch. 27.) in Israel, the enactments made being 
suggested by circumstances ; but it is deserv- 
ing of special notice that those additions to, 
or modifications of, the law were confined 



Moses rehearseth 



DEUTERONOMY, I. 



the history of the Israelites. 



family of the tribe of her father, that the 
children of Israel may enjoy every man the 
inheritance of his fathers. 

9 Neither shall the inheritance remove 
from one tribe to another tribe; but every 
one of the tribes of the children of Israel 
shall keep himself to his own inheritance. 

10 Even as the Lord commanded -Moses, 
so did the daughters of Zelophehad: 

11 For * Mahiah, Tirzah, and Hoglah. and 
Mileah, and Noah, the daughters of Zelo- 



B. C.1451. 



CHAP. 3G. 
h ch. 27. 1. 
4 to some 
that were 
of the 
families. 
i ch. 26. 3. 
ch. 33. 50. 
ch. 22. 1. 
ch. 31. 12. 



nhehad, were married unto their father's 
brothers' sons: 

12 And they were married 4 into the fa- 
milies of the sons of Manasseh the son of 
Joseph; and their inheritance remained in 
the tribe of the family of their father. 

13 These are the commandments and the 
judgments which the Lord commanded 
by the hand of Moses unto the children of 
Israel in uhe plains of Moat) by Jordan 
near Jericho. 



THE FIFTH BOOK OF MOSES, CALLED 

DEUTERONOMY. 



CHAPTER I. 

1 Moses' speech at the end of the fortieth year, 6 in 
which he briefly rehearseth the story of God's 
jrr<ymise to Israel, 34 and his anger for their in- 
crcditlitg and disobedience. 

H^IIE^E he the words which Moses spake 
■*• urto all Israel a on this side J ordan in 
the wilderness, in the plain over against 
l the Red sea, between Paran. and Tophel, 
and Laban, and Hazeroth. and Dizahab. 

2 (There are eleven days' journey from 
Horeb by the way of mount Seir &unto 
Kadesh-barnea.) 

3 And it came to pass c in the fortieth 
year, in the eleventh month, on the hrst 
day of the month, that Moses spake unto 
the children of Israel, according unto all 
that the Lord had given him in command- 
ment unto them; 

4 After d he had slain Sihon the king of 
the Amorites, which dwelt in Heshbon, 
and Og the king of Bashan, which dwelt at 
Astaroth in e Edrei: 

5 On this side Jordan, in the land of 
Moab, began Moses to declare this law, 
saying, 

6 The Lord our God spake unto us / in 
Horeb, saying, Ye have dwelt long g enough 
in this mount: 

7 Turn you. and take your journey, and 

fo to the 'mount of the Amorites, and unto 
all the pbxcts nigh thereunto, in the plain, 
in the hills, and in the vale, and in the 
south, and by the sea-side, to the land of 
the Canaanites, and unto Lebanon, unto 
the great river, the river Euphrates. 

8 Behold, 1 have 3 set the land before you: 
go in and possess the land winch the Lord 
sw r areunto your fathers, * Abraham, Isaac. 
and Jacob, to give unto them and to then- 
seed after them. 

9 f And * I spake unto you at that time. 
Baying, 1 am not able to bear you myself 
alune: 

10 The Lord your God hath multiplied 
you, and, behold, i ye are this day as the 
6tars of heaven for multitude. 

11 (The Lord God of your fathers make 
you a thousand times so many more as ye 
arc, and bless ycu, *as he hath promised 
you:) 

12 How l can I myself alone bear your 
cumbrance, and your burden, and your 
strife ? 

13 * Take you wise men, and understand- 
ing, and known among your tribes, and I 
will make them rulers over you. 

14 And ye answered me, and said, The 

131 



B. C. 1451. 



CHAP. 1. 
a Josh. 9. 1. 

Josh. 22. 

4, 7. 
1 Or, Zuph. 



6Nu.l3. 26. 

ch. 9. 23. 
c Nu. 33. 38. 
d Nu. 21.24. 

Josh. 12. 

1.2. 

Neh. 9.22. 

Ps. 135. 

10. 11. 
e Josh. 13.12. 
f Ex. 3. 1. 
9 Ex. 19. I. 

Nu 10.11. 

2 all his 
neighbours. 

3 siven. 

h Gen. 12. 7. 

Gen. 15.18. 

Gen. 28.13. 
i Ex. 18. 18. 

Nu. 11. 14. 
j Gen. 15. 5. 

ch. 10. 22. 

ch. 28. 62. 
A; Gen. 22. 17. 

Gen. 26. 4. 

Ex. 32. 13. 
1 1 Kin. 3. 8. 

2Cor.ll.2S. 

4 Give. 
Ex. 18. 21. 
Nu. 11. 16. 

5 (rave. 

in John 7. 

24. 
n Lev. 24.22 
o 1 Sa. 16. 7. 

Pro. 24. 23. 

Jam. 2. 1. 

6 acknow- 
ledge faces. 

P Pro. 28. 21. 

Pro. 29. 4, 

25. 

?2Chr.l9.6. 

r Ex. 18. 22, 

26. 
8 Num. 10. 
12. 

ch. 8. 15. 

Jer. 2. 6. 

t Num. 13. 

26. 
" Josh. 1. 9. 
f Nu. 13. 3. 
w Num. 14. 
1, 2, 3, 4. 
Ps. 106.24. 
X ch. 9. 28. 



thing which thou hast spoken is good for 
us to do. 

15 So I took the chief of your tribes, wise 
men, and known, and 5 made them heads 
over you, captains over thousands, and 
captains over hundreds, and captains over 
fifties, and captains over tens, and officers 
among your tribes. 

16 And I charged your judges at that time, 
saying. Hear the causes between your 
brethren, and m judge righteously between 
every man and his n brother, and the 
stranger that is with him. 

17 Ye ° shall not 6 respect persons in 
judgment, but ye shall hear the small as 
well as the great ; ye p shall not be afraid 
of the face of man; for the q judgment is 
God's: and the cause that is too hard for 
vou, r bring it unto me, and I will hear 
it. 

18 And I commanded you at that time all 
the things which ye should do. 

19 1F And when we departed from Horeb, 
we 8 went through all that great and ter- 
rible wilderness, which ye saw by the way 
of the mountain of the Amorites, as the 
Lord our God commanded us ; and ' we 
came to Kadesh-barnea. 

20 And I said unto you. Ye are come unto 
the mountain of the Amorites, which the 
Lord our God doth give unto us. 

21 Behold, the Lord thy God hath set the 
land before thee: go up and possess it, as 
the Lord God of thy fathers hath said 
unto thee ; fear u not, neither be dis- 
ci uraged. 

22 r And ye came near unto me everyone 
of you. and said. We will send men before 
us, and they shall search us out the land, 
and bring us word again by what way we 
must go up, and into what cities we shall 
come. 

23 And the saying pleased me well: and 'I 
took twelve men of you, one of a tribe: 

24 And they turned and went up into the 
mountain, and came unto the valley of 
Eshcol, and searched it out. 

25 And they took of the fruit of the land 
in their hands, and brought it down unto 
us. and brought us word again, and said. 
It is a good land which the Lord our God 
doth give us. 

26 >.otwithstanding w ye would not go up, 
but rebelled against the commandment of 
the Lord your God: 

27 And ye murmured in your tents, and 
said, Because the Lord x hated us, he hath 
brought us forth out of the land of Egypt, 



Moses 1 Speech at the End 



DEUTERONOMY, I. 



of the Fortieth Tear. 



to civil affairs ; while the slightest change 
was inadmissible in the laws relating to 
worship, or the maintenance of religion. 13. 
These commandments . . . in tJie plains of 
Moab — The Israelitish encampment was on 
an extensive platean, north of the Arnon, 
and which, though wrested from the Moab- 
ites by Sihon and Og, still retained the 



name of its original possessors. The partic- 
ular site, as indicated by the words "Jor- 
dan near Jericho," is now called El Koura — 
a large plain lying not far from Nebo, be- 
tween the Arnon and a small tributary 
stream, the Wale. (Burckhardt.) It was a 
desert plain on the eastern bank, and marked 
only by groves of the wild thorny acacia tree. 



THE FIFTH BOOK OF MOSES, CALLED 

DEUTERONOMY. 



CHAPTER I. 
Ver. 1-46. Moses' Speech at the end of 
the Fortieth Year. 1. These be the words 
which Moses spake unto all Israel— The men- 
tal condition of the people generally in that 
infantine age of the church, and the greater 
number of them being of young or tender 
years, rendered it expedient to repeat the 
laws and counsels which God had given; 
and, accordingly to furnish a recapitulation 
of the leading branches of their faith and 
duty was amongst the last public services 
which Moses rendered to Israel. The scene 
of their delivery was on the plains of Moab, 
where the encampment was pitched " on this 
side Jordan," or, as the Hebrew word may be 
rendered, " on the bank of the Jordan." In 
the wilderness^ in the plain. The Arabah, a 
desert plain, or steppe, extended the whole 
way from the Red Sea north to the Sea of 
Tiberias. While the high table lands of 
Moab were "cultivated fields," the Jordan 
valley, at the foot of the mountains, where 
Israel was encamped, was a part of the great 
desert plain, little more inviting than the 
desert of Arabia. The locale is indicated by 
the names of the most prominent places 
around it. Some of these places are unknown 
to us. The Hebrew word, Suph, red, (for 
sea, which our translators have inserted, is 
not in the original, and Moses was now far- 
ther from the Red Sea than ever), probably 
meant a place noted for its reeds. (Num. 
21. 14.) Tophel— identified as Tafyle or Ta- 
feilah, lying between Bozrah and Kerak. 
Hazeroth is a different place from that at 
which the Israelites encamped after leaving 
"the desert of Sinai." 2. There are eleven 
day s'~ 'journey from Horeb — Distances are com- 
puted in the East still by the hours or days 
occupied by the journey. A day's journey 
on foot is about twenty miles — on camels, at 
the rate of three miles an hour, thirty miles 
— and by caravans, about twenty-five miles. 
But the Israelites, with children and flocks, 
would move at a slow rate. The length of 
the Ghor from Eziongaber to Kadesh is 100 
miles. The days here mentioned were not 
necessarily successived ays, (Robinson,) for 
the journey can be made in a much shorter 
period. But this mention of the time was 
made to show that the great number of years 
spent in travelling from Horeb to the plain 
of Moab was not owing to the length of the 
way, but to a very different cause, viz.. 
banishment for their apostasy and frequent 
rebellions. Mount Seir — the mountainous 
country of Edom. 3-8. In the fortieth year, 
Ac. — This impressive discourse, in which 
Moses reviewed all that God had done for 

131 



His people, was delivered about a month be- 
fore his death, and after peace and tranquil- 
lity had been restored by the complete con- 
quest of Sihon and Og. Ashtaroth — the royal 
residence of Og, so called from Astarte (the 
moon) the tutelary goddess of the Syrians, 
and he was slain at Edrei — now Edhra, the 
ruins of which are fourteen miles in circum- 
ference, (Burckhardt ;) its general breadth 
is about two leagues.,. 5. began Moses to de- 
clare this law — declare, i.e., explain this law. 
He follows the same method here that he else- 
where observes, viz., that of first enumerat- 
ing the marvellous doings of God in behalf 
of His people, and reminding them what an 
unworthy requital they had made for all 
His kindness — then he rehearses the law 
and its various precepts. Ye have dwelt 
long enough in this mount — Horeb was the 
general name of a mountainous district — 
lit., " the parched or burnt region," whereas 
Sinai was the name appropriated to a par- 
ticular peak. About a year had been spent 
among the recesses of that wild solitude, 
in laying the foundation, under the imme- 
diate direction of God, of a new and peculiar 
community, as to its social, political, and, 
above all, religious character; and when 
this purpose had been accomplished, they 
were ordered to break up their encampment 
in Horeb. The command given them was to 
march straight to Canaan, and possess it. 
the land is before you — lit., before your faces 
— it is accessible — there is no impediment to 
your occupation. The order of the journey 
as indicated by the places mentioned would 
have led to a course of invasion, the oppo- 
site of what was eventually followed, viz., 
from the sea-coast eastward — instead of from 
the Jordan westward (see on Num. 20. 1.) 
the mount of the Amorites — the hilly tract 
lying next to Kadesh-barnea, in the south 
of Canaan, to the land of the Canaanites, and 
unto Lebanon — i.e., Phoenicia, the country of 
Sidon, and the coast of the Mediterranean — 
from the Philistines to Lebanon. The name 
Canaanite is often used synonymously with 
that of Phoenician. 9-18. / spake unto you 
at that time — a little before their arrival in 
Horeb. Moses addresses that new gener- 
ation as the representatives of their fathers, 
in whose sight and hearing all the transac- 
tions he recounts took place. A reference 
is here made to the suggestion of Jethro, 
(Ex. 18. 18.), and in noticing his practical 
adoption of a plan by which the adminis- 
tration of justice was committed to a select 
number of subordinate officers, Moses, by 
a beautiful allusion to the patriarchal bless- 
ing, ascribed the necessity of that memo- 



The history of Israel 



DEUTERONOMY, II. 



<m their way to Canaan. 



to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, 
to destroy us. 

28 Whither shall we go up? our brethren 
have 7 discouraged our heart, saying, y I he 
people is greater and taller than we; the 
cities are great and walled up to heaven ; 
and moreover we have seen the sons of 
the z Anakims there. 

29 Then I said unto you, Dread not, neither 
be afraid of them. 

30 The a Lord your God, which goeth be- 
fore you, he shall fight for you, according 
to all that he did for you in Egypt before 
your eyes; 

81 And in the wilderness, where thou 
hast seen how that the Lord thy God *> bare 
thee, as a man doth bear his son, in all the 
way that ye went, until ye came into this 
place. 

32 Yet in this thing c ye did not believe 
the Lord your God, 

33 Who d went in the way before you, 
to e search you out a place to pitch your 
tents in, in fire by nignt, to show you by 
what way ye should go, and in a cloud by 
day. 

34 And the Lord heard the voice of your 
words, and was wroth, /and sware, saying, 

35 Surely 9 there shall not one of these 
men of this evil generation see that good 
land, which I sware to give unto your 
fathers, 

36 Save Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he 
shall see it, and to him will I give the land 
that he hath trodden upon, and to his 
children, because he hath » wholly followed 
the Lord. 

37 Also h the Lord was angry with me for 
your sakes, saying, Thou also shalt not go 
in thither. 

38 But Joshua the son of Nun, * which 
standeth before thee, he shall go in thither: 
encourage i liim ; for he shall cause Israel 
to inherit it. 

39 Moreover your little ones, which ye 
said should be a prey, and your children, 
which in that day had k no knowledge be- 
tween good and evil, they shall go in 
thither, and unto them will 1 give it, and 
they shall possess it. 

40'But as for you, turn you, and take your 
journey into the wilderness by the way of 
the Red sea. 

41 Then ye answered and said unto me. 
We have sinned against the Lord, we will 

o up and fight, according to all that the 

ord our God commanded us. And when 

ye had girded on every man his weapons 

of war, ye were ready to go up into the 

42 And the Lord said unto me, Say unto 
them, Go not up, neither fight; for I am 
not among you; lest ye be smitten before 
your enemies. 

43 So I spake unto you; and ye would not 
hear, but rebelled against the command- 
ment of the Lord, 'J and went presumptu- 
ously up into the hill. 

44 And the Amorites, which dwelt in that 
mountain, came out against )ou, and 
chased you, L as bees do, and destroyed you 
in Seir, even unto iiormah. 

4/) And ye returned and wept before the 
Lord; m but the Lord would not hearken 
to your voice, nor give ear unto you. 

46 So ye abode in Kadesh many days, 
according unto the days that ye abode 

*"* 132 



I 



B. C. 1451. 



CHAP. 1. 

7 melted. 
Josh. 2. 11. 

V Nu. 13. 28, 

81, 32, 33. 

ch. 9.1,2. 

Z Nu. 13. 28 

a Ex. 14. ' 

Neh. 4. 20. 
6 Ex. 19. 4. 
ch. 32. 11. 
Is. 46. 3, 4. 
Is. 63. 9. 
Hos. 11. 3. 
Acts 13. 18. 
c Ps. 106. 24. 

Jude 5. 

d Ex. 13. 21, 

Pfc 78. 14. 

« N». 10. 33. 

Ezek. 20. 6. 

/ch. 2.14. 

g Nu. 14. 22. 

Ps. 95. 11. 

8 fulfilled to 
go after. 

h Nu. 27. 14. 

ch. 3. 26. 

ch. 4. 21. 

ch. 34. 4. 

Ps. 106. 32. 

i Ex. 24. 13. 

Ex. 33. 11. 

1 Sa. 16. 22. 

.; ch. 31. 7, 23. 

A Is. 7.15,16. 

Ezek.18.20. 

Jonah 4.11. 

Lu. 12. 47. 

Rom. 9.11. 

9 ye were 



went up. 
I Ps. 118. 12. 
m Job. 27. 9. 

Ps. 66. 18. 

Pro. 1. 24. 

Is. 1. 15. 

Jer. 11. 

7-14. 

Zech.7.11. 

John 9. 31. 



CHAP. 2. 

1 even to 
the tread- 
ing of the 
sole of the 
foot. 

a Gen. 36. 8. 

Josh. 24. 4. 

6 1 Ki. 9. 26. 

2 Or, use no 
hostility 
against 
Mono. 

c Nu. 21. 28. 
d Gen. 19. 

36. 
e Gen. 14. 5. 
/ Nu. 13. 22. 

ch. 9. 2. 
9 Gen. 36. 

20. 

3 inherited 
them. 

4 Or, room. 

5 Or, valley. 
Nu. 13.^3. 

h Nu. 14 33. 
Nu.2u.64. 
i ch. 1. 34, 

35. 

Ezek. 20. 

15. 
,; Ps. 78. 33. 

Pa. 106. 26. 



CHAPTER II. 

1 The stoiy is continued: 6 they were not to meddle 
with the Edomites, 9 nor the Moabites, 17 nor 
the A mmonites. 24 JSi/ion the Amorite to be sub- 
dued. 

TUIEN we turned, and took our journey 
■*■ into the wilderness by the way of the 
Red sea, as the Lord spake unto me: and 
we compassed mount Seir many days. 

2 And the Lord spake unto me, saying, 

3 Ye have compassed this mountain long 
enough: turn you northward. 

4 And command thou the people, saying, 
Ye are to pass through the coast of your 
brethren the children of Esau, which dwell 
in Sen-; and they shall be airaid of you : 
take ye good heed unto yourselves there- 
fore: 

5 Meddle not with them; for I will not 
give you of their land, i no, not so much as 
a foot breadth; a because I have given 
mount Seir unto Esau for a possession. 

6 Ye shall buy meat of them for money, 
that ye may eat ; and ye shall also buy 
water of them for money, that ye may 
drink. 

7 For the Lord thy God hath blessed thee 
in all the works of thy hand: he knoweth 
thy walking through this great wilderness: 
these forty years the Lord thy God hath 
been with thee; thou hast lacked nothing. 

8 And when we passed by from our breth- 
ren the children of Esau, which dwelt in 
Seir, through the way of the plain b from 
Elath, and from Ezion-gaber, we turned 
and passed by the way of the wilderness of 
Moab. 

9 And the Lord said unto me, 2 Distress 
not the Moabites, neither contend with 
them in battle : for I will not give thee of 
their land/or a possession; because 1 have 
given c Ar unto « the children of Lot for a 
possession. 

10 The e Emims dwelt therein in times 
past, a people great, and many, and tall, 
as./ the Anakims; 

11 Which also were accounted giants, as 
the Anakims; but the Moabites call them 
Emims. 

12 The ° Horims also dwelt in Seir before- 
time ; but the children of Esau 3 succeeded 
them, when they had destroyed them from 
before them, and dwelt in their * stead ; as 
Israel did unto the land of his possession, 
which the Lord gave unto them. 

13 Now rise up, said I, and get you over 
the 5 brook Zered: and we went over the 
brook Zered. 

14 And the space in which we came from 
Kadesh-barnea, until we were come over 
the brook Zeved,was thirty and eight years: 
until h all the generation of the men of 
war were wasted out from among the host, 
as * the Lord sware unto them. 

15 Por indeed the i hand of the Lord was 
against them, to destroy them from among 
the host, until they were consumed. 

16 11 So it came to pass, when all the men 
of war were consumed and dead from 
among the people, 

17 That the Lord spake unto me, saying, 

18 Thou art to pass over through Ar, the 
coast of Moab, this day: 

19 And when thou comest nigh over against 
the children of Amnion, distress them not, 
nor meddle with them: for I will not give 
thee of the land of the children of Amnion 
any possession; because I have given it 



The History of Israel 



DEUTERONOMY, II. 



on their way to Caanan. 

rable change in the government to the vast , 106. 32, 33.). This verse must be considered 
increase of the population, ye are this day 
as the stars. . .for multitude— This was neither 
an Oriental hyperbole, nor a mere empty 
boast, for Abraham was told (Gen. 15. 5, 6,) 
to look to the stars, and though they appear 
innumerable, yet those seen by the naked 
eye amount, in reality, to no more than 3010 
in both hemispheres— so. that the Israelites 
already far exceeded that number, being at 
the last census above 600,000. It was a sea- 
sonable memento, calculated to animate 
their faith in the accomplishment of other 
parts of the divine promise. 19-21. we 
went through all that great and terrible wil- 
derness— ofParan, which included the desert 
and mountainous space lying between the 
wilderness of Shur westward, or towards 
Egypt and Mount Seir, or the land of Edom 
eastward; between the land of Canaan north- 
wards, and the Ked Sea southwards ; and 
thus it appears to have comprehended 
really the wilderness of Sin and Sinai (Fisk.) 
It is called by the Arabs El Tyh, " the wan- 
dering." It is a dreary waste of rock and 
of calcareous soil covered with black sharp 
flints • all travellers, from a feeling of its 
complete isolation from the world, describe 
it as a great and terrible wilderness." 22-33. 
ye came and said, we will send men— The 
proposal to despatch spies emanated from 
the people through unbelief; but Moses, 
believing them sincere, gave his cordial 
assent to this measure, and God on being 
consulted permitted them to follow the sug- 
gestion (see on Nu. 13. 1, 2.). The issue 
proved disastrous to them, only through 
their own sin and folly, cities are great, 
and walled up to heaven— an Oriental meta- 
phor, meaning very high. The Arab mar- 
auders roam about on horseback, and 
hence the walls of St. Catherine's Mon- 
astery on Sinai are so lofty that travellers 
are drawn up by a pulley in a basket. An- 
akims— (see on Nu. 13. 33.). The honest and 
uncompromising language of Moses in re- 
minding the Israelites of their perverse con- 
duct and outrageous rebellion at the report 
of the treacherous and faint-hearted scouts, 
affords a strong evidence of the truth of this 
history as well as of the divine authority of 
his mission. There was great reason for his 
dwelling on this dark passage in their history 
as it was their unbelief that excluded them 
from the privilege of entering the promised 
land (Heb. 3. 19.); and that unbelief was a 
marvellous exhibition of human perversity, 
considering the miracles which God had 
wrought in their favour, especially in the 
daily manifestations they had of His pre- 
sence among them as their leader and 
protector. 34-36. The Lord was wroth— In 
consequence of this aggravated offence- 
unbelief followed by open rebellion, the 
Israelites were doomed, in the righteous 
judgment of God, to a life of wandering in 
that dreary wilderness, till the whole adult 
generation had disappeared by death. The 
only exceptions mentioned are Caleb, and 
Joshua who was to be Moses' successor. 
37. Also the Lord was angry with me for your 
sakes— This statement seems to indicate that 
it was on this occasion Moses was con- 
demned to share the fate of the people. But 
we know that it was several years after- 
wards that Moses betrayed an unhappy 
spirit of distrust at the waters of strife (Ps. 
132 



therefore as a parenthesis. 39. Your children 
. . . who in that day had no knowledge— all 
ancient versions read "to-day" instead of 
"that day;" and the sense is— " your chil- 
dren who now know," or " who know not as 
yet good or evil;" as the children had not 
been partakers of the sinful outbreak, they 
were spared to obtain the privilege which 
their unbelieving parents had forfeited. 
God's ways are not as man's ways. 40-45. 
Turn you and take your journey into the wil- 
derness—This command they disregarded, 
and, determined in spite of the earnest re- 
monstrances of Moses to force an onward 
passage, they attempted to cross the heights 
then occupied by the combined forces of the 
Amorites and Amalekites, (cf. Nu. 14. 43,) 
but were repulsed with great loss. People 
often experience distress even while in the 
way of duty. But how different their con- 
dition who suffer in situations where God is 
with them from the feelings of those who 
are conscious that they are in a position 
directly opposed to the Divine will. The 
Israelites were grieved when they found 
themselves involved in difficulties and 
perils; but their sorrow arose not from a 
sense of the guilt, so much as the sad effects 
of their perverse conduct; and as, "though 
they wept," they were not true penitents, 
the Lord would not hearken to their voice, 
nor give ear unto them." 46. So ye abode at 
Kadesh many days— That place had been the 
site of their encampment during the ab- 
sence of the spies, which lasted lorty days; 
and it is supposed from this verse, that they 
prolonged their stay there after their defeat 
for a similar period. 

CHAPTER LT. 
Ver. 1-37. The Story is Continued. 
1. Then we turned and took our journey . . . 
by the way of the Red Sea. After their un- 
successful attack upon the Canaanites, the 
Israelites broke up their encampment at 
Kadesh, and journeying southward over the 
west desert of Tyh, as well as through the 
great valley of the Ghor and Arabah, they 
extended their removals as far as the Gulf 
of Akabah. we compassed Mount Seir many 
days— In these few words Moses comprised 
the whole of that wandering nomadic life 
which they passed during 38 years, shifting 
from place to place, and regulating their 
stations by the prospect of pasturage and 
water. Within the interval they went north- 
ward a second time to Kadesh, but being 
refused a passage through Edom, and op- 
posed by the Canaanites and Amalekites, 
they again had no alternative but to traverse 
once more the great Arabah southwards 
to the Bed Sea, where turning to the left, 
and crossing the long, lofty mountain- 
chain to the eastward of Ezion-gaber, 
(Nu. 21. 4, 5.) they issued into the great 
and elevated plains, which are still tra- 
versed by the Syrian Pilgrims in their 
way to Mecca, and appear to have followed 
northward nearly the same route, which is 
now taken by the Syrian Hadj, along the 
western skirts of this great desert, near the 
mountains of Edom. [Robinson.] It was 
on entering these plains they received the 
command, " Ye have compassed this moun- 
tain (this hilly tract, now Jebel Shera) long 
enough, turn ye northward." 4. The children 
of Esau , . . shall be afraid of you— The same 
R 



The history of Israel 



DEUTERONOMY, III. 



on their way to Canaan, 



unto the * children of Lot for a posses- 
sion. 

20 (That also was accounted a land of 
giant? : giants dwelt therein in old time; 
and the Ammonites call them l Zamzum- 
mims ; 

21 A people great, and many, and tall, as 
the Anakims ; but the Lord destroyed 
them before them ; and they succeeded 
them, and dwelt in their stead: 

22 As he did to the children of Esau, 
which m dwelt in Seir, when n he destroyed 
the Horims from before them; and they 
succeeded them, and dwelt in their stead 
even unto this day: 

23 And ° the Avims which dwelt in 
Hazerim, even unto p Azzah, 9 the Caph- 
torims, which came forth out of Caph- 
tor, destroyed them, and dwelt in their 
stead.) 

24 !T Rise ye up, take your journey, and 
pass r over the river Anion: behold, I have 
given into thine hand Sihon the Amorite, 
king of Heshbon, and his land : 6 begin 
to possess it, and contend with him in 
battle. 

25 This 8 day will I begin to put the dread 
of thee and the fear of thee upon the na- 
tions that ..ire under the whole heaven, who 
shall hear report of thee, and shall trem- 
ble, and be in anguish because of thee. 

2G IT And I sent messengers out of the 
wilderness of Kedemoth unto Sihon king 
of Heshbon t with words of peace, saying. 

27 Let u me pass through thy land: I will 
go along by the high way, I will neither 
turn unto the right hand nor to the 
left. 

28 Thou shalt sell me meat for money, 
that I may eat; and give me water for 
money, that I may mink: v only I will pass 
through on mv feet, 

29 (As w the children of Esau which dwell 
in Seir, and the Moabites which dwell in 
Ar, did imto me,) until I shall pass over 
Jordan, into the land which the Lord our 
God giveth us. 

30 But x Sihon king of Heshbon would not 
let us pass by him: for y the Lord thy God 
hardened z his spirit, and made his heart 
obstinate, that he might deliver him into 
thy hand, as appeareih this day. 

31 And the Lord said unto me, Behold, I 
have begun to give Sihon and his land 
before thee: begin to possess, that thou 
mayest inherit His land. 

32 Then Sihon came out against us, he 
and all lus people, to fight at Jahaz. 

33 And a the Lord our God delivered him 
before us; and b we smote him, and his 
sons, and all his people. 

34 And we took all his cities at that time, 
and c utterly destroyed " the men, and the 
women, and the little ones, of every city, 
we left none to remain: 

35 Only the cattle we took for a prey unto 
ourscdves, and the spoil of the cities which 
we took. 

36 From d Aroer, which is by the brink of 
the river of Anion, and from the city that 
is by the river, even unto Gilead, there 
was not one city too strong for us: e the 
Lord our God delivered all unto us: 

37 Only unto the land of the children of 
Ammon thou earnest not. nor unto any 
place of the river / Jabbok, nor unto the 
cities in the mountains, nor unto whatso- 
ever the Lord our God forbade us. 

133 



B. C. 1451. 



CHAP. 2. 

* Gen. 19.38. 
I Gen. 14. 5, 

Zuzims. 
m Gen. 36. 8 
n Job 12. 23. 

Josh. 13. 3. 
P Jer. 25. 20. 

1 Gen. 10. 14. 
Amos 9. 7. 

r Judj.11.18. 

6 begin, 
possess. 

8 Ex. 15. 14. 
ch. 11. 25. 
Josh. 2. 9. 

* ch. 20. 10. 
w Nu. 21. 21. 

Judg H .19. 
v Nu. 20. 19. 
w ch. 23. 3. 

Judg. 11. 

17. 

* Nu. 21. 23. 
V Josh.11.20. 

* Ex. 4. 21. 

Hos. 4. 17. 

James 1. 

13-15. 
« ch. 7. 2. 

ch. 20. 16. 
b ch. 29. 7. 
c Lev. 27. 28. 

ch. 7. 2, 26. 

7 every city 
of m.^n, 
ant*, wo- 
men, and 
little 
ones. 

d ch. 3. 12. 

ch. 4. 48. 

Josh 13.9. 
« Ps. 44. 3. 
/ Gen. 32. 22. 

Nu. 21. 24. 

ch. 3. 16. 



CHAP. 3. 
a Nu.21.24. 
b 1 Kings 4. 

13. 
c ch. 2. 24. 

Ps. 135.10, 

11, 12. 

Ps. 136. 19, 

20, 21. 
d Ps. 29. 6. 
e 1 Chr. 5. 23. 
/ch. 4. 49. 
9 Josh. 12. 5. 

Josh.13.li: 
h Amos 2. 9. 
i Gen. 14. 5, 

Rerhaim. 
j 2 Sa. 12. 26. 

* ch. 2. 36. 
Josh. 12. 2. 

I Nu. 32. 33. 
m Jos. 13.29. 
»lChr.2.£i. 

2 Sa. 3. 3. 

2 Sa. 10. 6. 
P Nu. 32. 39. 
9 2 Sa. 24. 5. 
r Nu. 21. 24. 
s Nu. 34. 11. 

* Josh. 12.3. 
t* Gen. 14. 3. 

The sea of 
Sodom. 

1 Or, under 
the springs 
of Pisgah, 
or, the 
hill. 

2 sops of 
power. 



CHAPTER III. 

1 Conquest of Og Mng of Bashan. 21 Moses' ex- 
hortation to Joshua. 23 Moses' pr >ver to enter 
into the land. 27 He is permitted to' see it. 

HPHEX we turned, and went up the way 
- 1 - to Bashan: and Og the king of Bashan 
came out against us, he and all his people, 
to battle at Edrei. 

2 And the Lord said unto me, Fear him 
not: for I will deliver him, and all his peo- 
ple, and his land, into thy hand; and thou 
shalt do unto him as thou didst unto a Si- 
hon king of the Amorites, which dwelt at 
Heshbon. 

3 So the Lord our God delivered into our 
hands Og also, the king of Bashan, and all 
Ms people: and we smote him until none 
was left to him remaining. 

4 And we took all his cities at that time, 
there was not a city which we took not 
from them, threescore cities, b all the re- 
gion of Argob,the kingdom of Ogin Bashan. 

5 All these cities were fenced with high 
walls, gates, and bars ; besides unwalled 
towns a great many. 

6 And we utterly destroved them, as we 
did unto Sihon king c of Heshbon, utterly 
destroying the men, women, and children, 
of every city. 

7 But all the cattle, and the spoil of the 
cities, we took for a prey to ourselves. 

8 And we took at that time out of the 
hand of the two kinss of the Amorites the 
land that was on this side Jordan, from 
the river of Anion unto mount Hermon ; 

9 ( Which d Hermon the Sidonians call 
Sirion, and the Amorites call it e Shenir;) 

10 All / the cities of the plain, and all 
Gilead, and 9 all Bashan, unto Salchah and 
Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in 
Bashan. 

11 For h only Og king of Bashan remained 
of the remnant of » giants ; behold, his bed- 
stead was a bedstead of iron: is it not ) in 
Rabbath of the children of Ammon? nine 
cubits ivas the length thereof, and four 
cubits the breadth of it, after the cubit of 
a man. 

12 And this land, which we possessed at 
that time, *from Aroer, which is by the 
river Anion, and half mount Gilead, and 
the l cities thereof, gave I unto the Reu- 
benites and to the Gadites. 

13 And m the rest of Gilead, and all 
Bashan, being the kingdom of Og, gave I 
unto the hah' tribe of Manasseh; all the 
region of Argob, with all Bashan, which 
was called the land of giants. 

14 Jair n the son of Manasseh took all 
the country of Argob ° unto the coasts of 
Geshuri and Maacnathi, and called them 
after his own name, Bashan-havoth-jair, 
unto this day. 

15 And p I gave Gilead unto Machir. 

16 And unto the Reubenites ? and unto the 
Gadites I gave from Gilead even unto the 
river Anion half the valley, and the border 
even unto the river Jabbok, r which is the 
border of the children of Amnion ; 

17 The plain also, andJordan, and the coast 
thereof, from 8 Chinnereth t even unto the 
sea of the plain, u even the salt sea, i under 
Ashdoth-pisgah eastward. 

18 IT And I commanded you at that time, 
saying, The Lord your God hath given you 
this land to possess it: ye shall pass over 
armed before your brethren the children of 
Israel, all tJiat are 2 meet for the war. 



The History of T-rael 



DEUTERONOMY, II. 



on their way to Cinaan. 



people who had haughtily repelled the ap- 
proach of the Israelites from the western 
frontier, were alarmed now that they had 
come round- upon the weak side of their 
country. 5. Meddle not with them— i.e., 
"which dwell in Seir," (v. 4.)— for there was 
another branch of Esau's posterity, viz. the 
Amalekites, who were to be fought against 
and destroyed. (Gen. 36. 12; Ex. 17. 14; Deu. 
25. 17.) But the people of Edom were not 
to be injured, either in their persons or 
property. And although the appoach of so 
vast a nomadic horde as the Israelites 
naturally created apprehension, they were 
to take no advantage of the prevailing terror 
to compel the Edomites to accept whatever 
terms they imposed They were merely to 
pass " through" or along their border, and to 
buy meat and water of them for money iv.G. ). 
The people, kinder than their king, did sell 
them bread, meat, fruits, and water in their 
passage along their border {v. 29.) in the 
same manner as the Syrian caravan of 
Mecca is now supplied by the people of the 
same mountains, who meet the pilgrims as 
at a fair or market on the Hadj route. 
[Robinson.] Although the Israelites still 
enjoyed a daily supply of the manna, there 
was no prohibition against their eating other 
food, when opportunity afforded, but only 
they were not to cherish an inordinate 
desire for it. Water is a scarce commodity, 
and is often paid for by travellers in those 

J arts. It was the more incumbent on the 
sraelites to do so, as, by the blessing of 
God, they possessed plenty of means to pur- 
chase, and the long continued experience of 
the extraordinary goodness or God to them, 
should inspire such confidence in Him as 
would suppress the smallest thought of 
resorting to fraud or violence in supplying 
their w r ants. 8-18. we passed through the 
way of the plain— The Arabah or great valley. 
From Elath (trees), (the Ailah of the Greeks 
and Romans!; the site of it is marked by ex- 
tensive mounds of rubbish. Ezion-gaber, 
now Akabah. both w r ere w thin the territory 
of Edom; and after making a circuit of its 
south-eastern boundary, the Israelites reach- 
ed the border of Moab on the south-east of 
the Salt Sea. They had been forbidden by 
divine command to molest the Moabites in 
anyway; and this special honour was con- 
ferred on that people not on their own ac- 
count, for they were very wicked, but in 
virtue of their descent from Lot see on 
ch. 23. 3.). Their territory comprised the 
line country on the soui h, and partly on the 
north of the Anion. They had won it by 
their arms from the original inhabitants, 
the Emims, a race terrible, as their name 
imports, for physical power and stature (Gen. 
14. 5. ; in like manner as the Edomites had 
oV.tained their settlement by the overthrow 
of the original occupiers of Seir, the Horims 
(Gen. 14. 6.) who were Troglodytes, or 
dwellers in caves, and Moses alluded to these 
circumstances to encourage his countrymen 
to believe that God would much more 
enable them to expel the wicked and ac- 
cursed Canaanites. At that time, however, 
the Moabites, having lost the greater part of 
their pjssessions through the usurpations 
of Sihon, were reduced to the small, but 
fertile region between the Zered and the 
Arnon. 13. Now rise up and get you over the 
brook Zered— The southern border of Moab, 
133 



Zered (woody), now wady Ahsy, separates 
the modern district of Kerak from* JebaL 
and, indeed, forms a natural division oi 
the country between the north and south. 
Ar, called in later times Kabbah, was the 
capital of Moab, and situated 25 miles south 
of theArnon onthe banks of a small but shady 
stream, the Beni-Hamed. It is here men- 
tioned as representative of the country de- 
pendent on it,— a rich and well-cultivated 
country, as appears from the numerous 
ruins of cities, as well as from the traces of 
tillage still visible on the fields. 16. all the 
men of war are consumed and dead— The out- 
break at Kadesh on the false report of the 
spies had been the occasion of the fatal de- 
cree by which God doomed the whoie grown 
up population to die in the wilderness; but 
that outbreak only filled up the measure of 
their iniquities. For that generation, 
though not universally abandoned to heath- 
enish and idolatrous practices, yet had ad 
along displayed a fea: ful amount of ungod- 
liness in the desert, which this history only- 
hints at obscurely, but which is expressly 
asserted eleswhere (Ez. 20. 25, 26; Am. 5. 25, 
27; Ac. 7. 42, 43.). 19-37. when thou comest 
nigh unto the children of Ammon— The Am- 
monites, being kindred to the Moabites, 
were, from regard to the memory of their 
common ancestor, to remain undisturbed by 
the Israelites. The territory of this peo- 
ple had been directly north of that of Moab, 
and extended as far as the Jabbok, having 
been taken by them from a number of small 
Canaanitish tribes, viz. the Zamzummins, a 
bullying presumptuous band of giants, as 
their name indicates; and the A vims, the 
Aborigines of the district extending from 
Hazerim or Hazeroth, (El Hudheraj even 
unto Azzah (Gaza), but of which they had 
been dispossessed by the Caphtorim (Phil- 
istines] who c :me out of Caphtor (Lower 
Egypt), and settled in the western coast 
of Palestine. The limits of the Ammon- 
ites were now compressed; but they still 
possessed the mountainous region beyond 
the Jabbok (Josh. 11. 2.). What a strange 
insight does this parenthesis of four verses 
give into the early history of Palestine. 
How many successive wars of conquest had 
swept over its early state— what changes of 
dynasty amongst the Canaanitish tribes had 
taken place long^ prior to the transactions 
recorded in this history. 24. Rise ye up and 
pass over the river Arnon— At its m ou h, this 
stream is 82 ieei wide, and 4 deep— it flows 
in a channel banked by perpendicular cliffs 
of sandstone. At the date of the Israelit- 
ish migration to the east of the Jordan, the 
whole of the fine country lying between the 
Anion and the Jabbok, including the 
mountainous tract of Gilead, had been 
seized by the Amorites, who being one of 
the nations doomed to destruction (see ch. 
7. 2; 20. 16.) were utterly exterminated, and 
their country fell by right of conquest into 
the hands of the Israelites. Moses, however, 
considering this doom as referring solely to 
the Amorite possessions west of Jordan, 
sent a pacific message to Sihon, requesting 
permission to go through his territories, 
which lay on the east of that river. It is 
always customary to send messenger-; before 
to prepare the way; but the rejection of 
Moses' request by Sihon, and his opposition 
to the advance of the Israelites (Nu, 21. 23; 



An exhortation to obedience* 



DEUTERONOMY, IV. 



Idolatry denounced. 



19 But jour wives, and your little ones, I 
and your cattle, [for I know that ye have j 
much cattle,) shall abide in your cities j 
which I have given vou; 

20 Until the Lord have given rest unto 
your brethren, as well as unto you, and j 
until they also possess the land which the 
Lord your God hath given them beyond' 
Jordan: and then shall ye "return every 
man unto his possession, which I have 
given you. 

21 1T And I commanded Joshua at that 
time, saying. Thine eyes have seen all that 
the Lord vour God hath done unto these 
two kings:* so shall the Lord do unto all 
the kingdoms whither thou passest. 

22 Ye shall not fear them: for w the Lord 
your God he shall fight lor you. 

23 11 And I besought the Lord at that 
time, saying, 

24 Lord God, thou hast begun to show 
thy servant * thy greatness, and thy mighty 
hand: for * what God is there in heaven or 
in earth that can do according to thy works, 
and according to thy might? 

25 1 pray thee, let me go over and see 
the * good land that is beyond Jordan, that 
goodly mountain, and Lebanon. 

26 But the Lord was wroth with me for 
your sakes, and would not hear me: and 
the Lord said unto nie, Let it suffice thee; 
speak no more unto me of this matter. 

27 Get thee up into the top of 3 Fisgah, 
and lift up thine eyes westward, and north- 
ward, and southward, and eastward, and 
behold it with thine eyes: lor thou shalt 
not go over this Jordan. 

28 But a charge Joshua, and encourage 
him, and strengthen him: for he shall go 
over before this people, and he shall cause 
them to inherit the land winch thou shalt 
see. 

29 So we abode in b the valley over against 
Beth-peor. 

CHAPTER IV. 

1 An exhortation to obedience. 14 A particular 
dissuasive agai.ist idolatry. 41 Moses appoin- 
tetU three cities of refuge on that side Jordan. 
"NJOW therefore hearken, O Israel, unto 
■^ the a statutes and unto the judgments, 
which I teach you, for to do them, that 
ye may live, and go in and possess the 
land which the Lord God of your fathers 
giveth you. 

2 Ye b shall not add unto the word which I 
command you, neither shall ye diminish 
ought from it, that ye may keep the com- 
mandments of the Lord your God which I 
command you. 

3 Your eyes have seen what the Lord did 
because of Baal-peor: for all the men that 
followed Baal-peor, the Lord thy God hath 
destroyed them from among you. 

4 But ye that did cleave unto the Lord 
your God are alive every one of you this 
day. 

5 Behold, I have taught you statutes and 
judgments, even as \he Lord my God 
commanded me, that ye should do so in 
the land whither ye go to possess it. 

6 Keep therefore and do thtm: for this is 
your c wisdom and your understanding in 
the sight of the nations, which shall hear 
all these statutes, and say, d Surely this 
great nation is a wise and understanding 
people. 

7 For * what nation is there so great, 
who kath / God .so nigh unto them, as the 



CHAP. 3. 

v Josh. 22.4. 
«' Ex. 14. 14. 

ch. 1. 30. 

ch. 20. 4. 
*ch. 11. 2. 
V Ex. 15. 11. 

2 Sam. 7. 

22. 

Ps. 71. 19. 

Pa. 8(5. 8. 

Ps. £9. 0. 
z Ex. 3. 8. 

ch. 4. 22. 
3 Or, the 

hill, 
a Num. 27. 

18. 

ch. 1.38. 

ch. 31.3,7. 
b ch. 4. 4(5. 



CHAP. 4. 
« Erek. 20. 
11. 

Ro. 10. 5. 
b ch. 12. 32. 
Josh 1. 7. 
Pro. 3(3. 6. 
Mat. 15. 9. 
Rev. 22.18. 
c Job 28. 28. 
Ps. 19. 7. 
Ps. 111. 10. 
Pro. 1.7. 
2 Tim. 3. 
15. 
d Acts 4. 13. 
e 2 Sam. 7. 

23. 
/ Ps. 46. 1. 
Ps. 145. 18. 
Ps. 148. 14. 
Is. 55. 6. 
Jam. 4. 8. 
9 Pro. 4. 23. 
Pro. 23. 19. 
ft Pro. 3. 1,3. 
Pro. 4. 21. 
t Gen. 18. 19. 
ch. C. 7. 
ch. 11. 19. 
Ps. 78. 5, 6. 
Pro. 22. 6. 
Eph. 6. 4. 
/ Ex. 19. 9, 
16. 

Ex. 20. 18. 
Heb. 12.18. 

1 heart. 

2 save a 
voice. 

k Josh. 23. 

11. 
I Is. 40. 18. 

Acts 17. 

24-29. 
»"• Rom. 1. 

23. 
« ch. 17. 3. 

Job 31. 26. 
o Gen. 2. 1. 

2 Kin. 17. 

16. 

2 Ki. 21. 3. 

3 Or, im- 
parted. 

P 2 Pet. 1. 

13. 
q Ex. 24. 17. 

ch. 9. 3. 

Is. 33. 14. 

II eb. 12. 

29. 
r Ex. 20. 5. 

ch. 6. 15. 

Is. 42. 8. 

In. 43. 11. 



Lord our God is in all things that we call 
upon him for? 

8 And what nation is there so great, that 
hath statutes and judgments so righteous 
as all this law, which 1 set before you this 
day? 

9 Only take heed to thvself, and g keep 
thy soul diligently, * lest thou forget the 
things which thine eyes have seen, and lest 
they depart from thy heart all the days of 
thy life; but * teach them thy sons,' and 
thy sons' sons ; 

10 Specially o the day that thou stoodest 
before the Lord thy God in lloreb, when 
the Lord said unto me, Gather me the 
people together, and I will make them 
near my words, that they may learn to 
fear me all the days that they shall live 
upon the earth, and tluxt they may teach 
their children. 

11 And ye came near and stood under the 
mountain; and the mountain burned with 
tire unto the 1 midst of heaven, with dark- 
ness, clouds, and thick darkness. 

12 And the Lord spake unto you out of 
the midst of the tire: ye heard the voice of 
the avoids, but saw no similitude; 2 only ye 
heard a voice. 

13 And he declared unto you his covenant, 
which he commanded you to perform, even 
ten commandments; and he wrote them 
upon two tables of stone. 

14 IT And the Lord commanded me at 
that time to teach you statutes and judg- 
ments, that ye might do them hi the land 
whither ye go over to possess it. 

15 Take * ye therefore good heed unto 
yourselves, (for ye saw no manner of l simil- 
itude on the day that the Lord spake unto 
you in lloreb out of the midst of the 
tire,) 

16 Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make 
you a graven image, the similitude of any 
figure, m the likeness of male or female, 

17 The likeness of any beast that is on the 
earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that 
tiieth in the air, 

18 The likeness of any tiling that creepeth 
on the ground, the likeness of any tish that 
is in the waters beneath the earth: 

19 And lest thou " lift up thine eyes unto 
heaven, and when thou seest the sun. and 
the moon, and the stars, even ° all the host 
of heaven, shouldest be driven to warship 
them, and serve them, which the Lord thy 
God hath :i divided unto all nations under 
the whole heaven. 

20 But the Lord hath taken you, and 
brought you forth out of the iron furnace, 
even out of Egypt, to be unto him a people 
of inheritance, as ye are this day. 

21 Furthermore, the Lord was angry with 
me for your sakes, and sware that I should 
not go over J ordan, and that 1 should not 
go in unto that good land which the Lord 
thy God giveth thee/or an inheritance; 

22 But v 1 must die in this land, 1 must not 
go over Jordan: but ye shall go over, and 
possess that good land. 

23 Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye 
forget the covenant of the Lord your God, 
which he made with you, and make you a 
graven image, en' the likeness of any thing, 
which the Lord thy God hath forbidden 
thee. 

24 For q the Lord thy God is a consuming 
fire, even r a jealous God. 

25 M When thou shalt beget children, and 



Conquest of Og, V ti u TEKONOMY, in. King of BasJian , 

Jud. 11. 26.}, drew down on himself, and his are usually a little larger than the persons 
Amorite subjects, the predicted doom in j who occupy them, the stature of the Amor- 
the first pitched battle-field with the Cana- ! ite King may be estimated about 11 or 12 feet; 
anites, and secured to Israel not only the | or he might have caused his bed to be made 
possession of a fine and pastoral country, | much larger than was necessary, as Alexan- 



but, what was of more importance to them 
a free access to the Jordan on the east. 
CHAPTER III, 
Ver. 1-20. Conquest of Og, King of 
Bashan. 1. we turned, and went up the way 
to Bashan— Bashan (fruitful or flat), now El 
Bottein, lay situated to the north of Gilead, 
and extended as far as Hermon. It was a 
rugged mountainous country, valuable how- 
ever for its rich and luxuriant pastures. Og, 
King of Bashan, came out against us— Without 
provocation, he rushed to attack the Israel- 
ites; either disliking the presence of such 
dangerous neighbours, or burning to avenge 
the overthrow of his friends and allies. 2. 
The Lord said, Fear him not— His gigantic ap- 
pearance, and the formidable array of forces 
he will bring to the field, need not discourage 
you; for, belonging to a doomed race, he is 
destined to share the fate of Sihon. 3-8. Argob 
was the capital of a district in Bashan of the 
same name, which, together with other 59 
cities in the same province, were conspicuous 
for their lofty and fortified walls. It was a 
war of extermination— houses and cities 
were razed to the ground, all classes of 
people were put to the sword, and nothing 
was saved but the cattle, of which an im- 
mense amount fell as spoil into the hands of 
the conquerors. Thus, the two Amorite 
kings and the entire population of their 
dominions were extirpated, and the whole 
country east of the Jordan — first upland 
downs from the torrent of the Anion on the 
south to that of the Jabbok on the north- 
next the high mountain tract of Gilead and 
Bashan from the deep ravine of Jabbok,— 
became the possession of the Israelites 
9. Hermon— now Jebel-Es Shiech— the ma- 
jestic hill on which the long and elevated 
range of anti-lebanon terminates: its summit 
and the ridges on its sides are almost con- 
stantly covered with snow. It is not so 
much one high mountain as a whole cluster 
of mountain peaks, the highest in Palestine. 
According to the survey taken by the English 
Government Engineers in 1840, they were 
about 9,370 feet above the Sea. Being a 
mountain chain, it is no wonder that it 
should have received difkrent names at 
different points from the different tribes 
winch lay a ong the base— allot' them desig- 
nating extraordinary height; Hermon, the 
lofty peak, "Sinon," or in an abbreviated 
form "Sion,"(ch. 4. 48. )the upraised, "Shenir," 
the glittering breastplate of ice, 11. only Og 
remained of the remnant of giants—^., of 
Bephaim. He was not the last giant, but 
the only living remnant in the Transjordanic 
country (Josh. 15. 14.) of a certain gigantic 
race, supposed to be the most ancient in- 
habitants of Palestine, behold his bedstead 
—Although beds in the east are with the 
common people nothing more than a simple 
mattress, bedsteads are not unknown: they 
are in use amongst the great, who prefer 
them of iron or other metals, not only for 
strength and durability, but for the preven- 
tion of the troublesome insects which in 
warm climates commonly infest wood. 
Taking the cubit athalf-a-yard, the bedstead 
of Og would measure 13£ feet, so that as beds 
131 



der the Great did for each of his foot soldiers, 
to impress the Indians with an idea of the 
extraordinary stength and stature of his men. 
[Leclerc.J But how did Og"s bedstead 
come to be in Rabbath, of the children of 
Amnion ? In answer to this question it has 
been said, that Oghad, on the eve of engage- 
ment, conveyed it to Rabbath for safety, or 
that Moses, after capturing it, may have 
sold it to the Ammonites, who had kept it 
as an antiquarian curiosity, till their capital 
was sacked in the time of David. This is 
a most unlikely supposition, and besides 
renders it necessary to consider the latter 
clause of this verse as an interpolation 
inserted long after the time of Moses. To 
avoid this, some eminent critics take the 
Hebrew word rendered " bedstead" to mean 
" coffin." They think that the king of Bashan 
having been wounded in battle, fled to 
Rabbath, where he died and was buried; 
hence the dimensions o* his"coffin"are given. 
rDATHE, Ros.] 12. This land which we pos- 
sessed at that time— The whole territory 
occupied by Sihon, was parcelled out among 
the pastoral tribes of Reuben and Gad. It 
extended from the noith bank of the Arnon 
to the south half of Mount Gilead— a small 
mountain ridge, now called Djelaad, about 
six or seven miles south of the Jabbok, and 
eight miles in length. J he northern portion 
of Gilead, and the rich pasture lands of 
Bashan— a large province, consisting, with 
the exception of a few bleak and rocky spots, 
of strong and fertile soil, was assigned to 
the half tribe of Manasseh. 14. Jair . . . took 
all the country of Argob— The original in- 
habitants of the province north of Bashan, 
comprising sixty cities (v. 4.), not having 
been extirpated along with Og, this people 
were afterwards brought into subjection by 
the energy of Jair. This chiel, of the tribe 
of Manasseh, in accordance with the pas- 
toral habits of his people, called these newly 
acquired towns by a name which signifies 
" Jair's: Bedouin ' Villages of Tents." unto 
this day — This remark must evidently 
have been introduced by Ezra, or some 
of the pious men who arranged and collected 
the books of Moses. 15. I gave Gilead unto 
Machir— It was only the half of Gilead (vs. 12, 
13.) which was given to the descendants of 
Machir, who was now dead. 16. from Gilead 
—i.e., not the mountainous region, but the 
town Ramoth-Gilead— even unto the river 
Arnon, half the valley— The word "valley" 
signifies a wady, either filled with water or 
dry, as the Arnon is in summer, and thus 
the proper rendering of the passage will be— 
"even to the half or middle of the river 
Arnon (cf. Josh. 12. 2.). This prudent 
arrangement of the boundaries was evident- 
ly made to prevent all disputes between 
the adjacent tribes about the exclusive 
right to the water. 25. that goodly mountain, 
and Lebanon— The natural and very earn- 
est wish of Moses to be allowed to cross 
the Jordan was founded on the idea that 
the divine threatening might be condi- 
tional and revertible, That goodly moun- 
tain" is supposed by Jewish winters to have 
pointed to the hill on which the temple was 



Er % .Tri.3Hyn 4 : r^mvmv. 



fT. V. 



children's children, and ye shall hare re- 

Im. ii tie Imi. mi ii-il : ~ " : 

•, ".,■• m : 

-; it mm 1 I 



of any thing, 

eti in the *mh: of the Loxd thy God, to 



I * call hearen and earth to 
inst yon this day. that ye shall soon 

nttm!- :. r --i t:mi m :i: . mi --if mm: : 
ye go over Jordan to possess it : ye shall 
not prolong **nr days upon it. but shall 
utterly bear red. 

tlm :...:. :m .1. m ;iml m let: U~ - 
lit.':-: im 11 ::: _:.:„::. "i::::: tie 
Laid rn.ii iti-i y:u. 
28 And v there ye shall serre gods, the 

w.m ;: -ri'; i,::.?. m.i mi mie 
v-\. .i m:me: see. 1:: mm 2:: em, m: 



-V Lit -iff::- tiemf ti m iim s~k 
tie L:mr :'-•- G:-i. mm iim ::; -,i-.. it 
thou seek him with all thy heart and with 

all ■:-■• j.ii 

■■:-. ■"::: tin nr. in trimmmm mi ml 
timf mmm -*:f ;:me 1: _ :'.::. -mm. 
in tie inter mm- Lt imm - inm :•: tie 
Losd thy God, and shalt he obedient onto 
La -. ■.:-: 

G i: ;r-:::::^c:_:r.::::-: ie- 
stroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy 
fathers which he swaie unto them. 

c. i : - im:.- :: "tif mm mm nrt^:. 



wimi "■-:- m::m tee =m:r tie im 
1 1: .1 ::t e.m.i. mi 
• tie ::.r file ::' if mm mm 



G I .:r .'.- i 1 ...1 



the 



cm ■-:. -:::::t: there mil :tt: :m 
t ".. ; .; in imm. iimm m :: _..:_ 
hear\llikeit? 

■■:•: - tmmf i:i: -.if miA :: Gm 
it of the midst of the fire, as 
At : -mi. mi live I 
, : -= . : i.mi G: i mm ei :: m .: m tike 
Lim i. im::i fr:~ tie mis: :: 
nation, by temptations, by 
wonders, and by war. and by a 
and by a stretched-ont arm, anil by great 
term:-. ... :._". :•: ^11 tmt tie Lmm ;• :m 
G i im :.: 7- in Limt ieime mm 

35 Unto thee it waa showed, that thou 

r. :- ." -• mm :ii: im 1.?.: 1, - >.i 
Caere c is none else beside him. 

36 Out * of heaven he made thee to hear 

bis v;i; r . fim if mimt mmmm 
e.mti if 5i:~ri tife Lis 
th-:-a heardest his words doJ of the 

■:■: :ie nre. 



ii :t 
ininf. 



:i :.-.:. .i . t . 1 -i ie ir : : vf i :iv L : :hf rs. :if re- 
f::f :i .i ?f :n_; s-ri ^::f: 
t :.-"_" "_fe ' ".'. m :*» s'.^i 
• om of 
Tc " 




1 

IT. 

JkLt 

- > - : r 



: - :■: ;. 

•-.:•::: -_ 

>,- : ^ 

Ii :•: : 

= Sai ■ I 

E-i 5 r 

; :-. i. :i 
■ . ra. ■ a 

RkSU Ii 

? 5 u-: j 
Ti H _ 

- .- : : 5 

1 au ■ B. 
::»!=.■•■ 

'. 4: : -: 



a ix. :. : , 

IS. 



Dm. 4. as. 

/Lrr.B.SL 

ca.a3.1a. 

- ■ it. 

H a • 

Zri - 3 
• >-. !c.: 

; rr. ? JI- 
« S-. 11 :c 

ck.3.3,4. 

; :^ : :;: 

:i. 3. n 
• ?i li 3 



CHAP f 



= £1 1.- : 
:- 4 B 

:>£i: :i :-. 

IU I i. 

eKx.lS.S, 



A t B 



.:e :_ii w- . mi ::l;;:t: - ^~ 
in.: ; :nl:n:rw - i { = x 
ill nj.n ::: emn :,- 'y; 



trrl:..-nL:e :.= :'- .- :1.: ; l^j. 

•:•-- 1-v:. .~ :';.:.:: . .- :_ii im. mi 
fcin :ni_^ n.-. 
in ::/■::. .,!-:-—. 
Lfit: :v-. "- '.-•:.:!-■ :ir. 

■tj in.n.'«'n»:: ierr:iT:rf:-rf his 
and his commandments, winch 1 c 
thee this day, 'that it may go wen with .**" ■«■" 
tiee. m-i^v.i :_:■ ::. ". ._--..:"-: :i.r. mi • Vf ,: - 
that thou mayest prokmg tky days upon 1^. M m 
the earth, ^ni.n ;nr Lan Htj Go! gpveth 
:_.-. ... ; .: 

135 




flf Then Moses* j 

tnii r. if , :::..:. - -l.:: "it - ::.-r.-::.: 

. _ u the slayer might flee t 
which should kill En nei^xxir 
mi i-:-ri nim n.-: in vimes 
that fleeing unto one of 
nnm: ".vf ; 

r. f." : • Ef:e: i:. :i 
tie:. -.in . ;nr~~. :: ::^t Krv. mn-; mi 
Bamoth in Giiead, of the Gadites; and 
Gi.minl .i_.m. ::i:Mm»::r- 

« r A:.i :_•■ :".: tie i-m --:.i._ V.Stj frt 
":.:"■ if me ."nnmfi :: im.ml: 

45 These are the testimonies, and the 
smmteE mm me m mmm -mmi v - T? 

5'm;e mt: tie :: :-i :: lr:_ei i.:: 

tie--- :m.e ::r: :tit :: £_"Tt. 

46 On this side Jordan, iin theralley 
orer against Beth-peor. in the land of 
mi 1 .-nnr ::' tie Am mm-i: i-.lt it 
Hmi": m. -mm If. ses mi tie .ii iren f 
Is:-.-: 5:.-. te. mm: t_ev —-'z :■._: i.r.a 
m: ::E"t: 

t" .\n_ :..ev:.5ffvjei ii= Imi. ill tie 
Imi m: ■ _■ ii: :: i ..mm. t- : m:m~ f 
the Amorites, which were on this aide 
J mm. t: -m— — - mmmmm: 

fil r r:m • Aroer, which »c by the ^nk of 
tif -■•■■:: Am 1 e-m mm m.m 
which is m Hermon, 

..- Aii m me ;mm m tiii 3iie 

-n onto the s^-a of the pLaia, 
m- .: I'n-m. 

CHAPTER V. 
1 A fi-iii»t/ At !».■■■■! €■ aw*. « 

nuaiwwubun. £2Jtlkt*— «Vit«. 

:v,..r :-i .-:-/ ---.-. :.-.? .1. - . .' -i 

A >"D Moses ealkdaUIsrak and said unto 
IX - them, Hear, O IsraeL the «*** 

~m;n mmm 




: Tie - imnmnr G:i nmie a 
— Iti 15 ii K.tf't. 

1 me L:m: mmiie i:ttiis 
onr tmiers. but with tis. em us. who arc 
ill :: m let- miv- -"mis im. 

■r Tie : L:iZ' ".oAei mm vm f, .f :; m:e 
in the mount, out of the midst of the 

5 a 'stood between the Loan and you at 

tint time. t_ s..m •... me -mm .:' me 
Ix in : for e Te we re mriid by re^i<.n a 
' to the 



ire. and wen: not 

r'^'l .':-. mf L:m ti- G:i. ^iii 
:::iri: tiee m: mm m:::m:mn 
tie :i: . : - : mime 

II:.:- fni.lt !..-■: i:ie :tne: m if If- 
:"::e_ mf. 

: :::: "■ -ii: n:t mm.f tiee : . m:.vm 

mme. :- mv liier.es.? :m; .■ :.: : m; 
is in hearen above, or that is m the earth, 
beneath, or that is in the waters beneath 
the earth: 

r iim fiilt 1: ': :- i:-m mm^m mto 
for I the lx>a© thy 



i.r: imns G. i. 'vi-: 



-:: me 



the children unto the 
generation of 1 



1. Am; m' mil 

i.m .m ,: f nm m. 



11 li 1 ; - imi- 1 t t.i-A tie ime :: tie 
Loud thy God in rain: for the Loud will 

:::': i.. . mm:.::- ... . m . .-...- 



Exortation to Obedience. 



DEUTERONOMY, IV. Dissuasive against Idolatry. 



to be built Ex. 15. 2 ; Ch. 12. 6.). But thou stoodest before the Lord in Horeb— Th» 
Biblical scholars now, generally, render the delivery of the law from Sinai was an era 
words—" that goodly mountain even Le- j never to be forgotten in the history of Is- 
banon," and consider it to be mentioned as : rael. Some of those whom Moses was ad- 
typifying the beauty of Palestine, of which | dressing had been present, though very 
hills and mountains were so prominent a I young; while the rest were federally repre 



feature. 26. speak no more unto me of this 
matter— i.e., my decree is unalterable. 
CHAPTER IV. 
Ver. 1-23. An Exhortation to Obedi- 
ence. 1. hearken, Israel, unto the statutes 



sented by their parents who in their name 
and for their interest entered into the na- 
tional covenant, 12. Ye heard the voice of 
the words, but saw no similitude— although 
articulate sounds were heard emanating 



and unto the judgments— By statutes were , from the Mount, no form or representation 
meant all ordinances respecting religion, of the Divine Being who spoke was seen to 
and the rites of divine worship ; and by ! indicate his nature or properties, according 
judgments, all enactments relative to civil | to the notions of the heathen. 



matters. The two embraced, 1 the whole law 
of God. 2. Ye shall not add unto the word 
which I command you— By the introduction of 
any heathen superstition or forms of worship 
different from those which I have appoint- 
ed ;Nu. 15. 39; Ch. 12. 32: Matt. 15. 9.). 



14-40. A PARTICULAR DISSUASIVE AGAINST 

Idolatry. 15. Take good heed for ye saw no 
manner of similitude— The extreme proneness 
of the Israelites to idolatry, from their posi- 
tion in the midst of surrounding nations 
already abandoned to its seductions, ac- 



neither shall ye diminish ought from it — by (counts for their attention being repeatedly 



the neglect or omission of any of the obser- 
vances, however trivial or irksome, which 1 
have prescribed. The character and provis- 
ions of the ancient dispensation were adapt- 
ed with divine wisdom to the instruction of 
that infant state of the church. But it was 
only a temporary economy; and although 
Go 



drawn to the fact that God did not appear 
on Sinai in any visible form; and an earnest 
caution, founded on that remarkable cir- 
cumstance, is given to beware, not only of 
making representations of false gods, but 
also any fancied representation of the true 
iv a temporary economy; and altnough God. 16-19. lest ye corrupt yourselves and 
d here authorises Moses to command | make any graven images— The things are here 



that all its institutions should be honoured : specified of which God prohibited any image 
with unfailing observance, this did not pre- or representation to be made for the pur- 
vent Him from commissioning other pro- 1 poses of worship; and, from the variety of 
phets to alter or abrogate them when the j details entered into, an idea may be formed 
end of that dispensation was attained. 3,4. iof the extensive prevalence of idolatry in 
Your eyes have seen what the Lord did because j that age. In whatever way idolatry origin- 
of Baal-peor— It appears that the pestilence i ated, whether from an intention to worship 
and the sword of justice overtook only the | the true God through those things which 
guilty in that affair (Nu. 25.),while the rest seemed to afford the strongest evidences of 
of the people were spared. The allusion to I his power, or whether a divine principle 
that recent and appalling judgment was was supposed to reside in the things them- 
seasonably made as a powerful dissuasive J selves, there was scarcely an element or ob- 
against idolatry, and the fact mentioned ject of nature but was deified. This was 
was calculated to make a deep impression particularly the case with the Canaanites 
on people who knew and felt the truth of it. and Egyptians, against whose superstitious 
5, 6. ti-is is your wisdom and your understand- practices the caution, no doubt, was chiefly 
ing in the sight of nations— Moses predicted i directed. The former worshipped Baal and 
that the faithful observance of the laws given , Astarte— the latter Osiris and Isis, under the 
tiiem, would raise their national character ! figure of a male and a female. It was in 
for intelligence and wisdom: and in point of j Egypt that animal worship most prevailed, 
fact it did do so; for although the heathen ! for the natives of that country deified 
world generally ridiculed the Hebrews for I among beasts— the ox, the heifer, the sheep, 
what they considered a foolish and absurd and the goat, the dog, the cat, and the ape; 
exclusiveness, some of the most eminent among birds— the ibis, the hawk and the 



philosophers expressed the highest admira 
tion of the fundamental principle in the 
Jewish religion— the unity of God; and their 
legislators borrowed some laws from the 
constitution of the Hebrews. 7-9. what 
nation is there so great— Here he represents 
their privileges and their duty in such sig- 
nificant and comprehensive terms, as were 
peculiarly calculated to arrest their atten- 
tion and engage their interest. The former, 
their national advantages, are described, 
(vs. 7, 8,) and they were twofold:— 1. God's 
readiness to hear and aid them at all times; 
and 2. the excellence of that religion in which 
they were instructed, set forth in the " sta- 
tutes and judgments so righteous" which 
the law of Moses contained. Their duty cor- 
responding to these pre-eminent advantages 



crane ; among reptiles— the crocodile, the 
frog and the beetle; among fishes— all the 
fish of the Nile; some of these as Osiris and 
Isis were worshipped over all Egypt, the 
others only in particular provinces; m ad- 
dition to which they embraced the Zabian 
superstition, the adoration of the Egyptians, 
in common with that of many other people, 
extending to the whole starry host. The 
very circumstantial details here given of 
the Canaanitish and Egyptian idolatry were 
owing to the past and prospective familiarity 
of the Israelites with it in all these forms. 
20. But the Lord hath . . . brought you out of 
the iron furnaoe— i.e., a furnace for smelting 
iron. A furnace of this kind is round, some- 
times 30 feet deep, and requiring the highest 
intensity of heat. Such is the tremendous 



as a people, was also twofold:— 1. their own j image chosen to represent the bondage and 
faithful obedience to that law; and 2. their ob- j affliction of the Israelites. [Bosenmuller. | 
ligation to imbue the minds of the young and i to be unto him a people of inheritance— His 
rising generation with similar sentiments of peculifir possession from age to age ; and 



reverence and respect for it 
135 



10. the day '• therefore for you to abandon his worship 



The decalogue repeated. 



DEUTERONOMY, VI. 



Exhortation to fear Cfrd. 



12 Keep * the sabbath day to sanctify it. 
as the Lord thy God hath commanded 
thee. 

13 Six m days thou shalt labour, and do 
all thy work; 

14 But the seventh day is the n sabbath 
of the Lord thy God: in it thou snalt not 
do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy 
daughter, nor thy man-servant, nor thy 
maid-servant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, 
nor anv of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that 
is within thy gates; that thy man-servant 
and thy maid-servant may rest as well as 
thou. 

15 And remember that thou wast a ser- 
vant in the land of Egypt, and that the 
Lord thy God brought thee out thence 
through a mighty hand and by a stretched- 
out ann: therefore the Lord thy God com- 
manded thee to keep the sabbath day. 

16 f Honour ° thy father and thy mother, 
as the Lord thy God hath commanded 
thee ; p that thy days may be prolonged, 
and that it may go well with thee, hi the 
land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. 

17 Thou i shalt not kill. 

18 Neither r shalt thou commit adultery. 

19 Neither 8 shalt thou steal. 

20 Neither * shalt thou bear false witness 
against thy neighbour. 

21 Neither u shalt thou desire thy neigh- 
bour's wife, neither shalt thou covet thy 
neighbour's house, his field, or his man- 
servant, or bis maid-servant, his ox, or 
his ass, or any thing that is thy neigh- 
bour's. 

22 H These words the Lord spake unto 
all your assembly in the mount, out of 
the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of 
the thick darkness, with a great voice; and 
he added no more: and v he wrote them in 
two tables of stone, and delivered them 
unto me. 

23 And it came to pass, when ye heard the 
voice out of the midst of the darkness, (for 
the mountain did burn with fire,) that ye 
came near unto me, even all the heads of 
your tribes, and your elders ; 

24 And ye said, Behold, the Lord our 
God hath showed us his glory, and his 
greatness, and we have heard his voice out 
of the midst of the fire: we have seen this 
day that God doth talk with man, and he 
liveth. 

25 Now therefore why should we die? for 
this great fire will consume us: if we 3 hear 
the voice of the Lord out God any more, 
then we shall die. 

26 For w who is there of all flesh, that hath 
heard the voice of the living God speaking 
out of the midst of the fire, as we have, ana 
lived? 

27 Go thou near, and hear all that the 
Lord our God shall say; and * speak thou 
unto us all that the Lord our God shall 
speak unto thee; and we will hear it, and 
do it. 

28 And the Lord heard the voice of your 
words, when ye spake unto me; and the 
Lord said unto me, 1 have heard the voice 
of the words of this people, which they 
have spoken unto thee: they have well said 
all that they have spoken. 

29 y that there were such an heart in 
them, that they would fear me, and z keep 
all my commandments always, that it 
might be well with them, and with their 
children for eyer! 

136 



CHAP 6. 

I Ex. 20. 8. 
Neh. 13. 37. 

m Ex. 23. 12. 

Ex. 35. 2. 

Ezek. 20. 

12. 
n Gen. 2. 2. 

Ex. 16. 29. 

Heb. 4. 4. 
o Lev. 19. 3. 

ch. 27. 16. 

Eph. 6. 2,3. 

Col. 3. 20. 
J> ch. 4. 40. 
q Mat. 5. 21. 
r Lu. 18. 20. 

James 2. 

11. 
8 Rom. 13. 9. 

I I Kin. 21. 
10. 

u Mic. 2. 2. 

Hab. 2. 9. 

Luk« 12. 

15. 

Ro. 7. 7. 

Ro. 13. 9. 

Gal. 5. 14. 
« Ex 24. 12. 
3 add to 

hear. 
«' ch. 4. 33. 

* He. 12. 19. 
V ch. 32. 29. 

Pa. 81. 13. 
Is. 48. 18. 
Mat. 23.37. 
Luke 19. 
42. 

* ch. 11. 1. 
« Gal. a 19. 
b Josh. 23. 6. 

Pro. 4. 27. 
C Ec. 8. 12. 
Jer. 7. 23. 
Lu. 1. 6. 
1 Tim. 4. 8. 



CHAP. 6. 

1 pass over. 
• Ex. 20. 20. 

Ps.111.10. 
Ps. 128. 1. 

Eccles. 12. 
13. 
b Pro. 3. 1. 
c 1». 9. 6. 

Mark 12. 

29. 

John 1.1. 

John 10. 30. 

John 17. 3. 

1 Cor. 8. 4. 

Eph. 4. 6. 

Phil. 2. 5, 6. 
d Mat. 22. 37. 
e Is. 51. 7. 
/ Eph. 6. 4. 

2 whet, or, 
sharpen. 

9 Pro. 6. 21. 

Ex. 13. 9. 

Pro. 3. 3. 

Pro. 7. 3. 
h ch. 11. 20. 

Is. 57. 8. 
» Josh. 24. 

13. 

Psalm 105. 

44. 

3 bondmen, 
or, ser- 
rants. 

j ch. 13. 4. 

Luke 4. 8. 
ft Ps. 63. 11. 
{ Jer. 25, 6. 



30 Go say to them, Get you into your tents 
again. 

31 But as for thee, stand thou here bv me, 
and a 1 will speak unto thee all the com- 
mandments, and the statutes, and the 
judgments, which thou shalt teach them, 
that they may do them in the land which 
I give them to possess it. 

32 Ye shall observe to do therefore as the 
Lord your God hath commanded you: <- ve 
shall not turn aside to the right hand or to 
the left. 

33 Ye shall walk in c all the ways which 
the Lord your God hath commanded yon, 
that ye may live, and that it may be \\\ 11 
with you, and that ye may prolong pour 
days in the land which ye shall possess. 

CHAPTER VI. 
1 Moses exhorteth Israel to hear God. and to keep 
his commandments, which consists inloting hun 
with all the heart: 16 they must not ter..pt the 
Lord : 20 t hey are commanded to instruct their 
children. 

"XTOW these are the commandments, the 
-^ statutes, and the judgments, which the 
Lord your God commanded to teach you, 
that ye might do them in the land whither 
ye ! go to possess it: 

2 That a thou mightest fear the Lord thy 
God, to keep all his statutes, and his com- 
mandments, which 1 command thee, thou, 
and thy son, and thy son's son, all the days 
of thy life; &and that thy days may be 
prolonged. 

3 1f Hear therefore, Israel, and observe 
to do it; that it may be well with thee, 
and that ye may increase mightily, as the 
Lord God of thy fathers hath promised 
thee, in the land that floweth with milk 
and honey. 

4 Hear, O Israel: c The Lord our God is 
one Lord: 

5 And d thou shalt love the Lord thy God 
with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, 
and with all thy might. 

6 And e these words, which I command 
thee this day, shall be in thine heart: 

7 And /thou shalt 2 teach them diligently 
unto thy children, and shalt talk of them 
when thou sittest in thine house, and when 
thou walkest by the way, and when thou 
liest down, and when thou risest up. 

8 And • thou shalt bind them for a sign 
upon thine hand, and they shall be as 
frontlets between thine eyes. 

9 And h thou shalt write them upon the 
posts of thy house, and on thy gates. 

10 And it shall be, when the Lord thy 
God shall have brought thee into the land 
which he sware unto thy fathers, to Abra- 
ham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee 
great and goodly cities, * which thou build- 
edst not, 

11 And houses full of all good things, 
which thou filledst not, and wells digged, 
which thou diggedst not, vineyards and 
olive trees, which thou plantedst not ; when 
thou shalt have eaten, and be full ; 

12 Then beware lest thou forget the Lord, 
which brought thee forth out of the land 
of Egypt, from the house of 3 bondage. 

13 Thou shalt i fear the Lord thy God, 
and serve him, and * shalt swear by his 
name. 

14 Ye shall not l go after other gods, of 
the gods of the people which are round 
about you, 

15 (For the Lobd thy God is a jealous 



Commemoration of the 



DEUTEKONOMY, V. 



Covenant in Horeb. 



for that of idols, especially the gross and 
debasing system of idolatry that prevails 
among the Egyptians, would be the greatest 
folly— the blackest ingratitude. 26. I call 
heaven and earth to witness against you— this 
solemn form of adjuration has been com- 
mon in special circumstances amongst all 
people. It is used here figuratively, or as 
in other parts of Scripture where inanimate 
objects are called up as witnesses ch. 32. 1; 
Is. 1. 2.). 28. there ye shall serve gods— The 
compulsory measures of their tyrannical 
conquerors would force them into idolatry, 
so that their choice would become their 
punishment. 30. in the latter days— either 
towards the destined close of their captivi- 
ties, when they evinced a returning spirit 
of repentance and faith, or in the age of 
Messiah, which is commonly called "the 
latter days," and when the scattered tribes 
of Israel shall be converted to the Gospel of 
Christ. The occurrence of this auspicious 
event will be the most illustrious proof of 
the truth of the promise made in v. 31. 
41-43. Then Moses severed three cities on this 
side Jordan— (See on Josh. 20. 7, 8.). 44-49. 
This is the law which M>ses set— This is a pre- 
face to the rehearsal of the law, which, with 
the addition of various explanatory circum- 
stances, the following chapters contain. 46. 
Beth-Peor— i.e. , house or temple of Peor. It 
is probable that a temple of this Moabite 
idol stood in full view of the Hebrew camp, 
while Moses was urging the exclusive claims 
of God to their worship; and this allusion 
would be very significant if it were the 
temple where so many of the Israelites had 
grievously offended. 49. The springs of Pis- 
gah— more frequently Ashdoth-pisgah, (ch. 
3. 17; Josh. 12. 3; 13. 20,) the roots or foot of 
the mountains east of the Jordan. 
CHAPTER V. 
Ver. 1-5. A Commemoration of the 
Covenant in Horeb. 1. Hear, 0, Israel, the 
statutes and judgments— Whether this re- 
hearsal of the law was made in a solemn 
assembly, or as some think at a general 
meeting of the elders as representatives of 
the people, is of little moment; it was ad- 
dressed either directly or indirectly to the 
Hebrew people as principles of their pecu- 
liar constitution as a nation- and hence, as 
has been well observed, " the Jewish law 
has no obligation upon Christians, unless 
so much of it as given or commanded by 
Jesus Christ; for whatever in this law is 
conformable to the laws of nature, obliges 
us, not as given by Moses, but by virtue of 
an antecedent law common to all rational 
beings." [Bishop Wilson.] 3. The Lord 
made not this covenant with our fathers, but 
with us— The meaning is, "not with our 
fathers" only, "but with us" also, assuming 
it to be " a covenant" of grace; or " not with 
our fathers " at all, if the reference is to the 
peculiar establishment of the covenant at 
Sinai: a law was not given to them as to us, 
nor was the covenant ratified in the same 
public manner, and by the same solemn sanc- 
tions. Or, finally, "not with our fathers" 
who died in the wilderness, in consequence 
of their rebellion, and to whom God did not 
give the rewards promised only to the faith- 
ful; but " witli us. ' who alone, strictly speak- 
ing, shall enjoy the benefits of this cove- i 
nant by entering on the possession of the 
promised land. 4. The Lord talked with you ' 
136 



face to face— not in a visible and corporeal 
form, of which there was no trace (ch. 4. 12, 
15,), but freely, familiarly, and in such a 
manner that no doubt could be entertained 
of His presence. 5. I stood between the Lord 
and you— as the messenger and interpreter 
of thy Heavenly King, bringing near two 
objects, formerly removed from each other 
at a vast distance, viz: God and the people, 
(Gal. 10. 19.). In this character Moses was a 
type of Christ, who is the only mediator be- 
tween God and men, (1 Tim. 11. 5,) the Medi- 
ator of a better covenant. 'Heb. 8. 6; 9. 15; 
12. 24.) to shew you tlie word of the Lord— not 
the ten commandments— for they were pro- 
claimed directly by the Divine Speaker him- 
self, but the statutes and judgments which 
are repeated in the subsequent portion of 
this book. 6-20. I am the Lord thy God— The 
word " Lord " is expressive of authority or 
dominion; and God, who by natural claim 
as well as by covenant relation, was entitled 
to exercise supremacy over his people Is- 
rael, had a sovereign right to establish laws 
for their government. The commandments 
which follow are, with a few slight verbal al- 
terations,^ same as formerly recorded, (Ex. 
20.) and in some of them there is a distinct 
reference to that promulgation. 12. Keep tlo 
Sabbath day to sanctify it, as the Lord, &c. 
—i.e., keep it in mind as a sacred insti- 
tution of former enactment and perpetual 
obligation. 14. that thy man servant arid thy 
maid-servant may rest as well as thou— This is 
a different reason for the observance of the 
Sabbath from what is assigned in Ex. 20. 
where that day is stated to be an appointed 
memorial of the creation. But the addition 
of another motive for the observance does 
not imply any necessary contrariety to the 
other; and it has been thought probable 
that, the commemorative design of the in- 
stitution being well known, the other reason 
was specially mentioned on this repetition 
of the law, to secure the privilege of sabbatic 
rest to servants, of which, in some Hebrew 
families, they had been deprived. In this 
view, the allusion to the period of Egyptian 
bondage (v. 15,) when themselves were not 
permitted to observe the Sabbath either as 
a day of rest, or of public devotion, was 
peculiarly seasonable and significant, well 
fitted to come home to their business and 
bosoms. 16. that it may go wed with thee— 
This clause is not in Exodus, but admitted 
into Eph. 6. 3. 21. neither shalt thou desire 
thy neighbour's wife, house, and field— an al- 
teration is here made in the words (see Ex. 
20.), but it is so slight ("wife" being put in 
the first clause, and house in the second) 
that it would not have been worth while 
noticing it, except that the interchange 
proves, contrary to the opinion of some emi- 
nent critics, that these two objects are in- 
cluded in one and the same commandment. 
22. He added no more— (Ex. 20. l.). The pre- 
eminence of these ten commandments was 
shewn in God's announcing them directly: 
other laws and institutions were communi- 
cated to the people through the instrumen- 
tality of Moses. 23-28. And ... ye came near 
unto me— (See on Ex. 20. 19.). 29. 0! that 
there were such an heart in them— God can 
bestow such a heart and has promised to 
give it, wherever it is asked (Jer. 32. 40.). 
But the wish which is here expressed on the 
part of God for the piety and steadfast obe- 



Heathen intercourse forbidden. DEUTERONOMY, VTI. 



The reward of ofa 



God among you.) lest the an?er of the 
Lord thy God" be kindled against thee, and 
destroy thee from off the face of the earth. 

16 f Ye m shall not tempt the Lord your 
God, n as ve tempted him in Massah. 

17 Ye shall ° diligently keen the 
mandments of the Lord your God. and his 
testimonies, and his statutes, which he hath 
commanded thee. 

13 And thou shalt do that xchkh is right 
and mod in the sizht of the Lord ; that it 
maybe well with thee, and that thou may- 
est go in and possess the good land which 
the Lord sware unto thy fathers, 

19 To east out all thine enemies from be- 
fore thee, as the Lord hath spoken. 

20 r And when thy son asketh thee 4 in 
time to come, saying, What mean the 
testimonies, and the statutes, and the 

irlrieh the Lord our God hath 
commanded you ? 

-1 Then thou shalt say unto thy son, YTe 
were Pharaoh's bond-men in Egypt: and 
the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a 
mighty hand: 

22 And the Lord showed si=ms and won- 
ders, ereat and '•sore, opon Egypt 
Pharaoh, and upon all his household, be- 
fore our eyes: 

23 And He brought us out from thence. 
that he mirht bring us in. to give us the 
land which he sware unto our fathers. 

24 And the Lord commanded us to do ah 
these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, 
for * our good always, that ■ he might pre- 
serve us alive, as it it at this day. 

25 And r it shall be our righteousness, if 

iiimandnients 
before the Lord our God, as he hath com- 
manded us. 

CHAPTER YTI. 
1 A., eommtmm i ill tin wiifiiim fimtUUm, IJhr 
fear of idolatry, 6 and f>yr the hoUnesi :/ :.-: 
peopW. 2o Images to be destroyed. 

"\yHEN the Lord thy God shall bring 
thee into the land whither thorn g : e : i 
to possess it, and hath cast out many na- 
tions before thee, the Hittites, and* the 
Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the 
Canaanites. and the Perizziies. and the 
Hivites, and the Jebusites. seven nations 
greater and mishtier than thou; 

2 And when the Lord thy God shall de- 
liver them before thee: thou shall smite 
them, and a utterly destroy them; = thou 
shalt make no covenant with them, nor 
show mercy unto them: 

3 Neither c shalt thou make marriages 
with them ; thy daughter thou shalt hot 
give unto his sbn, nor his daughter shalt 
thou take unto thy son. 

4 For they will turn away thy son from 
following me. that they may serve other 

s i will the ansrer of the Lord be kin- 
dled against you. and destroy thee suddenly. 

5 But thus shall ye deal* with the::.: ye 
shall d destroy their* altars, and break down 
their * images, and cut down their groves, 
and burn their graven images with . 

6 For * thou art an holy peo] le unto the 
Lord thv God: /the Lord thy God hath 

i tbee to be a special people unto 
himself, above all people that are upon 
the face of the earth. 

7 The Lord did not set his love upon you. 
nor choose you. because ye were more in 
number than any people; for ye wett the 
fewest of all people : 

137 



B. C.1451. I 



CHAP. 6. 

»-%. 4 ;• 

"lCor.10.9. 
com- 1 ° P»- 119- *• i 

4 to-mor- 
row. 

5 era. 
p M So. 

7. :. 

Jer. 32.39 

9 Ps 41.2. 

L^>; 10. 

•:s. 

r Bo. 10. 3. 



CHAP. 7. 

a Josh. 6. 17. 

JMk II. 

U. 

b J.-sh. 2.14, 

Juii. 2. 2. 
« Jul 23. 

12. 

IKi. 11.2 

Exra S. 2. 
i Zx. B.9L 

Ex. .34. 13. 
1 5 --a:--?*, 

cr. -.liars. 
« P;. 50L 5. 

Jer. 2. 3. 
f Ex, IP. 5. 

Ps. 135. 4. 

A-:= 3 2 
1 P«. 2. 9. 

3 Ex. 32 13. 
?s MS & 
Lafa 1. 5-5. 

h Ex. 13. 3. 

i is. 49. :. 

1 C:r. 1.9. 
1C::. ML 
13. 

2 Cor. L 18. 

1 Sbm. 5. 
24. 

2 Tim. 2. 
13. 

Heb. 11. 11- 
1 J:in 1.9. 
; Ex. 20. 6. 
Nez. 1. 5. 
Dan. 9. 4. 

i is. hl a. 

tU. 1. 2. 

9 beca.use. 
I Ps. 11. 7, 

Ps. 63. 3. 

P*. 146. 8. 

Pro. 15. 9. 

J--14.21. 

Uohn 2.5. 
>* Ex. 9. 14. 
•• Mfe - «. 

Xu. 33. 53. 

1 Ps. 1.-5. 5. 

i Ex. k m. 

J:sL. 24. 
12. 

* Xu. 14. 9. 

Mm 15. 3. 

* eh. ::. it. 

Nk 1. 5. 
Hcfc. 4. 14. 

ha. : -■:. 

I] ■cktffl 

4 bdfan :.".v 
face. 

t J:sh. 10. 

34. 

Josh. 12.1. 
u eh. 11. 25. 

J:s-. 1.5. 

rnft Til 



8 But because the Lord loved vou. and 
because he would keep g the oath which he 
had sworn unto your fathers. * hath the 
Lord brought you out with a mighty hand, 
and redeemed yon out of the house of bond- 
men, from the hand of Pharaoh king of 

9 Know therefore that the Lord thy God, 
he us God. »the faithful God, i which keep- 
eth covenant and mercy with them that 

I love him and keep his commandrnents, to 

i thousand generations; 
| 10 And * repaveth them that hate him to 

their face, to destroy them: he will not be 
: slack to him that haieth him, he will repay 

him to his face. 

11 Thou shalt therefore keep the com- 
mandments, and the statutes, and the 
judgments, which I command thee this 
day. to do thorn. 

12 Wherefore it shall come to pass. 2 if ye 
hearken to these judgments, and keep and 
do them, that the Lord thy God shall keep 
unto thee the covenant and the mercy 
which he sware unto thy fathers: 

13 And he will ' love thee, and bless thee, 
and multiply thee: he will also bless the 
fruit of thy* womb, and the fruit of th] 
land, thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oi 
the increase of thy krhe. and the flocks 
thy sheep, in the land which he sware unto 

:hee. 

14 Thou shalt be blessed above all people: 
there shall not be male or female barren 

- you. or amons your cattle. 

15 And the Lord will "take away from thee 
all sickness, and will put none of the m evil 

:: Eg ■■'- :. which thou knowest, 
iv n thee but will lay them upon all them 
that hate thee. 

14" And thou shalt consume all the people 
which the Lord thy God shall deliver thee ; 
thine eye shall have no pity anon them: 
neither shalt thou serve their gods ; for thai 
iciU. be n a snare unto t'n 

17 If thou shalt say in thine hear:, 
nations a re more than I ; how can I ° dis- 
| ssess them? 

IS Thou shalt not be afraid of them; but 
shalt well * remember what the Lord 
I did unto Pharaoh, and unto all 
Egypt: 

19 The great temptations which thine 

lw, and the signs, and the wonders, 
and the mighty hand, and the sn- 
out arm. whereby the Lord thy 
brought thee out : so shall the Lord thy 

: unto all the people of whom thou 
art iraid. 

20 Moreover °- the Lord thy God will send 
the homet among them, until they that 
are left, and hide themselves from thee, be 

ed. 

21 Thou shalt not be affrighted at them: 
for the Lord thy God is r among you, " a 

God and terrible. 

22 And the Lord thy God will 3 put out 
those nations before thee by little and little: 
thou mavest not consume them at once, 
lest the beasts of the field increase upon 

23 But the Lord thy God shall deliver 
them * unto thee, and* shall desire 
with a mighty destruction, until they be 
destroved. 

24 And * he shall deliver their kings into 
thine hand, and thou shalt destroy their 
name from under heaven: u there shall no 



Moses Exhorteth Israel to DETTTEKONOMY, VI, VII. Keep GooVs Commandments. 



dience of the Israelites did not relate to 
them as individuals, so much as a nation, 
whose religious character and progress would 
have a mighty influence on the world at 
large. 

CHAPTER VI. 
Ver. 1-20. Moses Exhorteth Israel 
to hear God and to keep His Command- 
ments. 1. Now these are the commandments 
and the statutes and the judgments which the 
Lord commanded— The grand design of all 
the institutions prescribed to Israel was to 
form a religious people, whose national cha- 
racter should be distinguished by that fear 
of the Lord their God, which would ensure 
their divine observance of His worship, and 
their steadfast obedience to His will. The 
basis of their religion was an acknowledg- 
ment of the unity of God with the under- 
standing, and the love of God in the heart 
(v. 4. 5.'. Compared with the religious creed 
of all their contemporaries, how sound in 
principle, how elevated in character, how 
unlimited in the extent of its moral influ- 
ence on the heart and habits of the people. 
Indeed, it is precisely the same basis on 
which rests the purer and more spiritual 
form of it which Christianity exhibits (Matt. 
22. 37; Mk. 12. 30; Lu. 10. 27.). Moreover, to 
help in keeping a sense of religion in their 
minds, it was commanded that its great 
principles should be carried about with 
them wherever they went, as well as meet 
their eyes every time they entered their 
homes; a further provision was made for 
the earnest inculcation of them on the 
minds of the young by a system of parental 
training, which was designed to associate 
religion with all the most familiar and 
oft-recurring scenes of domestic life. It 
is probable that Moses used the phraseology 
in the seventh verse, merely in a figurative 
way, to signify assiduous, earnest, and fre- 
quent instruction; and perhaps he meant 
the metaphorical language in the eighth 
verse to be taken in the same sense also. 
But as the Israelites interpreted it literally, 
many writers suppose that a reference was 
made to a superstitious custom borrowed 
from the Egyptians, who wore jewels and 
ornamental trinkets on the forehead and 
arm, inscribed with certain words and sen- 
tences, as amulets to protect them from 
danger. These, it has been conjectured, 
Moses intended to supersede by substitut- 
ing sentences of the law; and so the Hebrews 
understood him, for they have always con- 
sidered the wearing of the Tephilim or front- 
lets a permanent obligation. The form was 
as follows:— Four pieces of parchment, in- 
scribed, the first with Exodus 13. 2-10; the 
second with Exodus, 13. 11-16; the third with 
Deuteronomy, 6. 1-8; and the fourth with 
Deuteronomy, 11. 18-21, were enclosed in a 
square case or box of tough skin, on the side 
of which was placed the Hebrew letter {shin) 
and bound round the forehead with a 
thong or ribbon. When designed for the 
arms, those four texts were written on one 
slip of parchment, which, as well as the ink, 
was carefully prepared for the purpose. With 
regard to the other usage supposed to be 
alluded to, the ancient Egyptians had the 
lintels and imposts of their doors and gates 
inscribed with sentences indicative of a 
favourable omen [Wilk. |; and this is still the 
case, for in Egypt and other Mahommedan 
137 



countries, the front doors of houses— in 
Cairo, for instance— are painted red, white, 
and green, bearing conspicuously inscribed 
upon them such sentences from the Koran, 
as "God is the Creator," "God is one. and 
Mahomet is his prophet." Moses designed 
to turn this ancient and favourite custom 
to a better account, and ordered that, in- 
stead of the former superstitious inscrip- 
tions, should be written the words of God, 
persuading and enjoining the people to hold 
the laws in perpetual remembrance. 20-25. 
When thy son asketh thee— The directions 
given for the instruction of their children 
form only an extension of the preceding 

counsels. 

CHAPTER VTI. 
Ver. 1-6. All Communion with the 
Nations forbidden. 1. The Hittites— 
This people were descended from Heth, the 
second son of Canaan, (Gen. 10. 15,) and oc- 
cupied the mountainous region about He- 
bron, in the south of Palestine. The Girgash- 
ites supposed by some to be the same as the 
Gergesenes, (Matt. 8. 28 J who lay to the east 
of Lake Gennesareth; Tout they are placed 
on the west of Jordan, (Josh. 24. 11,) and 
others take them for a branch of the large 
family of the Hivites, as they are omitted 
in nine out of ten places where the tribes 
of Canaan are enumerated- in the tenth 
they are mentioned, while the Hivites are 
not. The Amorites — descended from the 
fourth son of Canaan occupied, besides their 
conquest on the Moabite territory, exten- 
sive settlements west of the Dead Sea, in 
the mountains. The Canaanites— were lo- 
cated in Phoenicia, particularly about Tyre 
and Sidon, and being sprung from the eldest 
branch of the lamily of Canaan, bore his 
name. The Perizzites— i.e., villagers, a tribe 
who were dispersed throughout the coun- 
try, and lived in unwalled towns. The Hi- 
vites— who dwelt about Ebal and Gerizim, 
extending towards Hermon. They are sup- 
posed to be the same as the Avims. Tne 
Jebusites— resided about Jerusalem and the 
adjacent country, seven nations greater and 
mightier than thou— Ten were formerly men- 
tioned (Gen. 15. 19-21.). But in the lapse of 
near 500 years, it cannot be surprising that 
some of them had been extinguished in the 
many intestine feuds that prevailed amongst 
those warlike tribes; and it is more than 
probable that some, stationed on the east of 
Jordan, had fallen under the victorious arms 
of the Israelites. 2-6. Thou shalt utterly de- 
stroy, and make no covenant with them— This 
relentless doom of extermination which God 
denounced against those tribes of Canaan 
cannot be reconciled with the attributes of 
the Divine character, except on the assump- 
tion that their gross idolatry and enormous 
wickedness left no reasonable hope of their 
repentance and amendment. If they were 
to be swept away like the Antediluvians, or 
the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, as incor- 
rigible sinners who had filled up the mea- 
sure of their iniquities, it mattered not to 
them in what way the judgment was in- 
flicted; and God, as the Sovereign Disposer, 
had a right to employ any instruments that 
pleased Him for executing His judgments. 
Some think that they were to be extermi- 
nated as unprincipled usurpers of a coun- 
try which God had assigned to the posterity 
of Eber, and which had been occupied ages 



Exhortation to obedience 



DEUTERONOMY, VIII, IX. in regard of GooV 's mercy. 



man be able to stand before thee, until 
thou have destroyed them. 

25 The graven images of their gods v shall 
ye burn with fire : thou w shalt not desire 
the silver or gold that is on them, nor take 
it unto thee, lest thou be x snared therein: 
tor it is v an abomination to the Lord thy 
God. 

26 Neither shalt thou bring an abomina- 
tion into thine house, lest thou be a cursed 
thing like it: but thou shalt utterly detest 
it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it; z for it 
is a cursed thing. 

CHAPTER YIIL 

I An exhortation to obedience in regard of God's 
mercy and goodness in his dealings with Israel. 
19 The evil of worshipping other gods. 

ALL the commandments which I com- 
-*■*- mand thee this day shall ye observe to 
do, that ye may live, and multiply, and go 
in and possess the land which the Lord 
sware unto your fathers. 

2 And thou shalt remember all the way 
which the Lord thy G-od a led thee these 
forty years in the wilderness, to humble 
thee, and to prove thee, b to know what 
teas in thine heart, whether thou wouldest 
keep his commandments, or no. 

3 And he humbled thee, and c suffered thee 
to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which 
thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers 
know ; that he might make thee know that 
man doth d not live by bread only, but by 
every ward that proceedeth out of the 
mouth of the Lord doth man live. 

4 Thy e raiment waxed not old upon thee, 
neither did thy foot swell, these forty years. 

5 Thou /shalt also consider in thine heart, 
that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the 
Lord thy God chasteneth thee. 

6 Therefore thou shalt keep the command- 
ments of the Lord thy God, to walk in his 
ways, and to fear him. 

7 For the Lord thy God bringeth thee 
into a good land; a land of brooks of water, 
of fountains, and depths that spring out of 
valleys and hills ; 

8 A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, 
and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land l of 
oil olive and honey; 

9 A land wherein thou shalt eat bread 
without scarceness, thou shalt not lack any 
thing in it- a land whose stones are iron, 
and out or whose hills thou mayest dig 
brass. 

10 When g thou hast eaten and art full, 
then thou shalt bless the Lord thy God for 
the good land which he hath given thee. 

II Beware that thou forget not the Lord 
thy God, in not keeping his command- 
ments, and his judgments, and his statutes, 
which I command thee this day: 

12 Lest h when thou hast eaten and art full, 
and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt 
therein; 

13 And when thy herds and thy flocks 
multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is 
multipled, and all that thou hast is multi- 
plied: 

14 Then » thine heart be lifted up, and 
thou J forget the Lord thy God, which 
brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, 
from the house of bondage ; 

15 Who * led thee through that great and 
terrible wilderness, { wherein were fiery ser- 
pents, and scorpions, and drought, where 
there was no water; m who brought thee 
forth water out of the rock of Hint; 

138 



CHAP. 7. 

v Ex. 32. 20. 

ch. 12. 3. 

1 Chr. 14. 

12. 
v Ex. 20.17. 

Josh. 7. 1, 

21. 

Lu. 12. 15. 

Col. 3. 5. 
*Judg.8.27. 

Zeph. 1. 3. 
V ch. 17. 1. 
* Lev. 27. 28. 

ch. 13. 17. 

Josh. 6. 17, 

18. 



CHAP. 8. 
a P S . 136. 16. 

Amos 2. 10. 
6 2 Chr. 32. 

31. 

John 2. 25. 
c Ex. 16. 2, 3. 
d Ps. 104. 29. 

Mat. 4. 4. 
« ch. 29. 5. 

Neh. 9. 21. 
/ 2 Sam. 7. 

14. 

Ps. 89. 32. 

Pro. 3. 12. 

Heb. 12. 5. 

Rev. 3. 19. 
1 of olive tree 

of oil. 
9 Ps. 103. 2. 

1 Cor. 10, 

31. 

Col. 3. 15. 

1 Thess. 5. 

18. 

1 Tim. 4. 3. 
h Pro. 30. 9. 

Hos. 13. 6. 
i 1 Cor. 4. 7. 

4 Ps. 106. 21. 
k Is. 63. 12. 

Jer. 2. 6. 
I Nu. 21. 6. 

Hos. 13. 5. 

*» Nu. 20. 11. 

Ps. 78. 15. 

Ps. 114. 8. 
n Ex. 16. 15. 
O Jer. 24. 5,6. 

Heb. 12. 11. 
P ch. 9. 4. 

5 Pro. 10. 22. 
Hos. 2. 8. 

r Dan. 9. 11. 



CHAP. 9. 

ch. 7. 1. 
b ch. 1. 28. 

c Nu. 13. 22. 
d Josh. 3. 11. 
e Heb. 12.29. 
/Ex. 23. 31. 
9 Ezek.36.32. 

Ro. 11. 6. 

1 Cor. 4.4. 
h Gen. 15. 16. 

Lev. 18. 24. 

ch. 18. 12. 
i 2 Tim 1. 9. 

Tit. 3 5. 
j Gen. 12. 7. 
k Ex. 14. 11. 

Ex. 1(5. 2. 

Nu. 11. 4. 

Nu. 20. 2. 

Nu. 25. 2, 

1 Ex. 32. 4. 
Ps. 106. 19. 

** Luke 4.1. 



16 Who fed thee in the wilderness n with 
manna, which thy fathers knew not, that 
he might humble thee, and that he might 
prove thee, ° to do thee good at thy latter 
end; 

17 And P thou say in thine heart. My 
power and the might of mine hand hath 
gotten me this wealth. 

18 But thou shalt remember the Lord thy 
God: q for it is he that giveth thee power 
to get wealth, that he may establish his 
covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, 
as it is this day. 

19 And it shall be, if thou do at all forcret 
the Lord thy God, and walk after other 
gods, and serve them, and worship them, I 
testify against you this day, that ye shall 
surely perish. 

20 As the nations which the Lord de- 
stroy eth before your face, r so shall ye 
perish; because ye would not be obedient 
unto the voice of the Lord your God. 

CHAPTER IX. 

1 Moses dissuadeth them from the opinion of their 
own righteousness, 1 by rehearsing their several 
rebellions : 26 his prayer for them. 
TXEAR, O Israel: Thou art to pass over 
±x Jordan this day, to go in to possess 
nations ° greater and mightier than thy- 
self, cities great, and b fenced up to heaven ; 

2 A people great and tall, c the children of 
the Anakims, whom thou knowest, and of 
whom thou hast heard say, Who can stand 
before the children of Anak! 

3 Understand therefore this day, that the 
Lord thy God is he which d goeth over 
before thee ; as a e consuming fire he shall 
destroy them, and he shall bring them 
down before thy face:/ so shalt thou drive 
them out, and destroy them quickly, as the 
Lord hath said unto thee. 

4 Speak g not thou in thine heart, after 
that the Lord thy God hath cast them out 
from before thee, saying, For my righte- 
ousness the Lord hath brought me m to 
possess this land: but h for the wickedness 
of these nations the Lord doth drive them 
out from before thee. 

5 Not ■ for thy righteousness, or for the 
uprightness of thine heart, dost thou go to 
possess their land ; but for the wickedness 
of these nations the Lord thy God doth 
drive them out from before trlee, and that 
he may perform i the word which the Lord 
sware unto thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac, 
and Jacob. 

6 Understand therefore, that the Lord 
thy God giveth thee not this good land to 
possess it for thy righteousness; for thou 
art a stiff-necked people. 

7 \ Remember, and forget not, how thou 
provokedst the Lord thy God to wrath in 
the wilderness: * from the day that thou 
didst depart out of the land of Egypt, un- 
til ye came unto this place, ye have been 
rebellious against the Lord. 

8 Also l in Horeb ye provoked the Lord 
to wrath, so that the Lord was angry with 
you, to have destroyed you. 

9 When I was gone up into the mount to 
receive the tables of stone, even the tables 
of the covenant which the Lord made with 
you, then 1 m abode in the mount forty 
days and forty nights; I neither did eat 
bread nor drink water: 

10 And the Lord delivered unto me two 
tables of stone, written with the finger of 
God: and on them was written aceor uing 



All Communion forbidden. 



DEUTEKONOMY, VIII. Exhortation to Obedience. 



before by wandering shepherds of that race, 
till, on the migration of Jacob's family into 
Egypt through the pressure of famine, the 
Canaanites overspread the whole land, 
though they had no legitimate claim to it, 
and endeavoured to retain possession of it 
by force. In this view their expulsion was 
just and proper. The strict prohibition 
against contracting any alliances with such 
infamous idolators was a prudential rule, 
founded on the experience that " evil com- 
munications corrupt good manners," and its 
importance or necessity was attested by the 
unhappy examples of Solomon and others in 
the subsequent history of Israel. 5. Tims 
shall ye deal with them— The removal of the 
temples, altars, and everything that had 
been enlisted in the service, or might tend 
to perpetuate the remembrance, of Canaanite 
idolatry was likewise highly expedient for 
preserving the Israelites from all risk of 
contamination. It was imitated by our Scot- 
tish reformers, and although many ardent 
lovers of architecture and the fine arts have 
anathematized their proceedings as Vandal- 
ism, yet there was profound wisdom in the 
favourite maxim of Knox—" pull down the 
nests, and the rooks will disappear." 6-10. for 
thou art an holy people unto the Lord— i.e., 
set apart to the service of God, or chosen to 
execute the important purposes of His pro- 
vidence. Their selection to this high des- 
tiny was neither on account of their nume- 
rical amount, for, till after the death of 
Joseph, they were but a handful of people; 
nor of their extraordinary merits, for they 
had often pursued a most perverse and un- 
worthy conduct: but it was in consequence 
of the covenant or promise made with their 
pious forefathers, and the motives that led 
to that special act were such as tended not 
only to vindicate God's wisdom, but to illus- 
trate His glory in diffusing the best and 
most precious blessings to all mankind. 
11-26. Thou slialt therefore keep the command- 
ments, &c— In the covenant into which God 
entered with Israel, He promised to bestow 
upon them a variety of blessings so long as 
they continued obedient to Him as their 
heavenly King, and pledged His veracity 
that His infinite perfections would be exert- 
ed for this purpose as well as for delivering 
them from every evil to which, as a people, 
they would be exposed. That people ac- 
cordingly were truly happy as a nation, and 
found every promise which the faithful God 
made to them amply fulfilled, so long as 
they adhered to that obedience which was 
required of them. See a beautiful illus- 
tration of this in Psalm 144. 12-15. The evil 
diseases of Egypt— (See Ex. 15. 26.) But be- 
sides those with which Pharaoh and his sub- 
jects were visited, Egypt has always been 
dreadfully scourged with diseases, and the 
testimony of Moses is confirmed by the re- 
ports of many modern writers, who tell us 
that, notwithstanding its equal temperature 
and sereneness, that country has some indi- 
genous maladies which are very malignant, 
such as opthalmia, dysentery, small pox, 
and the plague. 20. God will send the hornet 
among them— (See on Josh. 24. 11-13.) 22. lest 
the beasts of the field increase upon thee— 'See 
on Ex. 23. 28-30.) The omnipotence of their 
A 1 mighty Ruler could have given them pos- 
ses-ion of the promised land at once. But, 
the i nbaried corpses of the enemy, and the 
138 



portions of the country that might have 
been left desolate for a while, would have 
drawn an influx of dangerous beasts. This 
evil would be prevented by a progre sive 
conquest, and by the use of ordinary means 
which God would bless. 

CHAPTER Vni. 
Ver. 1-20. An Exhortation to Obe- 
dience. 1. All the commandments shall ye 
observe, that ye may live— Duty has been 
made in all the wise arrangements of our 
Creator inseparably connected with happi- 
ness, and the earnest enforcement of the 
divine law which Moses was making to the 
Israelites was in order to secure their being a 
happy, because a moral and religious people: 
a course of prosperity is often called life 
(Gen. 17. 18; Prov. 3. 2.). live and multiply— 
This reference to the future increase of their 
population proves that they were t o few to 
occupy the land fully at first. 2. Thou shalt 
remember all the way which God led thee these 
forty years— The recapitulation of all their 
chequered experience during that long pe- 
riod was designed to awaken lively impres- 
sions of the goodness of God. First, Mnses 
showed them the object of their protracted 
wanderings and varied hardships; these were 
trials of their obedience as well as chastise- 
ments for sin. Indeed, the discovery of their 
infidelity, inconstancy, and their rebellions 
and perverseness which this varied discip- 
line brought to light, was of eminently prac- 
tical use to the Israelites themselves, as it 
has been to the Church in all subsequent 
ages. Next, he enlarged on the goodness of 
God to them, while reduced to the last extre- 
mities of despair, in the miraculous provision 
which, without anxiety or labour, was made 
for their daily support (see on Ex. 16. 12.), 
and which, possessing no nutritious proper- 
ties inherent in it, contributed to their sus- 
tenance, as indeed all food does iMatt. 4. 4.), 
solely thr ugh the ordinance and blessing of 
God. This remark is applicable to the 
means of spiritual as well as natural life. 
4. thy raiment waxed not old, neither did thy 
foot swell— What a striking miracle was 
this. No doubt the Israelites might have 
brought from Egypt more clothes than they 
wore at their outset; they might; also have 
obtained supplies oe various articles of food 
and raiment in barter with the neigh- 
bouring tiibes for the fleeces and skins 
of their sheep and goats ; and in furnish- 
ing them with such opportunities the care 
of Providence appeared. But the strong 
and pointed terms which Moses here uses 
(see also ch. 29. 6.J indicate a special or 
miraculous interposition of their loving 
guardian in preserving them amid the tear 
and wear of their nomadic life in the desert. 
Thirdly, Moses expatiated on the goodness 
of the promised land. 7. For the Lord thy 
God bringeth thee into a good land — All 
accounts, ancient and modern, concur in 
bearing testimony to the natural beauty and 
fertilityof Palestine, and its great capabilities 
if properly cultivated, a land of brooks, &c. 
that spring out of hills and valleys — These 
characteristic features are mentioned first, 
as they would be most striking ; and all 
travellers describe how delightful and cheer- 
ful it is, after passing through the bar- 
ren and thirsty desert, to be among run- 
ning brooks and swelling hills and verdant 
valleys. It is observable that water is men- 



Israel's rebellions rehearsed. 



DEUTERONOMY, X. 



History of the two tables. 



to all the words which the Lord spake 
with you in the mount, out of the midst of 
the tire, in the day of the assembly. 

11 And it came to pass, at the end of forty 
days and forty nights, that the Lord gave 
mo the two tables of stone, even the tables 
of tli covenant. 

12 And the Lord said unto me, n Arise, 
get thee down quickly from hence: for thy 
people which thou hast brought forth out 
of Egypt have corrupted themselves; they 
are ° quickly turned aside out of the way 
which I commanded them; they have made 
them a molten image. 

13 Furthermore p the Lord spake unto 
me, saying, 1 have seen this people, and, 
behold, * it is a stiff-necked people: 

14 Let me alone, that I may destroy them, 
and r blot out their name from under 
heaven: and I will make of thee a nation 
mightier and greater than they. 

15 So I turned, and came down from the 
mount, and the mount burned with fire : and 
the two tables of the covenant were in my 
two hands. 

16 And I looked, and, behold, ye had 
sinned against the Lord your God, and had 
made you a molten call : ye had turned 
aside quickly out of the way which the 
Lord had commanded you. 

17 And 8 I took the two tables, and cast 
them out of my two hands, and brake them 
before your eyes. 

18 And I * fell down before the Lord, as 
at the first, forty days and forty nights: I 
did neither eat bread nor drink water, 
because of all your sins, which ye sinned, 
in doing wickedly in the sight of the Lord, 
to provoke him to anger. 

19 For u I was afraid of the anger and hot 
displeasure wherewith the Lord was wroth 
against you to destroy you. v But the Lord 
hearkened unto me at that time also. 

20 And the Lord was very angry with 
Aaron to have destroyed him: and 1 prayed 
for Aaron also the same time. 

21 And w I took your sin, the calf which 
ye had made, and burnt it with fire, and 
stamped it, and ground it very small, even 
until it was as small as dust: and I cast the 
dust thereof into the brook that descended 
out of the mount. 

22 And at * Taberah, and at Massah, and 
»t y Kibroth-hattaavah, ye provoked the 
Lord to wrath. 

23 Likewise z when the Lord sent you 
from Kadesh-barnea, saying, Go up and 
possess the land which I have given you; 
t^cn ye rebelled against the commandment 
o the Lord your God, and a ye believed 
him not, nor hearkened to his voice. 

24 Ye b have been rebellious against the 
Lord from the day that I knew you. 

25 Thus I fell down before the Lord forty 
days and forty nights, as I fell down at the 
first; because the Lord had said he would 
destroy you. 

26 I c prayed therefore unto the Lord, 
and said, O Lord God, destroy not thy 

Eeople and thine inheritance, which thou 
ast redeemed through thy greatness, 
which thou hast brought forth out of 
Egypt with a mighty hand. 

27 Remember thy servants, Abraham, 
Isaac, and Jacob ; look not unto the 
stubbornness of this people, nor to their 
wickedness, nor to then sm ; 

26 Lest d the land whence thou bioughtest 
139 



CHAP. 9. 
n £x. 32. 7. 
Och. 31. 29. 

Judg. 2. 17. 
P Ex. 32. 9. 
9 ch. 10. 16. 

ch. 81. 27. 

2 Kin. 17. 

14. 
r ch. 29. 80. 

Ps. 9. 5. 

Pa. 109.13. 
8 Pa. 69. 9. 

Psalm 119. 

139. 
t Ex. 34. 28. 

Psalm 106. 

23. 
u Heb. 12.29. 

V Ex. 32. 14. 
Ex. 33. 17. 
ch. 10. 10. 
Psalm 105. 
23. 

James 5. 
15. 

Amos 7. 
1-6. 

w Is. 31. 7. 
* Nu. 11. 1. 

V Nu. 11. 4. 
a Nu. 13. 3. 

Nu. 14. 1. 
« Psalm 106. 

24. 
b ch. 31. 27. 
c Ex. 32. 11. 

1 Sa. 7. 9. 

Pro. 15.29. 

Jer. 15. 1. 
d Gen. 41. 57. 

1 Sam. 14. 

25. 
e Ex. 32. 12. 

Nu. 14. 16. 
/ ch. 4. 20. 

1 Kings 8. 

51. 

Neh. 1. 10. 

Ps. 95. 7. 



CHAP. 10. 
a Ex. 34. 1,2. 
b Ex. 25. 10. 
c Ex. 25. 5, 

10. 

Ex. 37. 1. 
d Ex. 34. 28. 

Jer. 81. 33. 
1 words. 
e Ex. 20. 1. 
/Ex.19. 17. 

ch. 9. 10. 

ch. 18. 16. 
9 Ex. 34. 29. 
h Ex. 40. 20. 
il Ki. 8. 9. 
j Nu. 33. 31. 
k Nu. 20. 28. 

Nu. 33. 38. 

1 Lev. 9. 22. 
Nu. 6. 23. 

m Ezek. 44. 
28. 

2 Or, former 
days. 

3 go in jour- 
ney. 

n Mic. 6. 8. 

Jer. 7. 23. 
o Mat. 22.37. 

1 Tim. 1. 5. 
V 1 Kin. 8. 

27. 

Ps. 115. 16. 
q Gen. 14.19. 

Pa. 2*. 1. 



us out say, e Because the Lord was not 
able to bring them into the land which he 
promised them, and because he hated 
them, he hath brought them out to slay 
them in the wilderness. 
29 Yet / they are thy people and thine 
inheritance, which thou broughtest out by 
thy mighty power and by thy stretched-out 
arm. 

CHAPTER X. 
God's mercy in restoring the two tables. 



continuing the priesthood, 8 in separating the 
tribe of Levi, 10 and hearkening to Moses' suit 
for the people. 

At that time the Lord said unto me, 
-"- Hew a thee two tables of stone like 
unto the first, and come up unto me into 
the mount, and b make thee an ark of 
wood. 

2 And I will write on the tables the words 
that were hi the first tables which thou 
brakest, and thou shalt put them in the 
ark. 

3 And I made an ark of c shittim wood, 
and hewed two tables of stone like unto the 
first, and went up into the mount, having 
the two tables in mine hand. 

4 And d he wrote on the tables, according 
to the first writing, the ten 1 command- 
ments, e which the Lord spake unto you 
in the mount, out of the midst of the fire, 
in /the day of the assembly: and the Lord 
gave them unto me. 

5 And I turned myself, and g came down 
from the mount, and h put the tables in the 
ark which 1 had made ; * and there they be, 
as the Lord commanded me. 

6 H And the children of Israel took their 
journey from Beeroth J of the children of 
Jaakan to Mosera: * there Aaron died, and 
there he was buried; and Eleazar his son 
ministered in the priest's office in his 
stead. I 

7 From thence they journeyed unto Gud- 
godah ; and from Gudgodah to Jotbath, a 
land of rivers of waters. 

8 H At that time the Lord separated the 
tribe of Levi, to bear the ark of the covenant 
of the Lord, to stand before the Lord to 
minister unto him, and l to bless in his 
name, unto this day. 

9 Wherefore m Levi hath no part nor in- 
heritance with his brethren; the Lord is 
his inheritance, according as the Lord thy 
God promised him. 

10 if And I stayed in the mount, accord- 
ing to the 2 first time, forty days and forty 
nights ; and the Lord hearkened unto me 
at that time also, and the Lord would not 
destroy thee. 

11 And the Lord said unto me, Arise, 
3 take thy journey before the people, that 
they may go in and possess the land which 
I sware unto their fathers to give unto 
them. 

12 IF And now, Israel, n what doth the 
Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear 
the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, 
and ° to love him. and to serve the Lord 
thy God with all thy heart and with all thy 
soul, 

13 To keep the commandments of the 
Lord, and his statutes, which 1 command 
thee this dav for thv good? 

14 Behold, * the heaven, and the heaven of 
heavens, is the Lord's thy God, * the earth 
also, with all that therein is. 

15 Only the Loud had a delight in thy 



Moses Bissuddeth them 



DEUTERONOMY, IX. 



from their Righteousness, 



tioned as the chief source of its ancient fer- ( takes special care to guard his countrymen 
tility. 8. a land of wheat and barley—These against the vanity of supposing that their 
cereal fruits were specially promised to the own merits had procured them the distin- 
Israelites in the event of their faithful allegi- guished privilege. The Canaanites were a 



ance to the covenant of God (Ps. 81. 16; 147. 
14.). The wheat and barley were so abun- 
dant as to yield sixty and often an hundred- 
fold (Gen. 26. 12; Matt. 13. 8.). vines, fig-trees, 
and pomegranates— The lime-stone rocks and 
abrupt valleys were entirely covered, as 
traces of them still shew, with plantations of 
figs, vines, and olive trees. Though in a 
southern latitude, its mountainous forma- 
tion tempered the excessive heat, and hence 
figs, pomegranates, &c, were produced in 
Palestine equally with wheat and barley, the 
produce of northern regions. Honey— the 
word honey is used often in a loose inde- 
terminate sense, very frequently to signify a 
syrup of dates or of grapes, which under the 
name of Dibs is much used by all classes, 
wherever vineyards are found, as a condi- 
ment to their food. It resembles thin mo- 
lasses, but is more pleasant to the taste. 
[Robinson.] This is esteemed a great deli- 
cacy in the east, and it was produced abun- 
dantly in Palestine. 9. a land whose stones are 
iron— The abundance of this metal in Pales- 
tine, especially among the mountains of 
Lebanon, those of Kesraoun, and elsewhere, 
is attested not only by Josephus, but by 
Volney, Buckingham, and other travellers. 
Brass— not the alloy, brass, but the ore of 
copper. Although the mines may now be 
exhausted or neglected, they yielded plenty 
of those metals anciently (I Chron. 22. 3 ; 
29. 2-7 ; Is. 60. 17.). 11-20. Beware that thou 
forget not the Lord— After mentioning those 
instances of the divine goodness, Moses 
founded on them an argument ior their 
future obedience. 15. led thee through the 
wilderness wherein were fiery serpents and 
scorpions— Large and venomous reptiles are 
found in great numbers there still, particu- 
larly in autumn. Travellers require to use 
great caution in arranging their tents and 
beds at night; even during the day the legs 
not only of men, but of the animals they 
ride are liable to be bitten, who brought 
thee water out of the flinty rock— (See on 
chap. 9. 21.). 

CHAPTER IX. 
Ver. 1-25. Moses Disstjadeth them from 

THE OPINION OF THEIR OWN RIGHTEOUS- 
NESS. 1. this day— means this time. The Is- 
raelites had reached the confines of the pro- 
mised land, but were obliged, to their great 
mortification, to return. But now were they 
certainly to enter it. No obstacle could pre- 
vent their possession; neither the fortified 
defences of the town, nor the resistance of 
the gigantic inhabitants of whom they had 
received from the spies so formidable a de- 
scription, cities great and fenced up to hea- 
ven—Oriental cities generally cover a much 
greater space than those in Europe; for the 
houses often stand apart with gardens and 
fields intervening. Tbey are almost all sur- 
rounded with wails built of burnt or sun-dri- 
ed bricks, about 40 ft. in height. All classes in 
the East, but especially the nomad tribes, in 
their ignorance of engineering and artillery, 
would abandon in despair, the idea of an 
assault on a walled town, which European 
soldiers would demolish in a few hours. 4. 
Speak not, saying, For my righteousness the 
Lord hath brought me to possess it— Moses 
139 



opelessly corrupt race, and deserved exter- 
mination; but history relates many remark- 
able instances in which God punished cor- 
rupt and guilty nations by the instrumenta- 
lity of other people as bad as themselves. It 
was not for the sake of the Israelites, but 
for His own sake: for the promise made to 
their pious ancestors, and in furtherance of 
high and comprehensive purposes of good to 
the world, that God was about to give them 
a grant of Canaan. 7. Remember how thou 
provokedst the Lord— To dislodge from their 
minds any presumptuous idea of their own 
righteousness, Moses rehearses their acts of 
disobedience and rebellion committed so 
frequently, and in circumstances of the 
most awful and impressive solemnity, that 
they had forfeited all claims to the favour 
of God. The candour and boldness with 
which he gave, and the patient submission 
with which the people bore, his recital of 
charges so discreditable to their national 
character, has often been appealed to as 
among the many evidences of the truth of 
this history. 8. also in Horeb— rather, even 
inHoreb, where it might have been expected 
they would have acted otherwise. 12-29. 
Arise, get thee down: for the people have cor- 
rupted themselves— With a view to humble 
them effectually Moses proceeds to particu- 
larize some of the most atrocious instances 
of their infidelity; and he begins with the 
impiety of the golden calf— an impiety which, 
while their miraculous emancipation from 
Egypt, the most stupendous displays of the 
DivineMajestythat were exhibited on the ad- 
joining mount, and the recent ratification of 
the covenant by which they engaged to act 
as the people of God, were fresh in memory, 
indicated a degree of inconstancy or de- 
basement almost incredible. 17. I took the 
two tables and broke them before your eyes 
—not in the heat of intemperate passion, 
but in righteous indignation, from zeal to 
vindicate the unsullied honour of God, and 
by the suggestion of His Spirit to intimate 
that the covenant had been broken, and the 
people excluded from the Divine favour. 
18. I fell down before the Lord— The sudden 
and painful reaction which this scene of 
Pagan revelry produced on the mind oi the 
pious and patriotic leader can be more easily 
imagined than described. Great and publio 
sins call for seasons of extraordinary humi- 
liation, and in his deep affliction for the 
awful apostacy, he seems to have held a mi- 
raculous fast as long as before. 20. The Lord 
was very angry with Aaron to have destroyed 
him— By allowing himself to be overborne 
by the tide of popular clamour, he became 
a partaker in the guilt of idolatry, and would 
have suffered the penalty of his sinful com- 

Kliance, had not the earnest intercession of 
loses on his behalf prevailed. 21. I cast the 
dust into the brook that descended out of the 
mount— i.e., the smitten rock (El Leja) which 
was probably contiguous to,or a part of Sinai. 
It is too seldom borne in mind that though 
the Israelites were supplied with water from 
this rock when they were stationed at Re- 
phidim Wady Feiran), there is nothing in 
the Scripture narrative which should lead 
us to suppose that the rock was in the im- 



Exhortation to fear God. 



DEUTERONOMY, XI. 



Blessings for obedience. 



fathers to love them, and he chose their 
set d after them, even you above all people, 
as it is this da v. 

16 Circumcise therefore r the foreskin of 
your heart, and be no more stirt'-necked. 

17 For the Lord your God is 8 God of gods, 
and * Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, 
and a terrible, which ■ regardeth not per- 
sons, nor taketh reward: 

18 He v doth execute the judgment of 
the fatherless and widow, and loveth the 
stranger, in giving him food and raiment. 

19 Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye 
were strangers in the land of Egypt. 

20 Thou w shalt fear the Lokd thy God; 
him shalt thou serve, and to him shalt thou 
cleave, * and swear by his name. 

21 He y is thy praise, and he is thy God, 
that hath done for thee these great and 
terrible things which thine eyes have seen. 

22 Thy fathers went down into Egypt with 
tlireescore and ten persons ; and now the 
Lord thy God hath made thee as the stars 
of heaven for multitude. 

CHAPTER XI. 

1 An exhortation to obedience. IS A careful study 
is required in God's words. 26 A blessing and 
a curse is set. before them. 

^THEREFORE thou shalt love the Lord 
x thy God, and a keep his charge, and his 
statutes, and his judgments, and his com- 
mandments, alway. 

2 And know ye this day: for I speak not 
with your children which have not known, 
and which have not seen the chastisement 
of the Lord your God, his greatness, his 
mighty hand, and his stretched-out arm, 
o And his miracles, and his acts, which 
he did in the midst of Egypt unto Pharaoh 
the king of Egypt, and unto all his land; 

4 And what he did unto the army of 
Egypt, unto their horses, and to their 
chariots; how he made the water of the 
Red sea to overflow them, as they pursued 
after you, and hoiv the Lord hath de- 
stroyed them unto this day ; 

5 And what he did unto you in the wilder- 
ness, until ye came into this place; 

6 And b what he did unto Dathan and 
Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reu- 
ben: how the earth opened her mouth, and 
swallowed them up, and their households, 
and their tents, and all the 1 substance that 

2 was hi their possession, in the midst of 
all Israel: 

7 Rut your eyes have seen all the great 
acts of the Lord which he did. 

8 Therefore shall ye keep all the com 
mandments which I command you this 
day, that ye may c be strong, and go in and 
possess the land whither ye go to possess it; 

9 And d that ye may prolong your days 
in the land which the Lord sware unto 
your fathers to give unto them, and to their 
seed, e a land that floweth with milk and 
hony. 

10 tf For the land, whither thou goest in 
to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt 
from whence ye came out, /where thou 
sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy 
foot, as a garden of herbs: 

11 Rut y the land, whither ye go to possess 
it, is a land of hills and vallevs, and 
drinketh water of the rain of heaven: 

12 A land which the Lord thy God 3 careth 
for: h the eyes of the Lord thy God are 
always upon it, from the beginning of the 
year even unto the end of the year. 

140 



CHAP. 10. 
r Lev. 26. 41. 

Jer. 4. 4. 

Ro. 2. 28. 

£ph. 4. 21. 

Col. 2. 11. 
«Ps. 133.2. 

Dan. 2. 47. 
t Rev. 17. 14. 
u 2 Chr. 19.7. 

Job 34. 19. 

Acts 10. 34. 

Ro. 2. 11. 

Gal. 2. 6. 

Eph. 6. 9. 

CoL 3. 25. 

1 Pet. 1.17. 

V p 8 . 68. 5. 
Ps. 146. 9. 

w Mat. 4. 10. 
x p». 63. 11. 

V Ps. 22. 3. 
Jer. 17. 14. 



B. C. 1461. 



lo IT And it shall come to pass, if ve shall 
hearken « diligently unto my command- 
ments which I command you this day, to 
love 3 the Lord your God, and to serve him 
with all your heart and with all 
soul. 



your 



chap. u. 

a Zech. 3. 7. 
6 No. 16. 1. 

Psalm 106. 

17. 
1 Or, living 

substance 

■which fol- 

lowad 

them. 
2 -was at 

their feet, 
cjoih. 1.6,7. 
d ch. 4. 40. 

ch. 6. 16. 

Pro. 3. 1, 

26. 

Pro. 10.27. 
e Ex. 3. 8. 
/ Zech. 14. 

18. 
g ch. 8. 7. 

3 seeketh. 

h 1 Ki. 9. 3. 
i eh. 6. 17. 
;2Thes.3.5. 
k Lev. 26. 4. 

ch. 28. 12. 
I Joel. 2.23. 

Jam. 5. 7. 
m ps. 104. 
14. 

4 give. 

« Joel 2. 19. 
o Job 31. 27. 
P ch. 6. 15. 
q 1 Ki. 8. 35. 

2 Chr. 6. 

26. 

2 Chr. 7. 

13. 
r Pro. 22. 6. 

8 Hab. 2. 2. 
t Pro. 3. 2. 

Pro. 4. 10. 

Pro. 9. 11. 
t* Ps. 72. 5. 

Ps. 89. 29. 
v ch. 6. 17. 
w ch. 4. 38. 
*ch. 9.1. 
y Josh. 1 3. 

Josh. 11.9. 
z Gen. 15. 18. 

Ex. 23. 31. 

Ku. 34. 3. 
o ch. 7. 24. 
6 Josh. 5. 1. 
c Ex. 2a 27- 
d ch. 30. 1. 
e ch. 28. 2. 
/ ch. 2S. 15. 

9 ch. 27. 12. 
Josh. 8. 33. 



14 That * I will give you the rain of your 
land in his due season, * the first rain, and 
the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in 
thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil. 

15 And m 1 will * send grass in thv fields 
for thy cattle, that thou mayest n eat, and 
be full. 

16 Take heed to yourselves, ° that your 
heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, 
and serve other gods, and worship them: 

17 And then P the Lord's wrath be kindled 
against you, and he « shut up the heaven, 
that there be no rain, and that the land 
yield not her fruit; and lest ye perish 
quickly from off the good land which the 
Lord giveth you. 

18 1F Therefore shall ye lay up these my 
words in your heart and in your soul, and 
bind them for a sign upon your hand, that 
they may be as frontlets between your 
eyes. 

19 And ye shall r teach them your children, 
speaking of them when thou s'ittest in thine 
house, and when thou walkest by the way, 
when thou liest down, and when thou riscst 
up. 

.20 And thou shalt write them 8 upon the 
door posts of thine house, and upon thy 
gates : 

21 That * your days may be multiplied, 
and the days of your children, in the land 
which the Lord sware unto your fathers to 
give them, u as the days of heaven upon 
the earth. 

22 IT For if v ye shall diligently keep all 
these commandments which I "command 
you, to do them, to love the Lord your 
God, to walk in all his ways, and to cleave 
unto him; 

23 Then will the Lord w drive out all these 
nations from before you, and ye shall x pos- 
sess greater nations and mightier man 
yourselves. 

24 Every v place whereon the soles of your 
feet shall tread shall be yours: z from the 
wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, 
the river Euphrates, even unto the utter- 
most sea, shall your coast be. 

25 There ° shall no man be able to stand 
before you: for the Lord your God shall 
lay b the fear of you and the dread of you 
upon all the land that ye shall tread upon, 
as e he hath said unto you. 

26 1F Rehold, «* I set before you this day a 
blessing and a curse; 

27 A e blessing, if ye obey the command- 
ments of the Lord your God, which I 
command you this day: 

28 And a / curse, if ye will not obey the 
commandments of the Lord your God, but 
turn aside out of the way which I conunand 
you this day, to go after other gods, which 
ye have not known. 

29 And it shall come to pass, when the 
Lord thy God hath brought thee in unto 
the land whither thou goest to possess it, 
that thou shalt put y the blessing upon 
mount Gerizim, and the curse upon mount 
Ebal. 

o0 Are they not on the other side Jordan, 
by the way where the sun goeth down, in 
j the land of the Canaanites, which dwell in 



The Tivo Tables Restored. 



DEUTERONOMY, X, XI. An Exhortation to Obedience. 



mediate neighbourhood of that place (see on 
Ex. 17. 5, 6.). The water on this smitten rock 
was probably the brook that descended from 
the mount. The water may have flowed at the 
distance of many miles from the rock, as the 
winter torrents do now through the Wadis 
of Arabia Petrsea (Ps. 78. 15, 16.). And the 
rock may have been smitten at such a) eight, 
and at a spot bearing such a relation to 
the Sinaitic valleys, as to furnish in this 
way supplies of water to the Israelites dur- 
ing the journey from Horeb by the way of 
Mount SSeir and Kadesh-B trnea (ch. 1. 1, 2.). 
On this supposition new light is, perhaps, 
cast on the figurative language of the apos- 
tle, when he speaks of " the rock following" 
the Israelites il Cor. 10. 4.). [Wilson's Land 
of the Bible.] 25. Thus I fell down before 
the Lord, as I fell at the first— After the enu- 
meration of various acts of rebellion, he 
had mentioned the outbreak at Kadesh- 
Barnea, which, on a superficial reading of 
this verse, would seem to have led Moses to 
a third and protracted season of humilia- 
tion. But on a comparison of this passage 
with Numbers, 14. 5, the subject and lan- 
guage of this prayer shew that only the se- 
cond act of intercession {v. 18J is now de- 
scribed in fuller detail. 

CHAPTER X. 
Ver. 1-22. God's Mercy in Restoring 
the Two Tables- 1. at that time the Lord 
said unto me— It was when God had been 
pacified through the intercessions of Moses 
with the people who had so greatly offended 
Him by the worship of the golden calf. The 
obedient leader executed the orders he had | 
received as to the preparation both of the 
hewn stones, and the ark or chest, in which 
those sacred archives were to be laid. 3. 
I made an ark of Shittim wood— It appears, 
however, from Exodus, 37. l, that the ark 
was not framed till his return from the 
Mount, or most probably, he gave instruc- 
tions to Bezaleel, the artist employed on 
the work, before he ascended the mount,— 
that, on his descent, it might be finished, 
and ready to receive the precious deposit. | 
4, 5. he wrote on the tables according to the ' 
first writing— i.e., not Moses, who under the 
divine direction acted as amanuensis, but 
God himself who made this inscription a 
second time with His own hand, to testify 
the importance He attached to the ten com- 
mandments. Different from other stone 
monuments of antiquity, which were made 
to stand upright and in the open air, those 
on which the Divine law was engraven 
were portable, and designed to be kept as a 
treasure. Josephus says that each of the 
tables contained five precepts. But the tradi- 
tion generally received, both amongst Jew- 
ish and Christian writers is, that one table 
contained four precepts, the other six. there 
they be, as the Lord commanded me— Here is an- 
other minute, but important circumstance, 
the public mention of which at the time 
attests the veracity of the sacred historian. 
6-9. The children of Israel took their journey- 
So sudden a change from a spoken discourse 
to a historical narrative, has greatly puzzled 
the most eminent Biblical scholars, some of 
whom reject the parenthesis as a manifest 
interpolation. But it is found in the most 
ancient Hebrew MSS., and, believing that 
all contained in this book was given by in- 
spiration.and is entitled to i rofound respect, 
140 



we must receive it as it stands, although 
acknowledging our inability to explain the 
insertion of these encampment details in 
this place. There is another difficulty in 
the narrative itself. The stations which 
the Israelites are said successively to have 
occupied, are enumerated here in a diffe- 
rent order from Numbers, 33. 31. That the 
names of the stations in both passages are 
the same there can be no doubt ; but, in 
Numbers, they are probably mentioned in 
reference to the first visit of the Hebrews 
during the long wandering southwards, be- 
fore their return to Kadeshthe second time; 
while here they have a reference to the 
second passage of the Israelites, when they 
again marched south, in order to compass 
the land of Edom. It is easy to conceive that 
j Mosera Hor and the wells of Jaakan might 
! lie in such a direction that a nomadic horde 
might, in different years, at one time take 
the former first in their way, and at another 
time the latter. TRob.] 10-22. Moses here 
' resumes his address, and having made a 
passing allusion to the principal events in 
j their history, concludes by exhorting them 
I to fear the Lord and serve Him faithfully. 
j 16. Circumcise the foreskin of your heart- 
Here he teaches them the true and spiritual 
meaning of that rite, as was afterwards 
more strongly urged by Paul, (Rom. 2. 25, 
29,) and should be applied by us to our bap- 
tism, which is " not the putting away of the 
filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good 
conscience toward God." 
j CHAPTER XI. 

Ver. 1-32. An Exhortation to Obe- 
dience. 1. Therefore thou shalt love the Lord 
and keep his charge— The reason of the fre- 
quent repetition of the same or similar coun- 
sels is to be traced to the infantine character 
and state of the church, which required line 
upon line, and precept upon precept. Be- 
sides, the Israelites were a headstrong and 
perverse people, impatient of control, prone 
to rebellion, and, from their long stay in 
Egypt, so violently addicted to idolatry, that 
they ran imminent risk of being seduced by 
the religion of the country to which they were 
going, which, in its characteristic features, 
bore a strong resemblance to that of the 
country they had left. 2-9. 1 speak not to your 
children which have not known, but your eyes 
have seen— Moses is here giving a brief sum- 
mary of the marvels and miracles of awful 
judgment which God had wrought in effect- 
ing their release from the tyranny of Pharoah, 
as well as those which had taken place in the 
wilderness; and he knew that he might dwell 
upon these, for he was addressing many who 
had been witnesses of these appalling inci- 
dents. For it will be remembered that the 
divine threatening that they should die in 
the wilderness, and its execution extended 
only to males from 20 years and upward, who 
were able to go forth to war. No males under 
20 years of age, no females, and none of the 
tribe of Levi, were objects of the denuncia- 
tion (see Num. 14. 28-30; 16. 49A There 
might, therefore, have been many thousands 
of the Israelites at that time of whom Moses 
could say. '* your eyes have seen all the great 
acts which He did;" and with regard to those, 
the historic review of Moses was well calcu- 
lated to stir up their minds to the duty and 
advantages of obedience. 10-12. For the land 
whither thou goest ... is not as the land of 



The place for Gods servi't. DEUTERONOMY, XTI. 



Eating of blood forbidden. 



the champaign over against Gilgal, beside 
the plain? of More h? 

31 For ye shall pass over Jordan to go in 
to possess the land which the Lord your 
God giveth you, aud ye shall possess it, 
and dwell therein. 

32 And ye shall observe to do all the 
statutes and judgments which I set before 
you this day. 

CHAPTER XII. 

1 MUmmmimUa of idolatry are to be destroyed. 5 

Theplaeeof ee is to be kept. 16, 23 

Blood forbidden. 17, IftJ, -6 Holy things to be 

eaten in the holy plice. 

"pHESE are the statutes and judgments 

a which ve shall observe to d- 1 in the land 

which the Lord God of thy lathers giveth 

thee to possess it, a all the days that ye live 

upon the earth. 

2 Ye "* shall utterly destroy all the places 
wherein the nations which ye shall * possess 
served their gods, c npou 'the high moun- 
tains, and upon the hills, and under every 
green tree: 

3 And * ye shall " overthrow their altars, 
and break their pillars, and burn their 
groves with fire ; and ye shall hew down 
the graven images of their gods, and de- 
etroy the e names of them out of that 
place. 

•i Ye shall not do so unto the Lobd your 
God. 

5 But unto the place which the Lord your 
God shall / choose out of all your tribes to 
put his name there, even unto his habita- 
tion shall ye seek, and thither thou shalt 
come: 

6 And 9 thither ye shall bring your burnt 
offerings, and your sacrifices, ■ and your 
tithes, and heaVe offerings of your hand, 
and your vows, and your free-will orlerings, 
and the firstlings of your herds and of your 
flocks: 

7 And " there ye shall eat before the Lord 
your God, and i ye shall rejoice in all that 
ve put your hand* unto, ye and your house- 
holds, wherein the Lord thy* God hath 
blessed thee. 

8 Ye shall not do after all the things that 
we do here this day, every man whatsoever 
is rieht in his own eyes. 

9 For ye are not as* yet come to the rest 
and to the inheritance which the Lord 
your God giveth you. 

10 But when ye go over Jordan, and dwell 
in the land which the Lord your God giveth 
vou to inherit, and when ne* giveth you rest 
from all your enemies round about* so that 
ye dwell "in safety ; 

11 Then there shall be *a place which the 
Lord your God shall choose to cause his 
name to dwell there: thither shall ye bring 
all that I command you; your burnt offer- 
ings, and your sacrifices, your tithes, and 
the heave offering of your hand, and all 
8 your choice vows which ve vow unto the 
Lord: 

12 And ve shall rejoice before the Lord 
your God, ye, and your sons, and your 
daughters, and your men-servants, *and 
your maid-sen-ants, and the Levite that is 
within your gates; forasmuch as l he hath 
no part nor inheritance with you. 

13 Take m heed to thyself that thou offer 
not thy burnt orlerings in every place that 
thou sec st: 

14 But in the place which the Lord shall 
choose in one of thy tribes, there thou shalt i 

141 



B. C. 1451. 



offer thy burnt offerings, and there thou 
shalt do all that I command thee. 
15 Notwithstanding thou may est kill and 
eat rlesh in all thy gates, ■ whatsoever thy 
soul lnsteth after, according to the blessing 
of the Lord thy God which he hath given 
thee: the unclean and the clean mav eat 



CHAP. 12. 
a C h. 4. 10. 

1 Kin. 8. 

40. 

Ga!. 6. 9. 

b Ex. 34. i& J thereof, ° as of the roebuck, and as of the 
hart. 

16 Only p ye shall not eat the blood; ye 
shall poor it upou the earth as water. 

17 1 Thou mayest not eat within thy gates 
the tithe of thy corn, or of thy wine*, or of 
thy oil, or the firstlings of thy herds, or of 
thy flock, nor any of thy vows which thou 
vowest. nor thy free-will offerings, or hea\e 
offerinar of thine hand: 

IS But q thou must eat them before the 
Lord thy God in the place which the Lord 
thy God* shall choose, thou, and thy son, 
and thy daughter, and thy man-servant, 
and thy maid-servant, and the Levite that 
is within thy gates: and thou shalt r rejoice 
before the Lord thy God in all that thou 
puttest thine hands unto. 

19 Take 8 heed to thyselfthal thou forsake 
not the Levite * as long as thou Brest upon 
the earth. 

20 r When the Lord thy God shall 
enlarge thv border, * as he hath promised 
thee,"and thou shalt say. 1 will eat flesh, 
(because thy soul longeth to eat flesh.) 
thou mayest eat flesh, whatsoever thy soul 
lnsteth after. 

21 If the place which the Lord thy God 
hath chosen to put his name there be too 
far from thee, then thou shalt kill of thy 
herd and of thv flock, which the Lord hath 
given thee, as X have commanded thee, and 
thou shalt eat in thy gates whatsoever thy 
soul lusteth after. 

22 Even as the roebuck and the hart is 
eaten, so thou shalt eat them; the unclean 
and the clean shall eat of them alike. 

23 Only 5 be sure that thou eat not the 
blood: " for the blood is the life; and thou 
mavest not eat the life with the flesh. 

24* Thou shalt not eat it; thou shalt pour 
it upon the earth as water. 

25 Thou shalt not eat it : "that it may go 
well with thee, and with thy children after 
thee, ■ when thou shalt do that which, is 
right in the sight of the Lord. 

26 Only thy" ■ holy things which thou 
hast, and • thy vows, thou shalt take, and 
go unto the place which the Lord shall 
choose: 

27 And s thou shalt offer thy burnt offer- 
ings, the flesh and the blood, upon the altar 
of the Lord thy God: and the blood of thy 

1 sacrifices shall be poured out upon the 
altar of the Lord thy God, and thou shaft 
eat the flesh. 

i 28 Observe and hear all these words which 
' I command thee, that a it may go well 
with thee, and with thv children after thee 
for ever, when thou doest thai which is 
good and right in the sight of the Lord thy 
God. 

i 29 tf When *> the Lord thy God shall cut 

1 off the nations from before thee, whither 

thou goest to possess them, and th<>u 

6 succeedest them, and dwellest in their 

land ; 

30 Take heed to thyself that thou be not 
snared " by following them, alter that they 
be destroyed from oefore thee; and that 
thou enquire not after their gods, saying, 



1 Or, inherit, 
c 2 Ki. 16. 4. 

2 Kin. 17. 
10, 11. 
Jer. 3. 6. 
d >"u. S3. 52. 
Judg. 2. 2. 

2 break 
down. 

fl Ex. 23. 13. 

Ps. 16. 4. 

Zech.13.2. 
/ ch. 26. 2. 

Josh. 9. 27. 

1 Kin. 8. 
29. 

2 Chr. 7. 
12. 

Ps. 73. 68. 
9 Lev. 17. 3. 
h ch. 14. 22. 
t ch. 14. 26. 
; Lev. 23. 40. 

Ec. 3. 12, 

13. 

Ec. 6. IS. 
k ch. 14. 23. 

ch. 15. 20. 

cm. 16. 2. 

Josh. 13.1. 

3 the choice 
of your 

T0W8. 

I ch. 10. 9. 

ch. 14. 29. | 
m Ley. 17. 4. 
n Gen. 9. 3. ! 
° ch. 14. 5. 

ch. 15. 22. 
P Ler. 7. 26. 

Lev. 17.10. ! 

ch. 15. 23. 
q ch. 14. 23. 
r Ec. 3. 12, 

13. 

Eccle*. 5. 

ii-2-:. 

8 ch. 14. 27. 
4aUthy 

days. 
t Gen. 15. 18. 

Gen. 23. 14. 

Ex- 34. 24. 

ch. £L 24. 

ch. 19. 8. 

5 be trong. 
w Gen. 9. 4. 

Lev. 17.11, 
14. 

V ch. 4. 40. 
Is. 3. 10. 

w Ex. 15.26. 
ch. 13. 18. 
1 Kin. 11, 
38. 

* Num. 5. 9, 
10. 

Xu. 13. 19. 

V 1 Sam. 21. 
22,24. 

* Lev. 17. 11. 
a Psalm 25. 

12, 13. 
Pro. 1. 33. 
Pro. 3. 1-4. 
Ec. 8. 12. 

6 Josh. 23. 4 
i:.:. ritest, 

or. posses- 
sest them. 

7 <uv«r them, 



The First and Latter Rain. 



DEUTERONOMY, XII. 



Egypt— The physical features of Palestine 
present a striking contrast to those of the 
land of bondage. A widely extending plain 
forms the cultivated portion of Egypt, and 
on the greater part of this low and level 
country rain never falls. This natural want 
is supplied by the annual overflow of the 8.). every place . . . shall be yours— not as if 



Idols to be Destroyed. 

barrenness of large portions of the country 
was owing to the cessation of the early and 
latter rain, and that the absence of grass 
and flowers made it no longer the land v. 9,) 
flowing with milk and honey." 18-25. lay 
up these my words, bind them— (see on ch. 6. 



Mle, and by artificial means from the same 
source, when the river has receded within 
its customary channel. Close by the bank, 
the process of irrigation is very simple. 
The cultivator opens a small sluice on the 
edge of the square bed in which seed 
has been sown, making drill after drill ; 
and when a sufficient quantity of water 
has poured in, he shuts them up with his 
foot. Where the bank is high, the water 
is drawn up by hydraulic engines, of which 
there are three kinds used, of different power, 
according to the subsidence of the stream. 
The water is distributed in small channels 
or earthen conduits, simple in construction, 
worked by the foot, and formed with a mat- 
tock by the gardener who directs their course, 
and which are banked up or opened, as oc- 
casion may require, by pressing in the soil 
with the foot. Thus was the land watered 
in which the Israelites had dwelt so long. 
Such vigilance and laborious industry would 



the Jews should be lords of the world, but of 
every place within the promised land. It 
should be granted to them, and possessed 
by them, on conditions of obedience— from 
the wilderness— the Arabah on the south; 
Lebanon— the northern limit; Euphrates — 
their boundary on the east; their grant of 
dominion extended so far, and the right was 
fulfilled to Solomon, uttermost sea — the 
Mediterranean. 26-32. Behold I set before 
you this day, a bleesing and a curse- (See on 
ch. 27. 11.). 

CHAPTER XII. 
Ver. 1.-4. Monuments of Idolatry to 
be Destroyed. 1. These are the statutes 
and judgments, &c— Having in the preceding 
chapter inculcated upon the Israelites the 
general obligation to fear and love God, 
Moses here enters into a detail of some spe- 
cial duties they were to practise on their 
obtaining possession of the promised land. 
2. Ye shall utterly destroy all the places 



not be needed in the promised land, for in- \ wherein the nations serve their gods— This 
stead of being visited only at one brief sea- . divine command was founded on the 
son, and left during the rest of the year under (tendencies of human nature: for to re- 
a wither ng blight, every season it would en- I move out of sight everything that had been 
joy the benign influences of a genial climate; associated with idolatry that it might never 
the hills would attract the frequent clouds, j be spoken of, and no vestige of it remain, was 
and, in the refreshing showers, the blessing the only effectual way to keep the Israelites 
of God would specially rest upon the land. I from temptations to it. It is observable 
A land which . . . caretn for— i.e., watering it that Moses does not make any mention of 
as it were with his own hands, without human j temples, for such buildings were not in ex- 



aid or mechanical means 
and the latter ram— The 
menced in autumn, i.e., chiefly durin 



14. The first rain istence at that early period. The "places" 

early ram com- . chosen as the scene of heathen worship were 

the I situated either en the summit of a lofty 



months of September and October, while the j mountain, or on some artificial mound, or 



latter rain fell in the spring of the year 
during the months of March and Apri 



in a grove, planted with particular trees. 
It ] such as oaks, poplars, and elms ils. 57. 5-7: 



is true that occasional showers fell all the ! Hos. 4. 13.). The reason for the selection of 
winter; but, at the autumnal and vernal! such sites was both to secure retirement and 
seasons, they were more frequent, copious, , to direct the attention upward to heaven; 



and important; for the early rain was neces 
sary, after a hot and protracted summer, to 
prepare the soil for receiving the seed; and 
the latter rain, which shortly preceded the 
harvest, was of the greatest use in invigo- 
rating the languishing powers of vegetation 
(Jer 5. 24; Joel, 11. 23; Am. 4. 7; Jam. 5. 7.). 
15-17. I will send grass— Undoubtedly the 



and the " place " was nothing else than a 
consecrated enclosure, or at most, a ca- 
nopy or screen from the weather. 3. over- 
throw their altars— Piles of turf or small 
stones, break their pillars— Before the art 
of sculpture was known, the statues of 
idols were only rude blocks of coloured 
stones. 5-15. unto the place which the Lord 
special blessing of the former and the latter j shall choose out of, &c.— They were forbid- 



grs 

the 



den to worship either in the impure super- 
s itious manner of the heathen, or in any of 
the places frequented by them. A particular 
place for the general rendezvous of all the 
tribes would be chosen by God himself; and 
the choice of one common place for the 
solemn rites of religion was an act of divine 
wisdom, for the security of the true religion; 
it was admirably calculated to prevent the 



rain was one principal cause of the extraor- 
dinary fertility of Canaan in ancient times. 
That blessing was promised to the Israelites 
as a temporal reward for their fidelity to the 
national covenant. It was threatened to be 
withdrawn on their disobedience or apostacy ; 
and most signally is the execution of that 
threatening seen in the present sterility of 
Palestine. Mr. Lowthian, an English farmer, j 

who was struck during his journey from corruption which would otherwise have crept 
Joppa to Jerusalem by not seeing a blade of in from their frequenting groves and high 

frass, where even in the poorest localities of , hills,— to preserve uniformity of worship, 
Iritain, some wild vegetation is found, di- and keep alive their faith in Him to wh< m 
rected his attention particularly to the sub- 1 all their sacrifices pointed. The place was 
ject, and pursued the enquiry during a ; successively Mizpen, Shiloh, and especially 
month's residence in Jerusalem, where he Jerusalem; but in all the references made to 
learned that a miserably smalt quantity of it by Moses, the name is never mentioned; 
milk is daily sold to the inhabitants at a and this studied silence was maintained 
dear rate, and that chiefly ass's milk. " Most partly lest the Canaanites within whose tei ri- 
elearly," says ho, "did I perceive that the tories it lay, might* have concentrated their 
141 



Concerning idolatry. 



DEUTERONOMY, XIII, XIV. 



Clean and unclean -meats. 



How did these nations serve their gods? 
even so will I do likewise. 

31 Thou c shalt not do so unto the Lord 
thy God : for every 8 abomination to the 
Lord which he hateth have they done unto 
their gods; for d even their sons and their 
daughters they have burnt in the tire to 
their gods. 

32 YY hat thing soever I command you, ob- 
serve to do it: e thou shalt not add thereto, 
nor diminish from it. 

CHAPTER XIII. 

1 Enticers to idolatry to be stoned to death, 6 with- 
out regard to nearness of relation. 12 Idola- 
trous cities not to be spared. 

TF there arise among you a prophet, or a 
x dreamer of dreams, a and giveth thee a 
sign or a wonder, 

2 And b the sign or the wonder come to 

£iss, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, 
et us go after other gods, which thou hast 
not known, and let us serve them; 

3 Thou shalt not hearken unto the words 
of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: 
for the Lord your God c proveth you, to 
know whether ye love the Lord your God 
with all your heart and with all your 
soul. 

4 Ye shall d walk after the Lord your God, 
and fear him, and keep his commandments, 
and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, 
and cleave unto him. 

5 And e that prophet, or that dreamer of 
dreams, shall /be put to death; because he 
hath l spoken to turn you away from the 
Lord your God, which brought you out of 
the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out 
of the house of bondage, to thrust thee 
out of the way which the Lord thy God 
commanded thee to walk in: g so shalt 
thou put the evil away lrom the midst of 
thee. 

6 IT If thy brother, the son of thy mother, 
or thy son, or thy daughter, or h the wife of 
thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine 
own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let 
us go and serve other gods, which thou hast 
not known, thou, nor thy fathers ; 

7 Namely, of the gods of the people which 
are round about you, nigh unto thee, 
or far off from thee, from the one end of 
the earth even unto the otlier end of the 
earth ; 

8 Thou shalt * not consent unto him, nor 
hearken unto him ; neither shall thine eye 
pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither 
shalt thou conceal him: 

9 But thou shalt surely kill him; S thine 
hand shall be first upon him to put him to 
death, and afterwards the hand of all the 
people. 

10 And thou shalt stone him with stones, 
that he die; because he hath sought to 
tlmist thee away from the Lord thy God, 
which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, 
from the house of 2 bondage. 

11 And A all Israel shall hear, and fear, 
and shall do no more any such wickedness 
as this is among you. 

12 11 If l thou shalt hear say in one of thy 
cities, which the Lord thy God hath given 
thee to dwell there, saying, 

13 Certain men, s the children of Belial, 
are m gone out from among you, and have 
withdrawn n the inhabitants of their city, 
saying, Let us go and serve other gods, 
which ye have not known; 

14 Then shalt thou enquire, and make 

142 



CHAP. 12. 

c 2 Kin. 17. 
15. 

8 abomina- 
tion of the. 

d Jer. 32. 35. 

« Josh. 1. 7. 
Pro. 30. 6. 
Rev. 22. 18. 



CHAP. 13. 

a 2 Thes. 2.9. 
b Jer. 28. 9. 
Mat. 7. 22. 
c Mat. 24. 24. 

1 Cor. 11. 
19. 

2 Thes. 2. 
11. 

Rev. 13.14. 
d 2 Ki. 23. 3. 
2 Chr. 34. 
31. 

1 John 1.7. 

2 John 6. 

e Jer. 14. 15. 

Zech. 13. 3. 
/lKi.18.40. 

2 Kin. 10. 

18-28. 

1 spoken 
revolt 
against 
the LORD. 

1 Cor. 5. 
13. 

h Job 2. 9. 

Mic. 7. 5. 

i Pro. 1. 10. 

3 cb. 17. 7. 

Acts 7. 58. 

2 bondmen. 
k ch. 19. 20. 

1 Josh. 22.11. 
Judg. 20. 1. 

3 Or,naughty 
men. 

1 Sam. 2. 
12. 

2 Cor. 6. 
15. 

m l John 2. 
19. 

Jude 19. 
n 2 Kin. 17. 

21. 
o Josh. 6. 17. 
P Josh. 8. 28. 

Is. 17. 1. 

Is. 25. 2. 

Jer. 49. 2. 

3 ch. 7. 26. 

4 Or .devoted. 
r Josh. 6. 26. 
« Gen. 22. 17. 

Gen. 26. 4, 
24. 

Gen. 28. 14. 
t ch. 12. 25. 



CHAP. 14. 

a Hos. 1. 10. 

Ro. 8. 16. 

Ro. 9. 8,26. 

Gal. 3. 26. 

1 John 3.1. 
b Jer. 16. 6. 

1 Thes. 4. 

13. 
c Lev. 20. 26. 

Ro. 12. 1. 
dEzek.4.14. 

Actsl0.13. 
« Lev. 11. 2. 
1 dishon, or, 

bison. 
/Lev. 11. 13. 



search, and ask diligently; and, behold, it 
it be truth, and the thing certain, that sucn 
abomination is wrought among you; 

15 Tiu.u shalt surely smite the inhabitants 
of that city with the edge of the sword, ° de- 
stroying it utterly, and all that is therein, 
and the cattle thereof, with the edge of the 
sword. 

16 And thou shalt gather all the spoil of 
it into the midst of the street thereof, and 
shalt burn with tire the city, and all the spoil 
thereof every whit, for the Lord thy Gou: 
and it shall be p an heap for ever; it shall 
not be built again. 

17 And q there shall cleave nought of the 
4 cursed thing to thine hand: that the Lord 
may r turn from the fierceness of his anger, 
and show thee mercy, and have compassion 
upon thee, and multiply thee, * as he hath 
sworn unto thy fathers; 

18 When thou shalt hearken to the voice 
of the Lord thy God, t to keep all his com- 
mandments which I command thee this 
day, to do that which is right in tne eyes 
of the Lord thy God. 

CHAPTER XIV. 
1 God's children must not disfigure themselves in 
mourning. 3 What may be eaten, and ivhat 
not, 4 of beasts, 9 of fishes, 11 of fowls. 22 Tithes 
of divine service. 28 The third year's tithe of 
alms and charity. 

Y E «?*e a the children of the Lord your 
God. & Ye shall not cut yourselves, nor 
make any baldness between your eyes lor 
the dead. 

2 For c thou art an holy people unto the 
Lord thy God, and the Lord hath chosen 
thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, 
above all the nations that are upon the 
earth. 

3 11 Thou < l shalt not eat any abominable 
thing. 

4 These e are the beasts which ye shall eat 
The ox, the sheep, and the goat, 

5 The hart, and the roebuck, and the fal- 
low deer, and the wild goat, and the 
1 pygarg, and the wild ox, and the chamois. 

6 And every beast that parteth the hoof, 
and cleaveth the cleft into two claws, and 
cheweth the cud among the beasts, that 
ye shall eat. 

7 .Nevertheless these ye shall not eat of 
them that chew the cud, or oi them that 
divide the cloven hoof; as the camel, and 
the hare, and the coney: for they chew the 
cud, but divide not the hoof; therefore 
they are unclean mito you. 

8 And the swine, because it divideth the 
hoof, yet cheweth not the cud, it is unclean 
unto you: ye shall not eat of their flesh, nor 
touch their dead carcase. 

9 If These ye shall eat of all that are hi 
the waters: all that have fins and scales 
shall ye eat: 

10 And whatsoever hath not fins and 
scales ye may not eat; it is unclean unto 
you. 

11 1F O/all clean birds ye shall eat. 

12 But /these are they of which ye shall 
not eat: the eagle, and the ossiirage, and 
the osprey, 

13 And the glede, and the kite, and the 
vulture after his kind, 

14 And every raven after his kind, 

15 And the owl, and the night hawk, and 
the cuckoo, and the hawk after his kind, 

16 The little owl, and the great owl, and 
the swan. 



Enticers to Idolatry 



DEUTERONOMY, XIII. 



to be put to Death. 



forces to frustrate all hopes of obtaining 
it : partly lest the desire of possessing a 
place of such importance might have be- 
come a cause of strife or rivalry amongst 
the Hebrew tribes, as about the appoint- 
ment to the priesthood (Num. 16.). 7. 
There ye shall eat before the Lord— Of the 
things mentioned [v. 6.); but of course, none 
of the parts assigned to the priests before 
the Lord— in the place where the sanctuary 
should be established, and in those parts of 
the Holy City which the people were at lib- 
erty to frequent and inhabit. 12. Ye shall 
rejoice— ye, your sons, and your daughters, 
&c. — Hence it appears, that although males 
only were commanded to appear before God 
at the annual solemn feasts (Ex. 23. 17.), the 
women were allowed to accompany them 
(i Sam. 1. 3-23.). 15. Notwithstanding thou 
mayest kill and eat flesh in all thy gates— 
Everv animal designed for food, whether 
ox, goat, or lamb, was during the abode 
in the wilderness ordered to be slain as 
a peace offering at the door of the taber- 
nacle; its blood to be sprinkled, and its fat 
burnt upon the altar by the priest. The 
encampment, being then round about the 
altar, made this practice, appointed to pre- 
vent idolatry, easy and practicable. But on 
the settlement in the premised land, the 
obligation to slay at the tabernacle was 
dispensed with, and the people left at li- 
berty to prepare their meat m their cities 
or homes, according to the blessing which 
the Lord hath given thee— i. e., the style 
of living should be accommodated to one's 
condition and means— profuse and riotous 
indulgence can never secure the divine 
blessing, the unclean and the clean— The 
unclean here are those who were under 
some slight defilement, which, witnout ex- 
cluding them from society, yet debarred 
them from eating any of the sacred meats 
(Lev. 7. 20.). They were at liberty freely to 
partake of common articles of food, roebuck 
■~the gazelle, harr— The Syrian deer (cervus 
barbatus) is a species between our red and 
fallow deer, distinguished by the want of 
abis-antler, or second branch on the horns, 
reckoning from below, and for a spotted 
livery which is effaced only in the third or 
fourth year. [Bib. Cyc] 

16-25. Blood Prohibited. Ye shall not 
eat the blood; ye shall pour it upon the earth 
as water— The prohibition against eating or 
drinking blood as an unnatural custom ac- 
companied the announcement of the divine 
grant ot animal flesh for food Gen. 9. 4.;, and 
the prohibition was repeatedly renewed by 
Moses with reference to the great objects of 
the law (Lev. 17.4,), the prevention of idol- 
atry, and the consecration of the sacrificial 
blood to God. In regard, however, to the 
blood of animals slain for food, it migut be 
shed without ceremony, and poured on the 
ground as a common thing like water,— only 
for the sake of decency, as well as for pre- 
venting all risk oi idolatry, it was to be 
covered over with earth (Lev. 17. 13,) in 
opposition to the practice of heathen sports- 
men who left it exposed as an ottering 
to the god oi the chase. 22-28. Even as 
the roebuck and the hart is eaten, so thou 
shalt eat, &c.— Game when procured in the 
wilderness had not been required to be 
brought to the door of the tabernacle. The 
people were now to be as free in the killing 
142 



of domestic cattle as of wild animals. The 
permission to hunt and use venison for food 
was doubtless a great boon to the Israelites, 
not only in the wilderness, but on their 
settlement in Canaan, as the mountainous 
ranges of Lebanon, Carmel, and Gilead, on 
which deer abounded in vast numbers, 
would thus furnish them with a plentiful 
and luxurious repast. 

26-32. Holy Things to be Eaten tn 
the Holy Place. 26. Only thy holy things 
which thou hast— The tithes mentioned '(v. 17.) 
are not to be considered ordinary tithes 
which belonged to the Levites, and of which 
private Israelites had a right to eat; but they 
are other extraordinary tithes or gifts, which 
the people carried to the sanctuary to be pre- 
sented as peace offerings, and on which, after 
being offered, and the allotted portion given 
to the priest, they feasted with their families 
and friends (Lev. 27. 30.). 29-32. Take heed 
to thyself that thou be not snared— saying 
how did these nations serve their gods— The 
Israelites, influenced by superstitious fear, 
too often endeavoured to propitiate the 
deities of Canaan. Their Egyptian educa- 
tion had early impressed that bugbear notion 
of a set of local deities, who expected their 
dues of all who came to inhabit the country 
which they honoured with their protection, 
and severely resented the neglect of pay- 
ment in all new-comers. [Warb.1 Taking 
into consideration the prevalence of this idea 
among them, we see that against an Egypti an 
influence was directed the full force of the 
wholesome caution with which this chapter 
closes. 

CHAPTER XIH. 

Ver. 1-5. Enticers to Idolatry to be 
put to Death. 1. If there arise amongst 
you a prophet— The special counsels which 
follow arose out of the general precept con- 
tained in the last verse of the preceding 
chapter; and the purport of them is, that 
every attempt to seduce others from the 
course of duty which that divine standard 
of faith and worship prescribes must not 
only be strenuously resisted, but the seducer 
punished by the law of the land. This is 
exemplified in three cases of enticement to 
idolatry, a prophet— i.e. y some notable per- 
son laying claim to the character and au- 
thority of the prophetic office (Num. 12. 6; 
1 Sam. 10. 6,), performing feats of dexterity or 
power in support of his pretensions, or 
even predicting events which occurred as 
he foretold; as, for instance, an eclipse which 
a knowledge of natural science miglit enable 
him to anticipate (or, as Caiaphas, Jo. 18. 
14.). Should the aim of such a one be to 
seduce the people from the worship of the 
true God, he is an impostor, and must be put 
to death. No prodigy, however wonderful, 
no human authority, however great, should 
be allowed to shake their belief in the divine 
character and truth of a religion so solemnly 
taught and so awfully attested (cf. Gal. l. 
8.). The modern Jews appeal to this passage 
as justifying their rejection of Jesus Christ. 
But he possessed all the characteristics of a 
true prophet, and he was so far from alien- 
ating the people from God and his worship, 
that the grand object of bis ministry was to 
lead to a purer, more spiritual and perfect, 
observance ot the law. 

6-18. "Without regard to Nearness 
of Relation. 6. If thy brother— This term 



Concerning tithes. 



DEUTERONOMY, XV. 



The year of release. 



17 Awl the pelican, and the gier eagle, 
and the cormorant, 

1.8 And the stork, and the heron after her 
kind, and the lapwing, and the bat. 

VJ And every creeping thing that fliethw 
Unclean unto you: they shall not be eaten. 

20 But o/all clean fowls ye may eat. 

21 M Ye a shall not eat of any thing that 
dieth of itself: thou shalt give it unto the 
stranger that is in thy gates, that he may 
eat it; or thou mayest sell it unto an alien: 
for thou art an holy people unto the Lord 
thy God. A Thou shalt not seethe a kid in 
his mother's milk. 

22 Thou » shalt truly tithe all the increase 
of thy seed, that the held bringeth forth 
year by year. 

23 And thou shalt eat before the Lord thy 
God, in the place which he shall choose to 
place his name there, the tithe of thy com, 
of thy wine, and of thine oil, and the first- 
lings of thy herds and of thy flocks; that 
thou J mayest learn to fear the Lord thy 
God always. 

24 And if the way be too long for thee, so 
that thou art not able to carry it; or * if 
the place be too far from thee, which the 
Lord thy God shall choose to set his name 
there, when the Lord thy God hath blessed 
thee: 

25 Then shalt thou turn it into money, 
and bind up the money in thine hand, and 
shalt go unto the place which the Lord 
thy God shall choose: 

26 And thou shalt bestow that money for 
whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, for oxen, 
or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong 
drink, or for whatsoever thy soul 2 desireth : 
and thou shalt eat there before the Lord 
thy God, and thou shalt rejoice, thou, and 
thine household, 

27 And *■ the Levite that is within thy 
gates; thou shalt not forsake him; for m he 
hath no part nor inheritance with thee. 

28 11 At n the end of three years thou shalt 
bring forth all the tithe of thine increase 
the same year, and shalt lay it up within 
thy gates: 

29 And the Levite, (because he hath no 
part nor inheritance with thee,) and ° the 
stranger, and the fatherless, and the 
widow, which are within thy gates, shall 
come, and shall eat and be satisfied; that 
the p Lord thy God may bless thee in 
all the work of thine hand which thou 
doest. 

CHAPTER XV. 

1 The seventh year a year of release for the poor: 
7 it must be no hinderance to leading or giving. 
12 Of lit brew servants' freedom. 19 All first- 
ling 'males of cuttle to H sanctified unto the 
LoYd. 

AT the end of z e^-rt seven years thou 
- shalt make a 'elecist 

2 And this is the manner of the release: 
Every 1 creditor that lendeth ought unto 
his neighbour shall release it; he shall not 
exact it of his neighbour, or of his brother; 
because it is called the Lord's release. 

3 Of b a foreigner thou mayest exact it 
again : but that which is thine with thy 
brother thine hand shall rel&ise; 

4 2 Save when there shall be no poor among 
you; c for the Lord shall greatly bless thee 
in the land which the Lord thy God giveth 
thee far an inheritance to possess it: 

5 Only if thou carefully hearken unto the 
voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to 

143 



B. C. 1451. 



CHAP. 14. 

g Ezek. 4. 14. 
h Ex. 23. 19. 
i Lev. 27. 30. 

Neh. 10. 37. 
j Ps. 2. 11. 

Ps. 5. 7. 

Ps. 111.10. 

Ps. 147. 11. 

Pro. 3. 13. 

Is. 8. 13. 

Jer. 32. 

38-41. 

Heb. 12. 28. 
k ch. 12. 21. 
2 asketh of 

thee. 
I Ro. 13. 4. 

Ro. 15. 27. 

1 Cor. 9. 

1-14. 

m n u . 18. 20. 

ch.18.1,2. 

n Amos 4. 4. 

O ch. 10. 18. 

Ps. 94. 6. 

Is. 1. 17. 

Ezek. 22. 7, 

29,31. 

Lu. 14. 12. 

Heb. 13. 2. 
P ch. 15. 10. 

Pro. 3. 9, 

10. 

Mai. 3. 10. 



CHAP. 15. 

Ex. 23. 10. 
Jer. 34. 14. 

1 master of 
the lending 
of his hand. 

b ch. 23. 20. 

2 Or, To the 
end that 
there be 
no poor 



you. 
c ch. 28. 8. 
d Pro. 22. 7. 
ei John 3.17. 
/Lev. 25.35 

Mat. 5. 42. 

Lu. 6. 34. 

Gal. 2. 10. 

3 word. 

4 Belial. 

g ch. 28. 54. 

Pro. 23. 6. 

Pro. 28 22. 

Mat 2t.iO. 
h ch. 24. 15. 

Job 34. 28. 

Ps. 12. 5. 

Ps. 140.12. 

Amos 5.11. 

Jam. 5. 4. 
t Mat. 25. 41. 
j 2 Cor. 9. 5. 
h ch. 14. 29. 

Ps. 41. 1. 

Pro. 14. 21, 

31. 

Fro. 22. 9. 

Pro. 29. 7. 
I Ex. 21. 2. 

Jer. 34. 14. 
m Pro. 10.22. 
n Ex. 21.5,0. 
o Is. 16. 14. 

Is. 21. 16. 
p Ex. 13. 2. 
q ch. 12. 5. 

ch. 14. 2a 

ch. 16. 11. 
r Lev. 22. 20. 

ch. 17. i. 



do all these commandments which 1 com- 
mand thee this day. 

6 For the Lord thy God blesseth thee, as 
he promised thee: and thou shalt lend unto 
many nations, but thou shalt not borrow; 
and d thou shalt reign over many nations, 
but they shall not reign over thee. 

7 1F If there be among you a poor man of 
one of thy brethren within any of thy gates 
in thy land which the Lord thy God giveth 
thee. e thou shalt not harden thine heart, 
nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother ; 

8 But / thou shalt open thine hand wide 
unto him, and shalt surely lend him suffi- 
cient for his need, in that which he wanteth. 

9 Beware that there be not a 3 thought in 
thy 4 wicked heart, saying, The seventh 
year, the year of release, is at hand ; and 
thine 9 eye be evil against thy poor brother, 
and thou givest him nought; and h he cry 
unto the Lord against thee, and * it be sin 
unto thee. 

10 Thou shalt surely give him, and i thine 
heart shall not be grieved when thou givest 
unto him: because that * for this thing the 
Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thy 
works, and in all that thou puttest thine 
hand unto. 

11 For the poor shall never cease out of 
the land: therefore I command thee, say- 
ing, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto 
thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, 
in thy land. 

12 t And l if thy brother, an Hebrew 
man, or an Hebrew woman, be sold unto 
thee, and serve thee six years, then in the 
seventh year thou shalt let him go free 
from thee. 

13 And when thou sendest him out free 
from thee, thou shalt not let him go away 
empty: 

14 Thou shalt furnish him liberally out of 
thy flock, and out of thy floor, and out of 
thy wine-press: of that wherewith the Lord 
thy God liath "* blessed thee thou shalt 
give unto him. 

15 And thou shalt remember that thou 
wast a bondman hi the land of Egypt, and 
the Lord thy God redeemed thee: therefore 
I command thee this thing to-day. 

16 And it shall be, n if he say unto thee, I 
will not go away from thee- (because he 
loveth thee and thine house, because he is 
well with thee ;) 

17 Then thou shalt take an awl, and thrust 
! it through his ear unto the door, and he 
1 shall be^ thy servant for ever. And also 

unto thy maid-servant thou shalt do like- 

! wise. 

j 18 It shall not seem hard unto thee when 

! thou sendest him away free from thee ; for 
he hath been worth ° a double hired ser- 
vant to thee, in serving thee six years: and 

i the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all 
that thou doest. 

19 H All p the firstling males that come of 
thy herd and of thy flock thou shalt sanctify 
unto the Lord thy God: thou shalt do no 
work with the firstling of thy bullock, nor 
shear the firstling of thy sheep: 

20 Thou q shalt eat it before the Lord thy 
God year by year in the place which the 
Lord shall choose, thou and thy household. 

21 And r if there be any blemish therein, 
as if it be lame, or blind, or have any ill 
blemish, thou shalt not sacrifice it unto the 
Lord thy God. 

22 Thou shalt eat it within thy gates ; 



What may be Eaten. 



DEUTERONOMY, XIV, XV. 



The Year of Release, 



being applied very loosely in all Eastern for a wild goat, (1 Sam. 24. 2; Ps. 104. 18; 
countries Gen. 20. 13,), other expressions I Prov. v. 19,) and it is supposed to be a goat- 
are added to intimate that no degree of kin- ! deer, having the body of a stag, but the head, 
dred, however intimate, should be allowed horns, and beard of a goat. An animal of 
to screen an enticer to idolatry; to conceal (this sort is found in the East, and called 
his crime, or protect his person; piety and j Lerwee. [Shaw's Trav.] Pygarg— a species 
duty must overcome affection or compas- of antelope (Oryx Addax) with white but- 
sion, and an accusation must be lodged be-jtocks, wreathed horns two feet in length, 
fore a magistrate. 9. thou shalt kill him— j and standing about three feet seven inches 
not hastily, or in a private manner, but after i high at the shoulders. It is common in the 
trial and conviction; and his relative, as in- j tracts which the Israelites had frequented, 
former, was to cast the first stone. (See on ! [Shaw.] wild ex— supposed to be the Nu- 
ch. 17. 7; Acts, 7. 58.) It is manifest that j bian Oryx, which differs from the Oryx 
what was done in secret could not be legally I Leucoryx formerly mentioned by its black 
proved by a single informer; and hence Jew- colour; and it is, moreover, of larger stature, 
ish writers say, that spies were set in some and a more slender frame, with longer and 
private part of the house, to hear the con- 1 more curved horns. It is called Bekkar-El- 



versation and watch the conduct of a person 
suspected of idolatrous tendencies. 12-18. 
certain men, the children of Beiiai— lawless, 
designing demagogues ( Jud. 19. 22 ; 1 Sam. 
1. 16; 25. 25,), who abused their influence to 
withdraw the inhabitants of the city to idol- 
worship. 14. Tnen shalt thou inquire— i.e., 
the magistrate, to whom it officially be- 
longed to make the necessary investigation; 
and, in the event of the report proving true, 
the most summary proceedings were to be 
commenced against the apostate inhabit- 
ants. The law in this chapter has been re- 
presented as stern and sanguinary, but it 
was in accordance with the national consti- 
tution of Israel. God being their king, ido- 
latry was treason, and a city turned to idols 
put itself into a state, and incurred the 
punishment, of rebellion. 16. it shall not be 
built again— Its ruins shall be a permanent 
monument of the divine justice, and a bea- 
con for the warning and terror of posterity. 
17. There shall cleave nought of the cursed 
thing— No spoil shall be taken from a city 
thus solemnly devoted to destruction. Every 
living creature must be put to the sword— 
everything belonging to it reduced to ashes 
—that nothing but its infamy may remain. 
CHAPTER XIV. 
Ver. 1, 2. God's People must not Dis- 
figure THEMSELVES IN MOURNING. 1. Ye 

shall not cut yourselves— It was a common 
pra tice of idolaters, both on ceremonious 
occasions of their worship (1 Kin. 18. 28,), and 
at iunerals titsL Jer. 16. 6; 41. 5, , to make ghast- 
ly incisions on their faces, and other parts of 
their persons, wi th their finger nails or sharp 
instruments. The making a large bare space 
between the eyebrows was another heathen 
custom in honour of the dead (see on Lev. 
19. 27, 28; 21. 5. . Such indecorous and degrad- 
ing sages, being extravagant and unnatural 
expressions of hopeless sorrow (1 Thess. 4. 
1.;,; were to be carefully avoided by the 
Israelites, as derogatory to the character, 
and inconsistent with the position of those 
who were the people of God. 

3-21. What may be Eaten, and what 
not. Thou shalt not eat any abominable 
thing— i.e., anything forbidden as unclean 
(see on Lev. 11.). Of Beasts. 4-8. The harl 
—(see onch. 12. 15.). fallow deer— the Hebrew 
word (Jachmur) so rendered, does not repre- 
sent the fallow deer, which is unknown in 
"Western Asia, but an antelope (Oryx Leu- 
coryx,), cal led by the Arabs Jazmar. It is of 
a white colour, black at the extremities, and 
a bright red on the thighs. It was used 
at Solomon's table, wild goat— The word 
akko is different from that commonly used 
113 



Wash by the Arabs, chamois— rendered by 
the Sept. Cameleopard, but, by others who 
rightly judge it must have been an animal 
m< >re familiar to the Hebrews, it is thought 
to be the Kebsch (ovis Tragelaphus,), rather 
larger than a common sheep, covered not 
with wool, but with reddish hair— a Syrian 
sheep-goat. Of Birds. 11-20. Of all clean 
birds ye shall eat— (see on Lev. 11. 21.). 13. 
glede— thought to be the same as that ren- 
dered Vulture (Lev. 11. 14.), the cuckow— 
more probably the sea-gull, the swan— 
rather the goose (Mich.). gier-Eagle— The 
Hebrew word Bachemah is manifestly iden- 
tical with Bachamah, the name which the 
Arabs give to the common vulture of West- 
ern Asia and Egypt. (Neophron Percn<-p- 
terus.). cormorant— rather the Plungeon; a 
sea-fowl, the lapwing — the upupa or hoop; 
a beautiful bird, but of the most unclean 
habits. 21. Thou shalt not eat any thing that 
dieth of itself— (see on Lev. 17. 15; 22. 8.). thou 
shalt give it unto the stranger— not a pro- 
selyte, for he, as well as an Israelite, was 
subject to this law; but a heathen traveller 
or sojourner, thou shalt vol seethe a kid— 
This is the third place in which the prohibi- 
tion is repeated. It was pointed against an 
annual pagan ceremony (see on Ex. 23. 19; 
34. 26.). 22-27. Thou shalt truly tithe all the 
increase of thy seed— The dedication of a 
tenth part of the years produce in every 
thing was then a religious duty. It was to 
be brought as an offering to the sanctuary; 
and, where distance prevented its being 
taken in kind, it was by this statute conver- 
tible into money. 28-29. At the end of three 
years, the Levite shall come, &c— The Levites 
having no inheritance like the other tribes, 
the Israelites were not to forget them, but 
honestly to tithe their increase. Besides 
the tenth of all the land produce, they had 
forty-eight cities, with the surrounding 
grounds, "the best of the land," and a cer- 
tain proportion of the sacrifices as their 
allotted perquisites. They had, therefore, 
if not an affluent, yet a comfortable and in- 
dependent, fund for their support. 
CHAPTER XV. 
Ver. 1-19. The Seventh Year a year 
of Release eor the Poor. 1. at the end 
of every year— During the last of the seven, 
i.e., the Sabbatical year (Ex. 21. 2; 23. 11; 
Lev. 25. 4 ; Jer. 34. 14.). 2. Every creditor 
. . . shall release it— not by an absolute dis- 
charge of the debt, but by passing over that 
year without exacting payment. The relief 
was temporary and peculiar to that year, 
during which there was a total suspension 
of agricultural labour, he shall not exact it 



fmuU. 



DEUTERONOMY. XVI. XVII. 



the unclean and the clean person shall 
eat it alike, as the roebuck, and as the 
hart. 

thon shalt not eat the blood 
- ; thou shalt pour it upon the ground 
as water. 

CHAPTER XVI. 
1 The feast of the fossover. 9 of weeks. 13 of 
tabernacles. 18 Of jwiges. and of justice. 21 
Groves and images forbidden. 

QBSEKVr the a month of A v i 
yj keep th- ord thy 

God: for in the month of Abib the Lord 
. broaght :hee forth out of Egypt 
_ht, 
i shalt the hnce the pass- 

:.d thy God. of the flock 
i : :: 
shall | lace his Mine these, 

.: d shalt eat no le 
::: Karen days shalt thou eal 

read of aihic- 

tion ; (for thou earnest forth out of the land 

pt in haste j that thou mayest .:- 

member the :hou cames: forth 

:_r land .: Egypt all the _..' s :: thy 

life. 

4 And there shall be no leavened bread 
..11 thy coasts seven days ; 

which thou sacrifice bttl .■ i rsf lay a: even, 

remain all night until the morning. 

a mayest not : sacrifice the passover 
within any of thy gates, which the Lord 
thy G. 1 pretfa U 

6 But at the place which the Lor.: thy 

God shall choose to place his name in. then 

passover at .* even, 

at the going down of the sun. at the season 

that thouc .".".: .: Egypt 

1 thou shalt " roast and eat it * in I 
the place which the Lord thy God shall I 

: : and thou shalt turn in the morn- 
ing, and go unto thy tents. 

8 Six lays thou shalt eat unleavened 
bread: and ' m the seventh i ty 

the L hd thy God; 
rk thereat. 
« shalt thou number unto 
. rdntonuni: a the seven week 
such time as thou beginnest to put the 
h 
I thou shalt keep the feast of weeks 
ant :_r L . : ibate of 

a free-will oxtering of thine hand, which 
thou shalt give unto the LORD * - 
according * as the Lord thy God hath 

11 And thou shalt rejoice before th 

and thy son. and thy 
daughter, and thy : . n-sewanbj and thy 
maid-servant, and the Levite that is within 
thy gates, and < the ri and the 

fatherless, and the wid: 
you. in the place which the Lord :.. 
hath chosen to place his name there. 

L.' And m thou shalt remember ths 
wast a bondman in Egypt : and thou shalt 
e and do these statutes. 

13 f Thou "shalt obser the feast of 
tabernacles ; after that thou 
hast gathered in thy * corn and thy 

14 And ■ thou shalt rejoice in t:V 

... and thy daoghtc 
thy man-servant, and thy mini m lrint. 
and the Levite, the stranger, and the 
fatherless, and the widow, that arc within 
thy gate*, 

IM 



CHAP. 15. 



I I Cm. El 
T.8. 
Heb. 11.28. 

i ■■ ■ :.-. 

d Ex. 13. a 
Ex. 34. 13. 

;:: a i 

I: M B 

1 Br, tSSL 
■::-■ .- m 

I Ex. U S, 



I i 

Ler. 19.15. 
; Fr: :-i -Ji. 
r Ex. 23. 8. 

Rm.1] B 

Be :. :. 
i Ok =_>•- 



» Eiri := 5 

(lKia.ll. 

ML 
2KL17.15. 

•. K^.il.-S, 

: Ghr.au, 

5 Da MM* 



CHAP. IT. 
i Ok r:i:. 

« j«b a. 26. 

• Jer 7. 21. 

efc. :i. to 

Je.h.7.25. 

d>u.35.30. 

•fart. 1:. 

16. 

Ma 5.1-. 
SCor.lil. 
I Dm. I. 
19. 

H;: IT 25. 
i I Cfcr. ML 
XL 

Bag i ::. 

3UL2.7. 
/ Ex. 21. 13. 

.Nu.3i.ll. 



15 8ei eu days shalt thon keep &l. 

: th c Lued thy God in th 
which the Lord shall choose: becac 

thy God shall bh ■ .; thine 

increase, and in all the : thine 

bands, ..; surely re. 

jesee 

16 *T Three times in a year shall all thy 
males appear before the" Lord thv God in 
the place which he shall choose"; in the 
feast of unlea- ened bread, and in the feast 
of weeks, and in the feast of taber: 

and they shall not appear before the Lord 

17 Every man shaft <rive 5 as he is able, 

Leasing I :he Lord thy 
God ■Ttaen he hath siven flu 
-- r Ju lees an - >fiicers shalt thou make 
thee in all thy gates, which the Lokd thy 
God gi" Throughout thy tribes: 

and they shall judge the people with just 
juigment. 

.: - r shalt not wrest judr- 
thon 9 shalt not respect persons. r neither 
takearn: Rn* a gift lotin hun 

vert the 6 words of the 
right* 

: ~bich is altogether just shalt 
thon follow, that thou mayest ^hve, and 
:he land which the" Lokd th 

3 Then : shalt not plant thee a grove of 
any trees near unto the altar of the Lobd 

-ilt make thee. 
22 Neither shalt thou set thee up ay\y 
"- hnagc ; which the Lord thy God hateth. 

CHAPTER XA'IL 
1 Things sacrificed must be sound. 2 . 



be slain. 3 The priests and judges to de- 

of a king. 

THOU shalt not sacrhice unto the Lord 
x thv God any bullock or i sheej 
in is blemish, or any evil-fa vouredness: for 
that is an abomination unto the Lord thy 
God. 

2 f If there be found amom? you. within 
any : thy gates which the Loin thy God 
ghreth ::-, man or woman, that" hath 
wranght ~i;kedness in the sight of the 
Lord thy God, in transgressing his coye- 

LiL*, 

1 And hath gone and served other gods, 

and worshipped them, either a the sun. or 
: any of the host of heaven, * which 
I have not commanded; 

4 And it be told thee, and thou hast heard 
;/' it, and enquired diligently, and. behold, 

the thing certain, that such 
abomination is wrought in Israel; 

5 Ihen shalt thou bring forth that man or 
that woman, which have committed that 

. unto thv gates, even that 
man or that woman, and c shalt < 
with stones, till th- 

6 At d the mouth of two witnesses, or 

call he that is worthy of 
d-ath be pat : : leath; ; v.t at the m 

11 not be put to death. 

7 The hands of th - shall be first 
upon hi :hm to death, an 

ward the hands of all the people. £u ihua 
shalt put the evil away rrom among you. 

8 % If e there arise a* matter too hard for 
thee in judgment, / between blood and 
blood, between plea and plea, and t . 
stroke and stroke, beimg matters oi 
vbbj, within thy gates ; then dull 



stone them 



Hebrew Servant; Freedom. DEUTERONOMY, XVI. 



The Feast of the Passover. 



of his brother— i.e., an Israelite, so called main with their master, then by a peculiar 
in opposition to a stranger or foreigner, form of ceremony, they became a party to 
the Loru's release— The reason for acquitting the transaction, voluntarily sold themselves 
a debtor at that particular period pro- j to their employer and continued in his ser- 
ceeded from obedience to the command, vice till death. 18. worth a double-hired 
and a regard to the honour, of God; an j servant— i.e., he is entitled to double wages, 
acknowledgment of holding their property because his service was more advantageous 
of Him, and gratitude for His kindness, to you, being both without wages and for a 



3. Of a foreigner thou mayest ex ct it 
Admission to all the religious privileges of 
the Israelites was freely granted to heathen 
proselytes, though this spiiitual incorpora- 
tion did not always imply an equal partici- 
pation of civd rights and privileges (Lev. 25. 
44 ; Jer. 34. 14 ; ct. 1 Chr. 22. 2 ; 2 Chr. 2. 17.). 

4. save when there shall oe no poor man among 
you— Apparently a qualifying clause added 
to limit the application of the foregoing 
statement; so that "the brother" to be re- 
leased pointed to a poor borrower, whereas 
it is implied that if he were rich, the restor- 
ation of the loan might be demanded even 
daring that year. But the words may pro- 
perly be rendered (as on marg.) to the end, 
in order that there may be no poor among 
you— i.e., that none be reduced to inconve- 
nient straits and poverty by unseasonable 
exaction of debts, at a time when there was 
no labour and no produce, and that all may 
enjoy comfort and prosperity, which will be 
the case through the special blessing of God 
on the land, provided they are obedient. 
7-11. If there be a poor man, thou shalt not 
harden thine heart—Lest the foregoing law 
should prevent the Israelites lending to the 
poor, Moses here admonishes them against 
so mean and selfish a spirit, and exhorts 
them to give in a liberal spirit of charity 
and kindness, which will secure the divine 
blessing Rom. 12. 8; 2 Cor. 9. 7.). 11. For the 
poor shall never cease— Although every Is- 
raelite on the conquest of Canaan, became 
the owner of property, yet in the providence 
of God who foresaw the event, it was per- 
mitted, partly as a punishment of disobe- 
dience, and partly for the exercise of bene- 
volent and charitable feelings, that "the 
poor should never cease out of the land." 
Hebrew Servants' Freedom. 12-18. If 



length of time, whereas hired servants were 
engaged yearly (Lev. 25. 53,) or at most for 
three years (Is. 16. 14.). 19. All the firstling 
males . . . thou shalt sanctify— (See on Ex. 22. 
30,). thou shalt do no work with the firstling 
of thy bullock— i. e., the second firstlings 
(see on ch. 12. VI, 18; 14. 23.). 

CHAPTER XVI. 
Ver. 1-22. The Feast of the Passover. 
1. Observe the month of Abib— or first-fruits. 
It comprehended the latter part of our 
March and the beginning of April. Green 
ears of the barley, which were then filled, 
were offered as first-fruits, on the second 
day of the Passover, brought thee out of 
Egypt by night— This statement is appar- 
ently at variance with the prohibition, (Ex. 
12. 22,) as well as with the recorded fact that 
their department took place in the morning 
(Ex. 13. 3; Num. 33. 3.). But it is susceptible 
of easy reconciliation. Pharaoh's permis- 
sion, the first step of emancipation, was ex- 
torted during night, the preparations for 
departure commenced, the rendezvous at 
Rameses made, and the march entered on 
in the morning. 2. Thou shalt sacrifice the 
Passover— not the paschal lamb, which was 
strictly and properly the Passover. The 
whole solemnity is here meant, as is evi- 
dent from the mention of the additional 
victims that required to be offered on the 
subsequent days of the feast (Nu. 28. 18, 19 ; 
2 Chr. 35. 8, 9,), and from the allusion to the 
continued use of unleavened bread for seven 
days, whereas the Passover itself was to be 
eaten at once. The words before us are 
equivalent to " thou shalt observe the feast 
of the Passover." unleavened bread— a sour, 
unpleasant, unwholesome kind of bread, 
designed to be a memorial of their Egyp- 



tian misery, and of the haste with which 
thy brotaer be sold— The last extremity of they departed, not allowing time for their 
an insolvent debtor, when his house or land morning dough to ferment. 5, 6. Thou may- 
was not sufficient to cancel his debt, was to ! est not sacrifice, within any of thy gates- 
be sold as a slave with his family (Lev. 25. j The Passover was to be observed nowhere 
39; 2 Kin. 4. l; Neh. 5. 1-13; Job, 24. 9; Matt. ! but in the court of the tabernacle or tem- 
18. 25.). The term of servitude could not pie, as it was not a religious feast or sacra- 
last beyond six years; they obtained their mental occasion merely, but an actual sac- 
freedom either after six years from the time rifice (Ex. 12. 27; 23. 18; 34. 25.). The blood 
of their sale, or before the end of the seventh had to be sprinkled on the altar and in the 
year; and at the year of jubilee, such slaves place where the true Passover was after- 
were emancipated, although their six years wards to be sacrificed for us at even, at the 
of service were not completed. 13-15. Thou going down of the sun— £i£, between the even- 
shalt not let him go empty— a seasonable and ings. at the season— i.e., the month and day, 
wise provision for enabling a poor unfortu- though not perhaps the precise hour. The 
n ate to regain his original status in society, immense number of victims that had to be 
and the motive urged for his kindness and immolated on the eve of the Passover, i.e., 
humanity to the Hebrew slave, was the re- within a space of four hours, has appeared 
membrance that the whole nation was once to some writers a great difficulty. But the 
a degraded and persecuted band of helots in large number of officiating priests, their dex- 
Egypt. Tims kindness towards their slaves, terity and skill in the preparation of the 
unparalleled elsewhere in those days, was sacrifices, the wide range of the court, the 
inculcated by the Mosaic law ; and in all extraordinary dimensions of the altar of 
their conduct towards persons in that re- burnt- offering and orderly method of con- 
duced condition, leniency and gentleness ducting the solemn ceremonial, rendered it 
were enforced by an appeal which no Israelite easy to do that in a few hours, which would 
could resist. 16-17. If he say I will not go otherwise have required as many days. 7. 
away— If they declined to avail themselves thou shalt roast— (See on Ex. 12. 8 ; cf. 2 Chr. 
of the privilege of release, and chose to re- 35. hi.), thou shalt turn in the morning and go 
141 



JLMties of a king. 



DEUTERONOMY, XVIII. 



'I7ie great Prophet 



arise, 9 and get thee up into the place 
which the Lord thy God shall choose ; 

9 And h thou shalt come unto the priests 
the Levites, and * unto the judge that shall 
be in those days, and enquire; i and they 
Bhall show thee the sentence of judgment: 

10 And thou shalt do according to the 
sentence, which they of that place which 
the Lord shall choose shall show thee ; and 
thou shalt observe to do according to all 
that they inform thee: 

11 According to the sentence of the law 
which they shall teach thee, and according 
to the judgment which they shall tell thee, 
thou shalt do: thou shalt not decline from 
the sentence which they shall show thee, 
to the right hand, nor to the left. 

12 And * the man that will do presumptu- 
ously, and 2 will not hearken unto the priest 
that * standeth to minister there before the 
Lord thy God, or unto the judge, even that 
man shall die: and thou shalt put away the 
evil from Israel. 

1-3 And all the people shall hear, and fear, 
and do no more presumptuously. 

14 IT When thou art come unto the land 
which the Lord thy God giveth thee, and 
Bhalt possess it, and shalt dwell therein, 
and shalt say, m I will set a king over me, 
like n as all the nations that are about 
me; 

15 Thou shalt in any wise set him king 
over thee whom the Lord thy God shall 
choose; one ° from among thy brethren 
Bhalt thou set king over thee: thou mayest 
not set a stranger over thee, which is not 
thy brother. 

16 But he shall not multiply ? horses to 
himself, nor cause the people q to return to 
Egypt, to the end that he should multiply 
horses: forasmuch as r the Lord hath said 
unto you, * Ye shall henceforth return no 
more that way. 

17 Neither shall he multiply wives to 
himself, that * his heart turn not away: 
neither shall he greatly u multiply to him- 
self silver and gold. 

18 And v it shall be, when he sitteth upon 
the throne of his kingdom, that he shall 
write him a copy of this law in a book, out 
of w that which is before the priests the 
Levites: 

19 And * it shall be with him, and he shall 
read therein all the days of Lis life: that he 
may learn to fear the Lord his God, to 
keep all the words of ihis law and these 
statutes, to do them: 

20 That his heart be not lifted up above 
his brethren, and that he v turn not aside 
from the commandment, to the right hand 
or to the left : to the end that he may pro- 
long his days in his kingdom, he, and his 
children, in the midst of Israel. 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

X The Lord is the priests' and the Levites' inheriU 
ance. 9 The abominations of the nations are to 
be avoided. 1 5 Christ the Prophet is to be heard. 
20 The presumptuous prophet is to die. 

rpHE priests the Levites, and all the tribe 
•*• of Levi, shall have no part nor in- 
heritance with Israel: they a shall eat the 
offerings of the Lord made by fire, and his 
inheritance. 

2 Therefore shall they have no inheritance 
among their brethren : the Lord is their 
inheritance, as he hath said unto them. 

3 1f And this shall be the priest's due from 

the people, from them that oifer a sacrifice, 

145 



B. C. 1451. 



CHAP. 17. 
g ch. 12. 5. 

ch. 19. 17. 

Pa. 122. 5. 
h Jer. 18. 18. 
i ch. 19. 17. 
j Judg. 4. 5. 

1 Ki. 3. 16. 

Ezek. 44.24. 
k Nu. 15. 30. 

Ezra 10. 8. 

Hos. 4. 4. 
2 not to 

hearken. 

I ch. 18. 5. 
m i Sam. 10. 

19. 

Hosea 13. 

9-11. 
n 1 Sam. 8. 

6-22. 
° Jer. 30. 21. 
PIKi. 4.26. 

1 Kin. 10. 

26. 

Pa. 20. 7. 
q Is. 31. 1. 

Ezek.17.15. 
r Ex. 13. 17. 

Num. 14. 

3,4. 
8 Hos. 11. 5. 

I I Ki. 11. 3. 
**1 Ki. 10.21. 

Pro. 15. 27. 
Pro. 28.20. 
Is. 5. 8. 

1 Tim. 6. 
9,10. 

v 2 Kin. 11. 

12. 
w ch. 31. 9. 

2 Ki. 22. 8. 
* Josh. 1. 8. 

Ps. 119. 97. 
V ch. 5. 32. 
1 Ki. 15. 5. 



CHAP. 18. 

a Nu. 18.8,9. 

lCor.9.ia 
6 Lev. 7. 30. 
c Ex. 22. 29. 

Nu. 18. 12. 
d ch. 10. 8. 
e Num. 35. 

2,3. 
/2Chr.31.4. 

Neh. 12. 44. 

1 his sales 
by the 
fathers. 

Lev. 18. 26. 
ch. 12. 29. 

h Lev. 19.26. 
i Lev. 18. 24. 

2 Or .upright, 
or, sincere. 
Gen. 17. L 

3 Or, inherit. 
j 2 Ki. 21. 6. 
k John 1. 45. 

Acta 3. 22. 
Acts 7. 37. 

1 John 1. 45. 
m Is. 51. 16. 

John 17. 8. 
n John 4. 25. 

John 8. 28. 

John 12. 

49,50. 
o Acts 3. 23. 
P ch. 13. 5. 

Jer. 14. 14. 

Zech. 13. 3. 
? Jer. 2. 8. 
r Jer. 28. 9. 



whether it be ox or sheep: and * they shall 
give unto the priest the shoulder, and the 
two cheeks, and the maw. 

4 The c first-fruit also of thy corn, of thy 
wine, and of thine oil, and the first of the 
fleece of thy sheep, shalt thou give him. 

5 For the Lord thy God hath chosen him 
out of all thy tribes, <* to stand to minister 
in the name of the Lord, him and his sons 
for ever. 

6 1T And if a Levite come from any of thy 
gates out of all Israel, where he e sojourned, 
and come with all the desire of his mind 
unto the place which the Lord shall choose : 

7 Then he shall minister in the name of 
the Lord his God, as all his brethren the 
Levites do, which stand there before the 
Lord. 

8 They shall have like / portions to eat, 
besides i that which cometh of the sale or 
his patrimony. 

9 II When thou art come into the land 
which the Lord thy God giveth thee, g thou 
shalt not learn to do after the abomina- 
tions of those nations. 

10 There shall not be found among you 
any one that maketh his son or his 
daughter to pass through the fire, * or that 
useth divination, or an observer of times, 
or an enchanter, or a witch, 

11 Or a charmer, or a consulter with famil- 
iar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. 

12 For all that do these things are an 
abomination unto the Lord: and « because 
of these abominations the Lord thy God 
doth drive them out from before thee. 

13 Thou shalt be 2 perfect with the Lord 
thy God. 

14 For these nations, which thou shalt 
3 possess, hearkened unto o observers of 
times, and unto diviners: but as for thee, 
the Lord thy God hath not suffered thee 
so to do. 

15 IT The * Lord thy God will raise up 
unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, 
of thy brethren, like unto me ; unto him ye 
shall hearken; 

16 According to all that thou desiredst of 
the Lord thy God in Horeb, in the day of 
the assembly, saying. Let me not hear 
again the voice of the Lord my God, neither 
let me see this great fire any more, that I 
die not. 

17 And the Lord said unto me, They have 
well spoken that which they have spoken. 

18 I ' will raise them up a Prophet from 
among their brethren, like unto thee, and 
will m put my words in his mouth ; n and 
he shall speak unto them all that I shall 
command him. 

19 And ° it shall come to pass, that who- 
soever will not heaiken unto my words 
which he shall speak in my name, I will 
require it of him. 

20 But p the prophet which shall presume 
to speak a word in my name, which I have 
not commanded him to speak, or « that 
shall speak in the name of other gods, even 
that prophet shall die. 

21 And if thou say in thine heart, How 
shall we know the word which the Loud 
hath not spoken? 

22 When r a prophet speaketh in the 
name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, 
nor come to pass, that is the thing which 
the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet 
hath spoken it presumptuously: tliou shaifc 
not be afraid of him. 

K. 



The Feast of Weeks 



DEUTEKONOMY, XVII. 



unto thy tents— The sense of this passage, on 
the first glance of the words, seems to point 
to the morning after the first day— the Pass- 
over eve. Perhaps, however, the divinely- 
appointed duration of this feast, the solemn 
character and important object, the journey 
of the people from the distant parts of the 
land to be present, and the recorded ex- 
amples of their continuing all the time 
(2 Chr. 30. 21; 35. 17,), (though these may be 
considered extraordinary, and therefore ex- 
ceptional occasions,) may warrant the con- 
clusion that the leave given to the people to 
return home was to be on the morning after 
the completion of the seven days. 9-12. 
S°ven weeks shalt thou number— The feast of 
weeks, or a week of weeks ; the feast of 
Pentecost (see on Ex. 34. 22; Lev. 23. 10; 
Acts, 2. 1.). As on the second day of the 
Passover, a sheaf of new barley, reaped on 
purpose was ®ffered: so on the second day 
of Pentecost a sheaf of new wheat was pre- 
sented as first-fruits (Ex. 23. 16; Nu. 28. 26,), 
a free-will spontaneous tribute of gratitude 
to God for his temporal bounties. This feast 
was instituted in memory of the giving of 
the law, that spiritual food by which man's 
soul is nourished (Deut. 8. 3.). 13-17. Thou 
shalt observe the feast, &c.— (See on Ex. 23. 16; 
Lev. 23. 34; JNu. 29. 12.). Various conjectures 
have been formed to account for the ap- 
pointment of this feast at the conclusion of 



_ or a Week of Weeks, 

and therefore the Israelites were prohibited 
from planting them. 22. neither shalt thou 
set up any image— erroneously rendered so for 
"pillar;" pillars of various kinds, and mate- 
rials of wood or stone were erected in the 
neighbourhood of altars. Sometimes they 
were conical or oblong, at other times theiy 
served as pedestals for the statues of idols. 
A superstitious reverence was attached to 
them, and hence they were forbidden. 
CHAPTEK XVII. 

Ver. 1. Things Sacrificed must be 
Sound. 1. any bullock or sheep wherein is 
blemish— under the name of bullock were 
comprehended bulls, cows, and calves; un- 
der that of sheep, rams, lambs, kids, he and 
she goats. An ox, from mutilation, was in- 
admissible. The qualities required in ani- 
mals destined for sacrifice are described 
(Ex. 12. 5; Lev. 1. 3.). 

2. Idolators must be Slain. 2-7. any man 
or woman that hath wrought wickedness— The 
grand object contemplated in choosing Israel 
was to preserve the knowledge and worship of 
the one true God, and hence idolatry of any 
kind, whether of the heavenly bodies or in 
some grosser form, is called " a transgression 
of His covenant." No rank nor sex could 
palliate this crime. Every reported case, 
even a flying rumour of the perpetration of 
so heinous an offence was to be judicially 
examined, and if proved by the testimony of 



the whole harvest; some imagine that it was i competent witnesses, the offender was to be 
designed to remind the Israelites of the time ! taken without the gates and stoned to death, 
when they had no corn fields to reap, but the witnesses casting the first stone at him. 
were daily supplied with manna ; others The object of this special arrangement was 
think that it suited the convenience of the ! partly to deter the witnesses from making a 
people better than any other period of the j rash accusation by the prominent part they 
year for dwelling in booths; others that it j had to act as executioners, and partly to 
wa-< the time of Moses' second descent from give a public assurance that the crime had 
the Mount; while a fouri h class are of opinion ' met its due punishment, 
that this feast was fixed to the time of the | 8-13. The Priests and Judges to de- 
year when the word was made flesh andjTERMiNE Controversies. 8-13. if there 



dwelt; lit., tabernacled amongst us (Jo. 1. 14 
Christ being actually born at that season. 
in all the works of thine hands . . . rejoica— i.e., 
praising God with a warm and elevated 
heart. According to Jewish tradition, no 



arise a matter too hard for thee— In all civil or 
criminal cases, where there was any doubt 
or difficulty in giving a decision, the local 
magistrates were to submit them by refer- 
ence to the tribunal of the Sanhedrim— the 



marriages were allowed to be celebrated; sup erne council, which was composed partly 



during these great festivals: that no per 

sonal or private rejoicings might be mingled l "The priests" and Levites," 

with the demonstrations of public and na-|be "the priests— the Levites 

tional gladness. 16. all thy males— No com 

mand was laid on women to undertake the 



oi_civil and partly of ecclesiastical persons. 

should rather 

, i.e., the Levi- 

! tical priests, including the High priest, who 

were members of the legislative assembly: 



journeys, partly from regard to the natural ' and. who, as forming one body, are called* 



weakness of their sex, and partly to their 
domestic cares. 18 20. Judges and officers— 
these last meant heralds or bailiffs, employ- 
ed in executing the senteifce of their supe- 
riors, in ad thy gates— The gate was the 
place of public resort among the Israelites 
and other Eastern people, where business was 
transacted and causes decided. The Otto- 
man Porte derived its name from the ad- 
ministration of justice at its gates. 21. 
Thou shalt not plant thee a grove— a grove 
has in Scripture a variety of significations 
— a group of overshadowing trees, or a 
grove adorned with altars dedicated to a 
particular deity, or a wooden image in a 
grove (Judges, G. 25; 2 Kings, 23. 4-6.). They 
might be placed near the earthen and tem- 
porary altars erected in the wilderness, 
but they could not exist either at the 



" the judge." Their sittings were held in the 
neighbourhood of the sanctuary, because in 
great emergencies the High priest had to 
consult God by Urim (Nu. 27. 21.). From 
their judgment there was no appeal; and if 
a person were so perverse and refractory as 
to refuse obedience to their sentences, his 
conduct as inconsistent with the mainten- 
ance of order and good government was then 
to be regarded and punished as a capital 
crime. 

14-20. The Election and Duty of a 
King. 14-20. When ye shall say, I will set a 
king over me — In the following passage 
Moses prophetically announces a revolution 
which should occur at a later period in the 
national history of Israel. No sanction nor 
recommendation was indicated; on the con- 
trary, when the popular clamour had ef- 



tabernacle or temples. They were places, i fected that constitutional change on the 
which, with their usual accompaniments, Theocracy by the appointment of a king, 
presented strong allurements to idolatry, the divine disapproval was expressed in the 
145 



The cities of refuge. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

1 Of the cities of refuge. 14 The land-mark is not 
to be removed. 15 Two witnesses required. 10 
Punishment of a false witness. 

WHEN the Lord thy God hath cut off 
the nations, whose land the Lord thy 
God giveth thee, and thou i suceeedest 
them, and dwellest in their cities, and in 
their houses: 

2 Thou a shalt separate three cities for 
thee in the midst of thy land, which the 
Lord thy God giveth thee to possess it. 

3 Thou shalt prepare thee a way, and di- 
vide the coasts of thy land, which the Lord 
thy God giveth thee to inherit, into three 
parts, that every slayer may flee thither. 

4 1f And this is the case of the slayer which 
shall flee thither, that he may live: Whoso 
killeth his neighbour ignorantly, whom he 
hated not 2 in time past; 

5 As when a man goeth into the wood 
with his neighbour to hew wood, and his 
hand ietcheth a stroke with the ax to cut 
down the tree, and the 3 head slippeth from 
the * helve, and 5 lighteth upon his neigh- 
bour, that he die; he shall flee unto one of 
those cities, and live: 

6 Lest the avenger of the blood pursue the 
slayer, while his heart is hot, ana overtake 
him, because the way is long, and 6 slay 
him ; whereas he was not worthy of death, 
inasmuch as he hated him not 7 in time 
past. 

7 Wherefore I command thee, saying, 
Thou shalt separate three cities for thee. 

8 And if the Lord thy God b enlarge thy 
coast, as he hath sworn unto thy fathers, 
and give thee all the land which he pro- 
mised to give unto thy fathers; 

9 If thou shalt keep all these command- 
ments to do them, which I command thee 
this day, to love the Lord thy God, and to 
walk ever in his ways; c then shalt thou 
add three cities more for thee, besides these 
three: 

10 That innocent blood be not shed in thy 
land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee 
for an inheritance, and so blood be upon 
thee. 

11 1F But if d any man e hate his neigh- 
bour, and lie in wait for him, and rise up 
against him, and smite him 8 mortally that 
he die, and fleeth into one of these cities ; 

12 Then the elders of his city shall send 
and fetch him thence, and deliver him into 
the hand of the avenger of blood, that he 
may die. 

13 Thine eye shall not pity him:/ but thou 
shalt put away the guilt of innocent blood 
from Israel, that it may go well with 
thee. 

14 IT Thou 9 shalt not remove thy neigh- 
bour's land-mark, which they of old time 
have set in thine inheritance, which thou 
shalt inherit in the land that the Lord thy 
God giveth thee to possess it. 

15 If One h witness snail not rise up against 
a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in 
any sin that he sinneth: at the mouth of 
two witnesses, or at the mouth of three 
witnesses, shall the matter be established. 

36 If a false witness • rise up against any 
man, to testify against him o that which is 
wrong; 

17 Then both the men, between whom the 
controversy is, shall stand before the 
Lord, before the priests and the judges 
which shall be in those days: 



DEUTERONOMY, XIX, XX. Laws to be observed in war. 
IS And the judges shall make diligent in- 



CHAP. 19. 

1 inheritest, 
or, 
possessest. 

"Josh. 20. 2, 

2 from 
yesterday 
the third 
day. 

3 iron. 

4 wood. 
6 findeth. 

6 smite him 
in life. 

7 from 
yesterday 
the third 
day. 

6 Gen. 15. 18. 
c Josh. 20. 7. 
d Ex. 21.12. 

Num. 35. 

16. 

Pro. 28.17. 
e Pro. 29. 10. 

1 John 3. 

15. 

8 in life. 
/IKi. 2.31. 
H ch. 27. 17. 

Job 24. 2. 

Pro. 22. 28. 

Hos. 5. 10. 
h Mat. 18.16. 

John 8. 17. 

2Cor.l3.1. 

1 Tim. 6. 

19. 

Heb. 10.28. 
i Ps. 27. 12. 
1 Kin. 21. 

13. 

9 Or, falling 
away. 

/ Pro. 19. 5. 

Dan. 6. 24. 
k ch. 17. 13. 

ch. 21. 21. 
I Ex. 21. 23. 

Lev. 24. 20. 



CHAP. 20. 

a Ps. 20. 7. 

Is. 31. 1. 
6 Nu. 23.21. 

ch. 31. 6, 8. 

2 Chr. 13. 

12. 

2 Chr. 32. 

7,8. 

Ps. 23. 4. 

Is. 41. 10. 

1 be tender. 

2 make 
haste. 

C ch. 1. 30. 

ch. 3. 22. 

Josh. 23. 

10. 
d Neh. 12. 
27. 

3 made it 
common. 
Lev. 19. 
23,24. 
ch. 28. 30. 

e ch. 24. 6. 
/Judg.7.3. 

4 melt. 

5 to be in 
the head 
of the 
people. 

g 2 Sam. 20. 

18, 20. 
h 1 King» 9. 

21. 
i .Nil 31. 7. 



quisition: and. behold, if the witness be a 
false witness, and hath testiiied falsely 
against his brother; 

19 Then J shall ye do unto him as he had 
thought to have done unto his brother: so 
shalt thou put the evil away from among 
you. 

20 And * those which remain shall hear, 
and fear, and shall henceforth commit no 
more any such evil among you. 

21 And thine eye snail not pity ; but l life 
shall go for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, 
hand for hand, foot for foot. 

CHAPTER XX. 
1 The priest's exhortation to encourage the people 
to battle. 10 How to use the cities t/iat accpt or 
refuse the proclamation of peace. 16 What 
cities must be devoted. 

WHEN thou goest out to battle against 
T ' thine enemies, and seest a horses and 
chariots, and a people more than thou, be 
not afraid of them: for the Lord thy God 
is b with thee, which brought thee up out 
of the land of Egypt. 

2 And it shall be, when ye are come nigh 
unto the battle, that the priest shall ap- 
proach and speak unto the people, 

3 And shall say unto them, llear, O Israel ; 
ye approach this day unto battle against 
your enemies: let not your hearts i laint ; 
fear not ? and do not 2 tremble, neither be 
ye terrified because of them; 

4 For the Lord your God is he that goeth 
with you, c to fight for you against your 
enemies, to save you. 

5 If And the officers shall speak unto the 

Eeople, saying, What man is there that 
ath built a new house, and hath not d de- 
dicated it? let him go and return to his 
house, lest he die in the battle, and another 
man dedicate it. 

6 And what man is he that hath planted 
a vineyard, and hath not yet 3 eaten of it? 
let him also go and return unto his house, 
lest he die in the battle, and another man 
eat of it. 

7 And e what man is there that hath be- 
trothed a wile, and hath not taken her? let 
him go and return unto his house, lest he 
die in the battle, and another man take 
her. 

8 And the officers shall speak further unto 
the people, and they shall say, / What man 
is there that is fearful and faint-hearted? 
let him go and return unto his house, lest 
his brethren's heart * faint as well as his 
heart. 

9 And it shall be, when the officers have 
made an end of speaking unto the people, 
that they shall make captains of the armies 
& to lead the people. 

10 1f When thou comest nigh unto a city 
to fight against it, ° then proclaim peace 
unto it. 

11 And it shall be, if it make thee answer 
of peace, and open unto thee, then it shall 
be, that all the people that is found there- 
in shall be h tributaries unto thee, and they 
shall serve thee. 

12 And if it will make no peace with thee, 
but will make war against thee, then thou 
shalt besiege it: 

13 And when the Lord thy God hath de- 
livered it into thine hands, • thou shalt 
smite every male thereof with the edge of 
the sword: 

li L'ut the women, and the little ones, 



The Lord is the Priests' 



DEUTERONOMY, XVni. 



and Levites' Inheritance* 

most unequivocal terms (1 Sam. 8. 7.). Per- crated to the priestly office, their mainten- 
mission at length was granted, God reserv- ! ance was to arise from tithes, first-fruits, 
ing to himself the nomination of the family and certain portions of the oblations pre- 
and the person who should be elevated to sented on the altar, which God having by 
the regal dignity (1 Sam. 9. 16; 10. 24; 16. 12; express appointment reserved to himself, 
1 Chr. 28. 4.). In short, Moses, foreseeing made over, after being offered to His minis- 
that his ignorant and fickle countrymen, ters. 3. This shall be the priests' due from the 
insensible to their advantages as a peculiar people— All who offered sacrifices of thanks- 
people, would soon wish to change their giving or peace-offerings (Lev. 7. 31-33,) were 
constitution and be like other nations, ordered to give the breast and shoulder as 
provides to a certain extent for such an ' perquisites to the priests. Here " the two 
emergency, and lays down the principles on | cheeks" or head, and " the maw" or stomach, 
which a king in Israel must act. He was to ! deemed anciently a great dainty, are speci- 
possess certain indispensable requisites; he i fied. But whether this is a new injunction, 
was to be an Israelite, of the same race and j or a repetition of the old, with the supple- 
religion, to preserve the purity of the esta- ment of more details, it is not easy to deter- 
blished worship, as well as be a type of \ mine. 6-8. If a Levite.. come with all the desire 
Christ, a spiritual king, one of their bre- j of his mind— It appears that the Levites serv- 
thren. 15. thou mayest not set a stranger ; ed in rotation from the earliest times; but, 
i.e., by their free and voluntary choice. JBut j from their great numbers, it was only at dis- 
God, in the retributions of His providence, I tant intervals they could be called into actual 
did allow foreign princes to usurp the domi- j service. Should any Levite, however, under 
nion (Jer. 38.17; Matt.22.l7J. 16. He shall not ; the influence of eminent piety, resolve to 
multiply horses— The use of these animals j devote himself wholly and continually to 
was not absolutely prohibited, nor is there j the sacred duties of the sanctuary, he was 
any reason to conclude that they might not ! allowed to realize his ardent wishes; and as 
be employed as part of the state equipage. I he was admitted to a share of the work, so 
But the multiplication of horses would ine- 1 also to a share of the remuneration. Though 
vitably lead to many evils, to increased in- 1 he might have a private property, that was 
tercourse with foreign nations, especially j to form no ground for withholding or even 
with Egypt, to the importation of an animal j diminishing his claim to maintenance like 
to which the character of the country was : the other ministering priests. The reason 
not suited, to the establishment of an Orien- \ or principle of the enactment is obvious JL 
tal military despotism, to proud and pomp- ' Cor. 9. 13.). At the same time, while every 
ous parade in peace, to a dependence upon facility was afforded for the admission of 
Egypt in time of war, and a consequent such a zealous and self-denying officer, this 
withdrawal of trust and confidence in God admission was to be in an orderly manner: 
(2 Sam. 8. 4; 1 Ki. 10. 26; 2 Chr. l. 16; 9. 28; he was to minister "as all his brethren," i.e., 
Is. 31. 3.). 17. Neither shall he multiply wives a Gershonite with Gershonites; a Merarite 
— There were the strongest reasons for re- ! with Merarites; so that there iniyht be no 



cording an express prohibition on this point, 
founded on the practice of neighbouring 
countries in which polygamy prevailed, and 
whose kings had numerous harems; besides 
the monarch of Israel was to be absolutely 
independent of the people, and had nothing 
but the divine law to restrain his passions. 
The mischievous effects resulting from the 
breach of this condition were exemplified 



derangement of the established courses. 

9-14. The Abominations of the Na- 
tions are to be avoided. 9-14. Tiiou 
shale not learn to do after the abominations of 
those nations— (See on Lev. 18. 21 ; 19. 26-31 ; 
20. 6.). In spite of this express command, 
the people of Canaan, especially the Philis- 
tines, were a constant snare and stum L> ling- 
block to the Israelites, on account of their 



in the history of Solomon and other princes divinations and superstitious practices, 
who, by trampling on the restrictive law, cor- 15-19. Christ the Prophet is to be 
rupted themselves as well as the nation, nei- ! heard. 15-19. The Lord thy God will raise 
ther shall he multiply silver and gold— i.e., the ! up unto thee a prophet— The insertion of this 
the kings were forbidden to accumulate ! promise in connection with the preceding 
money for private purposes. 18-20. he shall i prohibition, might warrant the applicat on 
write him a copy— The original scroll of the | which some make of it, to that order of true 
ancient Scriptures was deposited in the sane- j prophets whom God commissioned in un- 
tuary under the strict custody of the priests | broken succession to instruct, to direct, and 
(see on ch. 31. 26 ; 2 Ki. 22. 8.). Each mon- 1 warn His people; and in this view the pur- 



arch, on his accession, was to be furnished 
with a true and faithful copy, which he was 
to keep constantly beside him, and daily 
peruse it, that his character and sentiments 
being cast into its sanctifying mould, he 



port of it is, there is no need to consult 
with diviners and soothsayers, as I shall 
afford you the benefit of divinely-appointed 
prophets, for judging of whose credentials a 
sure criterion is given" [vs. 20-22.). But the 



might discharge his royal functions in the ; prophet here promised was pre-eminently 
spirit of faith and piety, of humility and a the Messiah, for He alone was "like unto 



love of righteousness, that he may prolong 
his days, he and his children in his kingdom— 
From this it appears,, that the crown in Is- 
rael was to be hereditary, unless forfeited 
by personal crime. 

CHAPTEE XVin. 
Ver. 1-8. The Lord is the Priests' and 
the Levites' Inheritance. 1. The priests, 
the Levites shall eat the offerings— As the tribe 



Moses (see on ch. 34. 10,) in his Mediatorial 
character; in the peculiar excellence of his 
ministry; in the number, variety, and mag- 
nitude of his miracles; in his close and 
familiar communion with God; and in His 
being the author of a new dispensation of 
religion." This prediction was fulfilled 1500 
years afterwards, and was expressly applied 
to .Jesus Christ by Peter (Ac. 3. 22, 23,), and 



of Levi had no inheritance allotted them I by Stephen (Ac. 7. 37.). 19. whosoever will 
like the other tribes, but were wholly conse- i not hearken, I will require it of him— The 
146 



Of uncertain murder. 



DEUTERONOMY, XXI, XXII. 



Of a rebellious son. 



B. O. 1451. 



CHAP. 20. 
j Josh. 8. 2. 

6 spoil. 
k Josh. 22. 8. 
I Nu. SL. 2, 

3,35. 

Nu. 33. 52. 
ch. 7. 1, 2. 
Josh. 11.14. 
m ch. 7. 4. 

ch. 12. 30, 

31. 

ch. 18. 9. 

1 Cor. 15. 

33. 
* Ex. 23. 33. 

7 Or, for, O 
man, the 
tree of the 
field is 
to be em- 
ployed in 
the siege. 

8 to go from 
before theo. 

9 it come 
down. 



and / the cattle, and all that is in the city, 
even all the spoil thereof, shalt thou c take 
unto thyself: and *thou shalt eat the spoil 
of thine enemies, which the Lord thy God 
hath given thee. 

15 Thus shalt thou do unto all the cities 
which are very far off from thee, which are 
not of the cities of these nations. 

16 But l of the cities of these people, which 
the Lord thy God doth give thee for an 
inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing 
that breatheth: 

17 But thou shalt utterly destroy them; 
namely, the Hittites, and the Amorites, 
the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the 
Hivites, and the Jebusites- as the Lord 
thy God hath commanded thee: 

18 That m they teach you not to do after 
all their abominations, which they have 
done unto their gods; so should ye n sin 
against the Lord your God. 

19 H When thou shalt besiege a city a 
long^ time, in making war against it to take 
it, thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof 
by forcing an ax against them : for thou 
mayest eat of them, and thou shalt not 
cut them down <J for the tree of the field 
is man's life,) 8 to employ them in the 
siege: 

20 Only the trees which thou knowest 
that they be not trees for meat, thou shalt 
destroy and cut them down; and thou shalt 
build bulwarks against the city that mak- 
eth war with thee, until 9 it be subdued. 

CHAPTER XXI. 
1 The expiation of uncertain murder. 10 The 
usage of a captive taken to wife. 15 The first- 
born is not to be disinherited upon private affec- 
tion. 18 A stubborn son to be stoned to death. 

TF one be found a slain in the land which 
x the Lord thy God giveth thee to possess 
it, lying in the field, and it be not known 
who hath slain him ; 

2 Then thy elders and thy judges shall 
come forth, and they shall measure unto I j G^TSt a. 
the cities which are round about him that j Judg.i9.24 
is slain, 

3 And it shall be, that the city which is 
next unto the slain man, even the elders of 
that city shall take an heifer, which hath 
not been wrought with, and which hath 
not drawn in the yoke ; 

4 And the elders of that city shall bring 
down the heifer unto a rough valley, which 
is neither eared nor sown, and shall strike 
off the heifer's neck there in the valley: 

5 And the priests the sons of Levi shall 
come near; (for b them the Lord thy God 
hath chosen to minister unto him, and to 
bless in the name of the Lord; and c by 
their iword shall every controversy and 
every stroke be tried.) 

6 And all the elders of that city, that are 
next unto the slain man, d shall wash their 
hands over the heifer that is beheaded in 
the valley: 

7 And they shall answer and say, e Our 
hands have not shed this blood, neither 
have our eyes seen it. 

ii Be merciful, Lord, unto thy people 
Israel, whom thou hast redeemed, /and lay 
not innocent blood 2 unto thy people of 
Israel's charge. And the blood shall be 
forgiven them. 

9 So 9 shalt thou put away the guilt of 
innocent blood from among you, when thou 
shalt do that which is right in the sight of 
the Lord. 



CHAP. 21. 
<* Ps. 9. 12. 

Pro. 28. 17. 
6 1 Chr. 23. 

13. 
c ch. 17. 8, 9. 

1 mouth. 
d Ps. 19. 12. 

Mat. 27.24. 
« 2 Sa. 3. 13. 
/Jonah 1.14. 

2 in the 
midst. 

g ch. 19. 13. 

h 2 Chr.32.8. 

Josh.21.44. 

3 make, or, 
dress, or, 
suffer to 
grow. 

i Ps. 45. 10. 



A Gen. 29. 33. 
I 2 Chr. 11. 

19. 
»»lChr. 5.1. 

4 that is 
found 
with him. 

n Gen. 49. 3. 
o Gen. 25. 31. 
P Ex. 20. 12. 

Lev. 19. 3. 

Pro. 1. 8. 

Pro. 15. 5. 

Pro. 20.20. 

Eph. 6. 1. 
q ch. 19. 19. 
r ch. 13. 11. 
8 ch. 22. 26. 

Acts 23.29. 

t Josh. 8 .29. 

John 19. 31. 

" Gal. 3. 13. 

5 ihe c-irse 
of God. 
Nu. 25. 4. 
2 Sa. 21. 6. 

v Ley. 18.25. 
Nu.35. 34. 



CHAP. 22. 
a Ex. 23. 4. 

Ro. 12. 10. 
2 Pet. 1. 7. 
Uohn3.15. 
1 John4.21. 
b Pro. 27. 10. 
Zech. 7. 9. 



10 1T When thou goest forth to war against 
thine enemies, and the *• Lord thy God hath 
delivered them into thine hands, and thou 
hast taken them captive, 

11 And seest among the captives a beauti- 
ful woman, and hast a desire unto her, that 
thou wouldest have her to thy wife ; 

12 Then thou shalt bring herhome to thine 
house ; and she shall shave her head, and 
3 pare her nail9 ; 

13 And she shall put the raiment of her 
captivity from oft' her, and shall remain in 
thine house, and » bewail her father and her 
mother a full racnth: and alter that thou 
shalt go in unto Uer, and be her husband, 
and she shall be thy wife. 

14 And it shall be, if thou have no de- 
light in her, then thou shalt let her go 
whither she will ; but thou shalt not sell 
her at all for money, thou shalt not make 
merchandise of her, because thou i hast 
humbled her. 

15 11 If a man have two wives, one beloved, 
and * another hated, and they have born 
him children, both the beloved and the 
hated ; and if the first-born son be hers that 
was hated: 

16 Then it shall be, l when he maketh his 
sons to inherit that which he hath, that he 
may not make the son of the beloved first- 
born before the son of the hated, which is 
indeed the first-burn: 

17 But he shall acknowledge the son of 
the hated for the first-born, m by giving 
him a double portion of all 4 that he hath: 
for he is w the beginning of his strength: 
the ° right of the hrst-bom is his. 

18 IF If a man have a stubborn and rebel- 
lious son, which will not obey the voice of 
his p father, or the voice of his mother, and 
that, when they have chastened him, will 
not hearken unto them; 

19 Then shall his father and his mother 
lay hold on him, and bring him out unto 
the elders of his city, and unto the gate of 
his place ; 

20 And they shall say unto the elders of 
his city, This our son is stubborn and re- 
bellious, he will not obey our voice ; he is a 
glutton and a drunkard. 

21 And all the men of his city shall stone 
him with stones, that he die: q so shalt 
thou put evil away from among you; r and 
all Israel shall hear, and fear. 

22 1T And if a man have committed a sin 
worthy * of death, and he be to be put to 
death, and thou hang him on a tree : 

23 Ilia < body shall not remain all night 
upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise 
bury him that day- (for u he that is hanged 
is 5 accursed of God;) that v thy land be not 
defiled, which the Lord thy God giveth 
thee for an inheritance. 

CHAPTER XXn. 

1 Of humanity toward brethren. 5 The sex to be 
distinguished by apparel. 9 Confusi<m to be 
avoided. 2i Adultery to be punished with death. 
23 Of rape. 28 Of fornication. 30 Incest for- 
bidden. 

rpHOU a shalt not see thy brother's ox or 
■*- his sheep go astray, and & hide thyself 
from them: thou shalt in any case bring 
them again unto thy brother. 
2 And if thy brother be not nigh unto 
thee, or if thou know him not ; then thou 
shalt bring it unto thine own house, and it 
shall be with thee until thy brother seek 

\ 



TJie Cities of Refuge. 



Exhortation to Battle. 



direful consequences of unbelief in Christ, 
and disregard of his mission tiie Jewish peo- 
ple have been experi encing during 1800 years. 
CHAPTER XIX. 
Ver. 1-13. Of the Cities of Refuge. 

2. Thou shalt separate three cities in the midst 
of the land— Goelism, or the duty of the 
nearest kinsman to avenge the death of a 
slaughtered relative, being the consuetudi- 
nary law of that age, as it still is among the 
Arabs and other people of the East, Moses 
incorporated it in an improved form with 
his legislative code. For the protection of 
the unintentional homicide, he provided 
certain cities of refuge;— three had been de- 
stined for this purpose on the East of Jor- 
dan (ch. 4. 41; Nu. 35. 11,); three were to be 
invested with the same privilege on the 
west of that river when Canaan should be 
conquered, in the midst of the land— in such 
a position that they would be conspicuous 
and accessible, and equi-distant from the 
extremities of the land and from each other. 

3. Thou shalt prepare thee a way— The roads 
leading to them were to be kept in good 
condition, and the brooks or rivers to be 
spanned by good bridges; the width of the 
roads was to be 32 cubits; and at all the 
cross roads, sign-posts were to be erected 
with the words, Mekeleth, Mekeleth, M refuge, 
refuge," painted on them, divide the coasts 
of thy land into three parts— the whole extent 
of the country from the south to the north; 
the three cities on each side of Jordan were 
opposite to each other " as two rows of vines 
in a vineyard" (see on Josh. 20. 7, 8.). 6. Lest 
the avenger of blood pursue the slayer, while 
his heart is hot— This verse is a continuation 
of the third tfor vs. 4, 5, which are explana- 
tory, are in a parenthetical form), and the 
meaning is, that if the kinsman of a person 
inadvertently killed, should, under the im- 
pulse of sudden excitement, and without 
inquiring into the circumstances, inflict 
summary vengeance on the homicide, how- 
ever guiltless, the law tolerated such an act; 
it was to pass with impunity. But to pre- 
vent such precipitate measures, the cities 
of refuge were established for the reception 
of the homicide, that " innocent blood might 
not be shed in thy land " {v. 10.). In the case 
of premeditated murder {vs. 11, 12,) they 
afforded no immunity; but, if it was only 
manslaughter, the moment the fugitive was 
within the gates, he found himself in a safe 
asylum (Num. 35. 26-28 ; Josh. 20. 6.!. 8, 9. 
And if the Lord enlarge thy coast— Three ad- 
ditional sanctuaries were to be established 



DEUTERONOMY, XIX, XX. 

14. The Land-mark is not to be Re- 



moved. 14. Thoushartnot remove thy neigh- 
bour's land-mark— The state of Palestine in 
regard to enclosures is very much the same 
now as it has always been. Though gardens 
and vineyards are surrounded by dry stone 
walls or hedges of prickly-pear, the bounda- 
ries of arable fields are marked by nothing 
but by a little trench, a small cairn, or a 
single erect stone, placed at certain inter- 
vals. It is manifest that a dishonest person 
could easily fill the gutter with earth, or 
remove these stones a few feet without much 
risk of detection, and enlarge his own field 
by a stealthy encroachment on his neigh- 
bour's. This law, then, was made to pre- 
vent such trespasses. 

15. Two Witnesses required. 15. One 
witness shall not arise. The following rules 
to regulate the admission of testimony in 
public courts, are founded on the principles 
of natural justice. A single witness shall 
not be admitted to the condemnation of an 
accused person. Punishment of a False 
Witness. 16-21, But if convicted of per- 
jury, it will be sufficient for his own con- 
demnation, and his punishment shall be 
exactly the same as would have overtaken 
the object of his malignant prosecution 
(see on Ex. 21. 24; Lev. 24. 20.). 
CHAPTER XX. 

Ver. 1-20. The Priests' Exhortation 

TO ENCOURAGE THE PEOPLE TO BATTLE. 1. 

When thou goest out to battle against thine ene- 
mies—In the approaching invasion of Canaan, 
or in any just and defensive war, the Israel- 
ites had reason to expect the presence and 
favour of God. 2. the priest shall approacn and 
speak unto the people— Jewish writers say 
that there was a war priest appointed by a 
special ceremonial to attend the army. It 
was natural that the solemn objects and 
motives of religion should have been ap- 
plied to animate patriotism, and give addi- 
tional impulse to valour; other people have 
done this. But in the case of Israel, the 
regular attendance of a priest on the battle- 
field was in accordance with their Theo- 
cratic government, in which everything was 
done directly by God through his dele- 
gated ministers. It was the province of this 
priest to sound the trumpets (Num. 10. 9 ; 
31. 6,). and he had others under him who re- 

Eeated at the Lead of each battalion the ex- 
ortations which he addressed to the war- 
riors in general. The speech (vs. 3, 4,) is 
marked by a brevity and expressiveness ad- 
mirably suited to the occasion, viz., when 



in the event of their territory extending j the men were drawn up in line. 4. Your God 
over the country from Hermon and Gilead I is he that goeth with you— according to Jew- 
to the Euphrates. (See on Gen. 15. 18; Ex. jish writers, the ark was always taken into 
23. 31.) But it was obscurely hinted that: the field of combat. But there is no evi- 
this last provision would never be carried : dence of this in the sacred history: and it 
into effect, as the Israelites would not fulfil j must have been a sufficient ground of en- 
the conditions, viz., " that of keeping the ! couragement to be assured that God was on 
commandments, to love the Lord, and walk ' their side. 5. the officers shall speak unto 
ever in his ways." In point of fact, although i the people— lit, Shoterim. who are called 
that region was brought into subjection by i" scribes" or "overseers (Ex. 5. 6.). They 
David and Solomon, we do not find that j might be keepers of the muster-roll, or per- 
cities of refuge were established ; because j haps rather military heralds, whose duty it 
those sovereigns only made the ancient in- « was to announce the orders of the generals 



habitants tributary, instead of sending a 
colony of Israelites to possess it. The pri 



(2 Chr. 26. 11.). This proclamation [vs. 5, 8,) 
must have been made previous to the 



vilege of sanctuary cities, however, was given 'priest's address, as great disorder and in- 
only for Israelites; and besides, that con- 1 convenience must have been occasioned if 
Suered territory did not remain long under , the serried ranks were broken by the de- 
ae power of the Hebrew kings. | parture of those to whom the privilege was 

147 



Sundry laws 



DEUTERONOMY, XXITI. 



and ordinances. 



after it, and thou shalt restore it to him 
again. 

3 In like manner shalt thou do with his 
ass; and so shalt thou do with his raiment; 
and with all lost thing of thy brother's, 
which he hath lost, and thou nast found, 
shalt thou do likewise: thou mayest not 
hide thyself. 

4 11 Thou shalt not see thy brother's asr or 
his ox fall down by the way, and hide thy- 
self from them: thou shalt surely help him 
to lift them up again. 

5 11 The c woman shall not wear that 
which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall 
a man put on a woman's garment: for all 
that do so are abomination unto the Lord 
thy God. 

6 11 If a bird's nest chance to be before thee 
in the way in any tree, or on the ground, 
whether they be young ones or eggs, and the 
dam sitting upon the young, or upon the 
eggs, d thou shalt not take the dam with 
the young: 

7 But thou shalt in any wise let the dam 

fo, and take the young to thee ; e that it may 
e well with thee, and iluxt thou mayest 
prolone thy days. 

8 H When thoubuildest a new house, then 
thou shalt make a battlement for thy roof, 
that thou bring not blood upon thine house, 
if anv man fall from thence. 

9 if Thou / shalt not sow thy vineyard 
with divers seeds ; lest the * fruit ot thy 
seed which thou hast sown, and the fruit 
of thy vineyard, be denied. 

10 11 Thou 9 shalt not plow with an ox and 
an ass together. 

11 IT Thou h shalt not wear a garment of 
divers sorts, as of woollen and linen to- 
gether. 

12 1f Thou shalt make thee » fringes upon 
the four 2 quarters of thy vesture, where- 
with thou coverest thyself. 

13 1F If any man take a wife, and i go in 
unto her, and hate her, 

14 And give occasions of speech against 
her, and bring up an evil name upon her, 
and say, I took this woman, and when I 
came to her I found her not a maid: 

15 Then shall the father of the damsel, 
and her mother, take and bring forth the 
tokens of the damsel's virginity unto the 
elders of the city in the gate: 

16 And the damsel's father shall say unto 
the elders, I gave my daughter unto this 
man to wife, and he hateih her; 

17 And, lo, he hath given occasions of 
speech against her, saving, I found not thy 
daughter a maid; and yet these are the 
tokens of my daughters virginity. And 
they shall spread the cloth before the elders 
of the city. 

18 And * the elders of that city shall take 
that man and chastise him ; 

19 And they shall amerce him in an hun- 
dred shekels of silver, and give them unto 
the father of the damsel, because he hath 
brought up an evil name upon a virgin of 
Israel: and she shall be his wife; he may 
not put her away all his days. 

20 But if this thing l be true, and the 
tokens of virginity be not found for the 
damsel: 

21 Then they shall bring out the damsel 
to the door of her father s house, and the 
men of her city shall stone her with stones 
that she die ; because she hath m wrought 
folly in Israel, to play the whore in her 

148 



CHAP. 22. 
« 1 Cor. 14. 

40. 
d Lev. 22. 

28. 

Neh. 9. 6. 

Ps. 36. 6. 

Ps. 145. 9. 

Pro. 12. 10. 

Mat. 10.29. 

Lu. 12. 6. 
• ch. 4. 40. 
/L*v.l9.19. 

1 fulness 
of thy 
EOed. 

9 2 Cor. 6. 

14, 15, 16. 
h Lev. 19.19. 
» Ka. 15. 38. 

Mat. 23. 5. 

2 wings. 

j Gen. 29. 21. 

Judff. 15. 1. 

k Ex. IS. 21. 

Deut. 1. 

9-18. 

Bo. 13. 4. 
I ch. 17. 4. 
m Gen. 34. 7. 

Judjj. 20.6, 

10. 

2 Sam. 13. 

12, 13. 
» ch. 13. 5. 
Lev. 20.10. 

Pro. 6. 22. 

Mai. 3. 5. 

Mat. 5. 27, 

28. 

John S 5. 

1 Cor. 6. 9. 
Heb. 13. 4. 

p Mat. 1. 18, 

19. 
q ch. 21. 14. 

3 Or. take 
strong 
hold of 
her. 

2 Sam. 13. 
14. 

r Ex. 22. 16, 

17. 
« Ley. 18. 8. 

Lev. 20. 11. 

ch. 27. 20. 

1 Cor. 5. 1. 
t Gen. 9. 

22-27. 

Ezek. 16. 8. 



CHAP. 23. 
a Neh. 13. 

1.2. 
6 ch. 2. 29. 

Gen. 14.18. 

Mat. 10. 40, 

42. 

Mat. 25. 

41-46. 
c Num. 22. 

5,6. 

Josh. 24.9. 
d Pro. 26. 2. 
« Erra 9. 

12. 
1 good. 
/Gen. 25. 24, 

25,26. 

Obad. 10. 

12. 
g Ex. 22. 21. 

Ex. 23. 9. 

ch. 10. 19. 

Lev. 19. 

Si. 



father's house: n so shalt thou put evil away 
from among you. 

22 IT If ° a man be found lying with a woman 
married to an husband, then thev shall 
both of them die, both the man that lay 
with the woman, and the woman: so shalt 
thou put away evil from Israel. 

23 If a damsel that is a virgin be p be- 
trothed unto an husband, and a man find 
her in the city, and he with her; 

24 Then ye shall bring them both out 
unto the gate of that city, and ye shall 
stone them with stones that they die; the 
damsel, because she cried not, being in the 
city • and the man, because he hath 
humbled q his neighbour's wife: so thou 
shalt put away evil from among you. 

25 1F But if a man hnd a betrothed damsel 
in the field, and the man 3 force her, and lie 
with her: then the man only that lay with 
her shall die: 

20 But unto the damsel thou shalt do no- 
thing; there is in the damsel no smivorthy 
of death: for as when a man riseth against 
his neighbour, and slayeth him, even so is 
this matter: 

27 For he found her in the field, and the 
betrothed damsel cried, and there was none 
to save her. 

28 11 If r a man find a damsel that is a 
virgin, which is not betrothed, and lay hold 
on her, and lie with her, and they be 
found ; 

29 Then the man that lay with her shall 
give unto the damsel's father fifty shekels 
of silver, and she shall be his wife ; because 
he hath humbled her, he may not put her 
away all his davs. 

30 IT A * man shall not take his father's 
wife, nor * discover his father's skirt. 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

1 Who may and who may not enter into the con- 
gregation. 9 Unclea7iness to be avoided in the 
host. ]5 Of the fugitive servants 17 of jilthiness i 
18 of abominable sacrifices; 21 of vows; 24 of 
trespasses. 
TIE that is wounded in the stones, or hath 
- LJ - his privy member cut off, shall not 
enter into the congregation of the Lord. 

2 A bastard shall not enter into the con- 
gregation of the Lord; even to his tenth 
generation shall he not enter into the con- 
gregation of the Lord. 

3 An a Ammonite or Moabite shall not 
enter into the congregation of the Lord ; 
even to their tenth generation shall they not 
enter into the congregation of the Lord for 
ever: 

4 Because b they met you not with bread 
and with water in the Avay, when ye came 
forth out of Egypt; and c because they 
hired against thee Balaam the son of Beor 
of Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse thee. 

5 Nevertheless the Lord thy God would 
not hearken unto Balaam; but the Lord 
thy God turned the d curse into a blessing 
unto thee, because the Lord thy God loved 
thee. 

6 Thou • shalt not seek their peace nor 
their i prosperity all thy days for ever. 

7 Thou shalt not abhor an Edomite ; / for 
he is thy brother: thou shalt not abhor au 
Egyptian, because 9 thou wast a stranger 
in nis land. 

8 The children that are begotten of them 
shall enter into the congregation of the 
Lord in their third generation. 

9 % When the host goeth forth against 



Exhortation to Battle. 



DEUTERONOMY, XXI. 



granted. Four grounds of exemption are 
expressly mentioned:—:!. The dedication of 
a new house which, as in all Oriental coun- 
tries still, was an important event, and cele- 
brated by festive and religious ceremonies; 
(Neh. 12. 27 % ) exemption for a year. 2. The 
planting of a vineyard. The fruit of the first 
three years being declared unfit for use, 
and the first fruits producible on the iourth, 
the exemption in this case lasted at least 
four years. 3. The betrothal of a wife, 
which was always a considerable time be- 
fore marriage. It was deemed a great hard- 
ship to leave a house unfinished, a new pro- 
perty half cultivated, and a recently con- 
tracted marriage; and the exemptions al- 
lowed in these cases were founded on the 
principle that a man's heart being deeply 
engrossed with something at a distance, he 
would not be very enthusiastic in the pub- 
lic service. 4. The ground of exemption 
was cowardice. From the composition of 
the Israelitish army, which was an irregular 
militia, ail above twenty years being liable 
to serve, many, totally unfit for war, must 
have been called to the field; and it was 
therefore a prudential arrangement to rid 
the army of such unwarlike elements— per- 
sons who could render no efficient service, 
and the contagion of whose craven spirit 
might lead to panic and defeat. 9. they snail 
make captains— ie., when the exempted par- 
ties have withdrawn, the combatants shall 
be ranged in order of battle. 10-^0. when 
thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it 
—An important principle is here introduced 
into the war-law of Israel regarding the 
people they fought against, and the cities 
they besieged. With "the cities of those 
people which God doth give thee" in Ca- 
naan, it was to be a war of utter extermina- 
tion [vs. 17, 18.). But when on a just occa- 
sion, they went against other nations, they 
were first to make a proclamation of peace, 
which, if allowed by a surrender, the people 
would become dependent, and, in the rela- 
tion of tributaries, the conquered nations 
would receive the highest blessings from 
alliance with the chosen people; they would 
be brought to the knowledge of Israel's C od 
and of Israel's worship, as well as a partici- 
pation of Israel's privileges. But if the be- 
sieged city refused to capitulate and be taken, 
a universal massacre was to be made of the 
males, while the women and children were 
to be preserved and kindly treated {vs. 13, 14.). 
By this means a provision was made for a 
friendly and useful connection being estab- 
lished between the captors and the captives; 
and Israel, even through her conquest, would 
prove a blessing to the nations. 19. Thou 
shalt not destroy the fruit trees thereof— In a 
protracted siege, wood would be required 
for various purposes, both for military 
works and for fuel. But fruit-bearing trees 
were to be carefully spared; and, indeed, in 
warm countries like India, where the people 
live much more on fruit than we do, the de- 
struction of a fruit tree is considered a sort 
of sacrilege. 20. thou shalt build bulwarks 
against the city— It is evident that some sort 
of military engines were intended; and ac- 
cordingly we know, that in Egypt, where the 
Israelites learnt their military tactics, the 
m ethod of conducting a siege was by throwing 
up banks, and making advances with move- 
able towers, or with the testudo. £Wile:.] 
US 



_______ Unce rtain Murde r. 

CHAPTER xxi7~ 

Ver. 1-9. Expiaiion of Uncertain 
Murder. 1. If one be found slain lying in 
the field— The ceremonies here ordained to 
be observed on the discovery of a slaught- 
ered corpse shew the ideas of sanctity 
which the Mosaic law sought to associate 
with human blood, the horror which mur- 
der inspired, as well as the fears that were 
felt lest God should avenge it on the country 
at large, and the pollution which the land 
was supposed to contract from the effusion 
of innocent, unexpiated blood. According 
to Jewish writers, the Sanhedrim, taking 
charge of such a case, sent a deputation to 
examine the neighbourhood, and, they hav- 
ing reported which was the nearest town to 
the spot where the body was found, an order 
was issued by their supreme authority to 
the elders or magistrates of that town, to 
provide the heifer at the civic expense, and 
go through the appointed ceremonial. The 
engagement of the public authorities in the 
work of expiation, the purchase of the vic- 
tim heifer, the conducting it to a " rough 
valley" which might be at a considerable 
distance, and which, as the original implies, 
was a wady, a perennial stream, in the wa- 
ters of which the polluting blood would be 
wiped away from the land, and a desert 
withal, incapable of cultivation : the wash- 
ing ol the hands, which was an ancient act 
symbolic 1 1 of innocence ; the whole of the 
ceremonial was calculated to make a deep 
impression on the Jewish, as well as on the 
Oriental mind generally, to stimulate the 
activity of the magistrates in the discharge 
of their official duties; to lead to the disco- 
very of the criminal, and the repression of 
crime. 

10-23. The treatment of a Captive 
taken to Wife. 10-14. When thou goest 
to war and seest among the captives a beauti- 
ful woman— According to the war customs of 
all ancient nations, a female captive became 
the slave of the victor, who had the sole and 
unchallengeable control of right to her per- 
son. Moses improved this existing usage 
by special regulations on the subject. He 
enacted that, in the event of her master 
being captivated by her beauty, and con- 
templating a marriage with her, a month 
should be allowed to elapse, during which 
her perturbed feelings might be calmed, her 
mind reconciled to her altered condition, 
and she might bewail the loss of her parents 
now to her the same as dead. A month was 
the usual period of mourning with the Jews, 
and the circumstances mentioned here were 
the signs of grief— the shaving of the head— 
the not paring, but lit., doing, i.e.,) allowing 
the nails to grow uncut, the putting off her 
gorgeous dress in which ladies on the eve of 
being captured, arrayed themselves to be 
the more attractive to their captors. Tha 
delay was full of humanity and kindness to 
the female slave, as well as a prudential 
measure to try the strength of her master's 
affections. If his love should afterwards 
cool, and he become indifferent to her per- 
son, he was not to lord it over her, neither 
to sell her in the slave-market, nor retain 
her in a subordinate condition in his house; 
but she was to be free to go where her incli- 
nations led her. 15-17. 11 a man have two 
wives, one beloved, the other hated— In the 
original and all other translations, the words 



Sundry laics 



DEUTERONOMY, XXIV. 



and ordinances. 



thine enemies, then keep thee from every 
wicked thing. 

10 If h there he among you any man that 
is not clean, hy reason of uncleanness that 
chanceth him by night, then shall he go 
abroad out of the camp, he shall not come 
within the camp: 

11 But it shall be, when evening 2 comcth 
on, he shall wash himself with water: and 
when the sun is down, he shall come into 
the camp again. 

12 Thou shalt have a place also without 
the camp, whither thou shalt go forth 
abroad: 

13 And thou shalt have a paddle upon thy 
weapon ; and it shall be, when thou 3 wilt 
ease thyself abroad, thou shalt dig there- 
with, and shalt turn back and cover that 
which cometh from thee: 

14 For the Lord thy God < walketh in the 
midst of thy camp, to deliver thee, and to 
give up thine enemies before thee ; there- 
fore shall thy camp be J holy: that he see 
no * unclean thing in thee, and turn away 
from thee. 

15 tf Thou * shalt not deliver unto his 
master the servant which is escaped from 
his master unto thee: 

16 He shall dwell with thee, even among 
you, in that place which he shall choose in 
one of thy gates, where it 5 liketh him best: 
thou l shalt not oppress him. 

17 1F There shall be no 6 whore m of the 
daughters of Israel, nor n a sodomite of the 
Bons of Israel. 

18 Thou shalt not bring the hire of a 
whore, or the price of a dog, into the house 
of the Lord thy God for any vow: lor even 
both these are abomination unto the Lord 
thy God. 

19 TF Thou ■ shalt not lend upon nsury to 
thy brother; usury of money, usury of 
victuals, usury of any thing that is lent 
upon usury: 

20 Unto p a stranger thou mayest lend 
upon usury; but unto thy brother thou 
shalt not lend upon usury:* 5 that the Lord 
thy God may bless thee in all that thou 
settest thine hand to in the land whither 
thou goest to possess it. 

21 1F "When ^thou shalt vow a vow unto 
the Lord thy God, thou shalt not slack to 
pay it: for the Lord thy God will surely 
require it of thee ; and it would be sin in 
thee. 

22 But if thou shalt forbear to vow, it 
shall be no sin in thee. 

23 That 8 which is gone out of thy lips 
thou shalt keep and perform; even a free- 
will offering, according as thou hast vowed 
unto the Lord thy God, which thou hast 
promised with thy mouth. 

24 IF When thou comest into thy neigh- 
bour's vineyard, then thou mayest eat 
grapes thy fill at thine own pleasure ; but 
thou shalt not put any in thy vessel. 

25 When thou comest into the standing 
corn of thy neighbour, * then thou mavest 
pluck the ears with thine hand; but u thou 
shalt not move a sickle unto thy neighbour's 
standing corn. 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

1 Of divorce; 6, 10 of pledges; 7 o' men-stealers ; 8 
of leprosy. 14 The hire of a servant to be given. 
17 Of justice; 19 of chanty. 

TyHEN a a man hath taken a wife, and 

' ' married her, and it come to pass that 

she find no favour in his eyes, because he 

lid 



B C. 1451. 



CHAP. 23. 

A Lev. 15. 16. 

2 turneth 
toward. 

3 sittest 
down. 

i Lev 26.12. 
j Ex. 3. 5. 

4 nakedness 
of any 
tiling. 

k 1 Sam. 30. 
15. 

5 is good for 
him. 

I Ex. 22. 21. 
Pro. 22. 22. 

6 Or, sodom- 

it'-83. 

m Pro. 2. 16. 
n Gen. 19. 5. 

2 Ki. 23. 7. 
"Lev. 25.36. 

Neh. 5,2,7. 

Ps. 15. 5. 

Lu. 5. 34. 
P Lev. 19. 

34. 
9 ch. 15. 10. 
r Job 22. 27. 

Ps. 61. 8. 

Ec. 5. 4, 5. 
» Ps. 66. 13. 
t Mat. 12. 1. 
u Lu. 12. 15. 

1 Cor. 6.10. 

Col. 3. 5. 



CHAP. 24. 

a Mat. 19. 7. 

1 matter of 
nakidness. 

2 cutting off! 
6 Jer. 3. 1. 

3 not any- 
thing s'haU 
pass upon 
him. 

c Pro. 6. 18. 
d Is. 47. 2. 
« Ex. 21. 16. 
f Lev. 13.2. 
9 Lu. 17. 32. 

1 Cor. 10.6. 
h Nu. 12. 10. 

4 lend the 
loan of any 
thing to, 
etc. 

i Ex. 22. 26. 

j Job 2*,. 11. 

Job 31. 20. 

2 Cor. 9.13. 
2 Tim. L 
18. - 

* ch. 6. 25. 

Ps. 106. 

SI. 

Ps. 112. i. 

Dan. 4. 27. 

I *>ro. 14. 31. 

Amos 4. 1. 

Mai. 3. 5. 

m Lev. 19.13. 

Jer. 22. 13. 

5 lifteth 
his soul 
unto it. 

n Job 27. 13. 

Job 35. 9. 

Jam. 5. 4. 
o 2 Ki. 14. 6. 

Ezek. IS. 

20. 
P Prov. 22. 

22. 
q Ex. 22. 26. 
r Lev. 23. 22. 



hath found 1 some uncleanness in her; then 
let him write her a bill of 2 divorcement, 
and give it in her hand, and send her out 
of his house. 

2 And when she is departed out of his 
house, she may go and be another man's 
wife. 

3 And if the latter husband hate her. and 
write her a bill of divorcement, and giveth 
it in her hand, and sendeth her out of his 
house ; or if the latter husband die, which 
took her to be his wife ; 

4 Her b former husband, which sent her 
away, may not take her again to be his 
wife, after that she is defiled ; for that is 
abomination before the Lord: and thou 
shalt not cause the land to sin, which the 
Lord thy God giveth thee for an inherit- 
ance. 

5 1 When a man hath taken a new wife, 
he shall not go out to war, 3 neither shall 
he be charged with any business: but he 
shall be free at home one year, and shall 
cheer ° up his wife which he hath taken. 

6 r No man shall take the nether or the 
upper d millstone to pledge: for he taketh 
a man's life to pledge. 

7 S If e a man be found stealing any of his 
brethren of the children of Israel, and 
maketh merchandise of him, or selleth 
him; then that thief shall die; and thou 
shalt put evil away from among you. 

8 IF Take heed in / the plague of leprosy, 
that thou observe diligently, and do ac- 
cording to all that the priests the Levites 
shall teach you: as I commanded them, so 
ye shall observe to do. 

9 Remember » what the Lord thy God 
did h unto Miriam by the way, after that 
ye were come forth out of Egypt. 

10 IF When thou dost * lend thy brother 
any thing, thou shalt not go into his housa 
to "fetch his pledge. 

11 Thou shalt stand abroad, and the man 
to whom thou dost lend shall bring out the 
pledge abroad unto thee. 

12 And if the man be poor, thou shalt not 
i sleep with his pledge: 

j 13 In * any case thou shalt deliver him the 
' pledge again when the sun goeth down, 
i that ne may sleep in his own raiment, i and 
| bless thee: and * it shall be righteousness 
unto thee before the Lord thy God. 
! 14 1T Thou shalt not l oppress an hired 
servant that is poor and needy, whether he 
be of thv brethren, or of thy strangers that 
■ are in thy land within thy gates: 
| 15 At his day m thou shalt give him his 
! hire, neither shall the sun go down upon 
j it ; for he is poor, and 5 setteth his heart 
upon it : n lest he cry against thee unto the 
Lord, and it be sin unto thee. 
16 IF The ° fathers shall not be put to 
death for the children, neither shall the 
children be put to death for the fathers: 
every man shall be put to death for his 
own sin. 

i 17 1f Thou P shalt not pervert the judg- 
| ment of the stranger, nor of the fatherless; 
! nor q take a widow's raiment to pledge: 
j 18 But thou shalt remember that thou 
jwast a bondman in Egypt, and the Lord 
thy God redeemed thee thence: therefore I 
command thee to do this thing. 
19 1F When r thou cuttest down thine har- 
vest in thy field, and hast forgot a sheaf in 
the field, 'thou shalt not go again to tet< h 
;it: it shall be for the stranger, fin the 



*MwmmA fa tmw rd Brethren. DEUTERONOMY, XXII. Punishment for Adultery. 

rage on decency, obliterates the distinctions 
of nature by fostering softness and effemi- 
nacy in the man, impudence and boldness 
in the woman, as well as levity and hypo- 
crisy in both; and, in short, opens the door 
to an influx of so many evils, that all who 
wear the dress of another sex are pro- 
nounced " an abomination unto the Lord." 
6, 7. If a bird's nest chance to be before 
thee — This is a beautiful instance of the 
humanizing spirit of the Mosaic law, in 
checking a tendency to wanton destructive- 
ness, and encouraging a spirit of kind and 
compassionate tenderness to the tiniest 
creatures. But there was wisdom as well as 
humanity in the precept; for. as birds are 
well known to serve important uses in the 
economy of nature, the extirpation of a spe- 
cies, whether of edible or ravenous birds, 
must in any country be productive of seri- 
ous evils. But Palestine, in particular, was 
situated in a climate which produced pois- 
onous snakes and scorpions; and between 
deserts and mountains from which it would 
have been overrun with them, as well as 
immense swarms of flies, locusts, mice, and 
vermin of various kinds, if the birds which 
fed upon them were extirpated. [Mich.] 
Accordingly, the counsel given in this passage 
was wise as well as humane, to leave the hen 
undisturbed for the propagation of the spe- 
cies, while the taking of the brood occasion- 
ally was permitted as a check to too rapid 
an increase. 8. thou shalt make a battlement 
for thy roof— The tops of houses in ancient 
Judea, as in the East still, were flat, being 
composed of branches or twigs laid across 
large beams, and covered with a cement of 
clay or strong plaster. They were surrounded 
by a parapet breast high; for as in summer 
the roof is a favourite resort for coolness, 
accidents would frequently happen from per- 
sons incautiously approaching the edge and 
falling into the street or court; hence it was 
a wise and prudent precaution in the Jew- 
ish legislator to provide, that a stone bal- 
lustrade or timber railing round the roof 
should form an essential part of every new 
house. 9. Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard 
with divers seeds— (See on Lev. 19. 19J. 10. 
Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass to- 
gether—Whether this association, like the 
mixture of seeds, had been dictated by su- 
perstitious motives, and the prohibition 
was symbolical, designed to teach a moral 
lesson (2 Cor. 0. 14,) may or may not have 
been the case. But the prohibition pre- 
vented a great inhumanity still occasion- 
ally practised by the poorer sort in Oriental 
countries. An ox and ass being of different 
species, and of very different characters, 
cannot associate comfortably, nor unite 
cheerfully in drawing a plough or a waggon. 
The ass being much smaller and his step 
shorter, there must be an unequal and h'- 
regular draught. Besides, the ass, from feed - 
ing on coarse and poisonous weeds, has a 
foetid breath, which its yoke-fellow seeks to 
avoid, not only as poisonous and offensive, 
but producing leanness, or, if long continued, 
death; and hence, it has been observed 
always to hold away its head from the ass, 
and to pull only with one shoulder. 11. thou 
shalt not wear a garment of divers sorts— The 
essence of the crime iZeph. 1. 8,) consisted, 
notm wearing a woollen and a linen robe, 
but in tlie two stuffs being woven together. 



are rendered " have had," referring to events 
that have already taken place; and that the 
*' had" has, by some mistake, been omitted in 
our version, seems highly probable from the 
other verbs being in the past tense— 41 hers 
that was hated," not " hers that is hated;" 
evidently intimating that she (the first wife) 
was dead at the time referred to. Moses, 
therefore, does not here legislate upon the 
case of a man who has two wives at the 
same time, but on that of a man who has 
married twice in succession, the second wife 
alter the decease of the first; and there was 
an obvious necessity tor legislation in these 
circumstances; for the first wife, who was 
hated, was dead, and the second wife, the fa- 
vourite, was alive; and with the feelings of 
a stepmother, she would urge her husband to 
make her own son the heir. This case has 
no bearing upon polygamy, which there is 
no evidence that the Mosaic code legalized. 
18-21. If a man have a stubborn and rebellious 
son— A severe law was enacted in this case. 
But the consent of both parents was requir- 
ed as a prevention of any abuse of it; for it 
was reasonable to suppose that they would 
not both agree to a criminal information 
against their son, except from absolute ne- 
cessity, arising from his inveterate and 
hopeless wickedness; and, in that view, the 
law was wise and salutary, as such a person 
would be a pest and nuisance to society. 
The punishment was that to which blas- 
phemers were doomed; for parents are con- 
sidered God's representatives, and invested 
with a portion of his authority over their 
children. 22, 23. If a man have committed a 
sin, and thou hang him on a tree— hanging was 
not a Hebrew form of execution— gibbeting 
is meant— but the body was not to be left to 
rot, or be a prey to ravenous birds : it was 
to be buried "that day," either because the 
stench in a hot climate would corrupt the 
air, or the spectacle of an exposed corpse 
bring ceremonial defilement on the land. 
CHAPTER XXH. 

Ver. 1-4. Of humanity toward Bre- 
thren. 1. Thou shalt not see thy brother's 
ox, <fcc— " Brother " is a term of extensive 
application, comprehending persons of 
every description; not a relative, neighbour, 
or fellow-countryman only, but any human 
being, known or unknown, a foreigner, and 
even an enemy (Ex. 23. 4.). The duty incul- 
cated is an act of common justice and cha- 
rity, which, while it was taught by the law 
of nature, was more clearly and forcibly en- 
joined in the law delivered by God to His 
people. Indifference or dissimulation in 
the circumstances supposed, would not only 
be cruelty to the dumb animals, but a vio- 
lation of the common rights of humanity; 
and therefore the dictates of natural feel- 
ing, and still more the authority of the 
divine law enjoined, that the lost or miss- 
ing property of another should be taken 
care of by the finder, till a proper opportu- 
nity occurred of restoring it to the owner. 

5-12. The Sex to be distinguished by 
Apbarel. 5. The woman shall not wear 
that which pertaineth to man— Though dis- 
guises were assumed at certain times in 
heathen temples, it is probable that a refer- 
ence was made to unbecoming levities prac- 
tised in common life. They were properly 
forbidden: for the adoption of the habili- 
ments of the one sex by the other is an out- 
149 



Sundry laics. 



DEUTERONOMY, XXV, XXVI. Confessions while offering 



fatherless, and for the widow: that the 
Lord thy God may • bless thee in all the 
work of thine hands. 

20 When thou beatest thine olive tree, 
6 thou shalt not go over the boughs again: 
it shall be for the stranger, for the father- 
less, and for the widow. 

21 When thou gatherest the grapes of thy 
vineyard, thou shalt not glean it 7 after- 
ward: it shall be for the stranger, for the 
fatherless, and for the widow. 

22 And thou shalt remember that thou 
wast a bondman in the land of Egypt: 
therefore I command thee to do this thing. 

CHAPTER XXV. 

1 Stripes must not exceed forty. 4 The ox is not to 
be muzzled. 5 Of raising seed unto a brother: 11 
of the immodest' woman t 13 of unjust weights. 
17 The memory of Amalek is to be b.otted out. 

TF there be a controversv between men, 
x and they come unto judgment, that the 
judges may judge them; then they shall 
justify the righteous, and condemn the 
wicked. 

2 And it shall be, if the wicked man be 
worthy a to be beaten, that the judge shall 
cause "him to lie down, & and to be beaten 
before his face, according to his fault, by a 
certain number. 

3 Forty c stripes he may give him, and not 
exceed: lest, if he should exceed, and beat 
him above these with many stripes, then 
thy brother should d seem vile unto thee. 

4 IF Thou e shalt not muzzle the ox when 
he l treadeth out the corn. 

5 1F If / brethren dwell together, and one 
of them die, and have no child, the wife 
of the dead shall not marry without unto 
a stranger: her 2 husband's brother shall go 
in unto her, and take her to him to wife, 
and perform the duty of an husband's 
brother unto her. 

6 And it shall be, that the first-born which 
she beareth g shall succeed in the name of 
his brother which is dead, that his name 
be not put out of Israel. 

7 And if the man like not to take his 
3 brother's wife, then let his brother's wile 
go up to the gate unto the elders, and say, 
Aly husband's brother refuseth to raise up 
unto his brother a name in Israel, he 
will not perform the duty of my husband's 
brother. 

8 Then the elders of his city shall call 
him, and speak unto him: and if he stand 
to it, and say, 1 like not to take her, 

9 Then shall his brother's wife come unto 
him in the presence of the elders, h and 
loose his shoe from off his foot, and spit 
in his face, and shall answer and say, So 
shall it be done unto that man that will 
not build up his brother's house. 

10 And ■ his name shall be called in Israel, 
The house of him that hath his shoe loosed. 

11 1F When men strive together one with 
another, and the wife of the one draweth 
near for to deliver her husband out of the 
hand of him that smiteth him, and putteth 
forth her hand, and taketh him by the 
secrets; 

12 Then thou shalt cut off her hand, 
thine i eye shall not pity her. 

13 H Thou * shalt not have in thy bag 
* divers weights, a great and a small. 

14 Thou shalt not have in thine house 
6 divers measures, a great and a small. 

15 But thou shalt have a perfect and just 
weight, a perfect and just measure shalt 



B. C. 1451. 



CHAP. 24. 
• Pro. 19. 17. 

6 thou shalt 
not bough 
it after 
thee. 

7 after thee. 



CHAP. 25. 
« Lu. 12. 48. 
& Mat. 10.17. 
c 2 Cor. 11. 

24. 
d Job 18. 3. 
« Pro. 12. 10. 

1 Cor. 9.9. 

1 Tim. 5. 

18. 

1 thresheth. 
/ Lu. 20. 28. 

2 Or, next 
kinsman. 
Gen. 38. 8. 
Ruth 1. 12. 

g Gen. 38. 9. 

3 Or, next 
kinsman's 
wife. 

h Ruth 4. 7. 
i Pro. 6. 33. 

1 Tim. 3. 7. 
/ch. 19.13. 
A Lev. 19.35. 

Pro. 11. 1. 

Pro. 20.23. 

Ezek. 45. 

10. 

Mic. 6. 11. 

4 a stone 
and a 
stone. 

5 an e; hah 
and an 
ephah. 

I Ex. 20. 12. 
m Fro. 11. 1. 

1 Thes.4.6. 
n Ex. 17. 8. 
o Ps. 36. 1. 

Pro. 16. 6. 

Rom. 3.18. 
P 1 Sa. 15. 3. 



CHAP. 26. 
a Ex. 23. 19. 

Num. 18. 

13. 

Pro. 3. 9. 
fcch. 12. 5. 
c Hose* 12. 

12. 
d Gen. 43. 

1. 2. 

Gen. 45. 7, 

11. 
e Gen. 46. 27. 

ch. 10. 22. 
/Ex. 1.11. 
9 Ex. 2. 23, 

24.25. 

Ex. 3. 9. 

Ex. 4. 31. 
h ch. 4. 34. 
i Ex. 3. 8. 
/ch.8. 18. 

Pro. 10. 22. 
k ch. 12. 7, 

12, 18. 

ch. 16. 11. 

Eccles. 3. 

12, 13. 

Eccles. 5. 

18-20. 
I Lev. 27. 30. 

Nu. 18. 24. 
•» ch. 14. 28, 



thou have : l that thy days may be length- 
ened in the land which the Lord thy God 
giveth thee. 

16 For m all that do such things, and all 
that do unrighteously, are an abomination 
unto the Lord thy God. 

17 IF Remember H what Amalek did unto 
thee by the way, when ye were come forth 
out of Egypt; 

18 How ne met thee by the way, and 
smote the hindmost of thee, even all that 
were feeble behind thee, when thou least 
faint and weary ; and he ° feared not 
God. 

19 Therefore it shall be, p when the Lord 
thy God hath given thee rest from all thine 
enemies round about, in the land which 
the Lord thy God giveth thee for an in- 
heritance to possess it, that thou shalt blot 
out the remembrance of Amalek from 
under heaven; thou shalt not forget it. 

CHAPTER XXVT. 
1 The confession of him that ofereth the basket of 
first-friiits. 12' The third year's tithes. 16 I'M 
covenant between God and the people. 



A ND it shall be, when thou art come in 
■*-*- unto the land which the Lord thy God 
giveth thee for an inheritance, and 
sessest it, and dwellest therein, 



pos- 



2 That a thou shalt take of the first of all 
the fruit of the earth, which thou shalt 
bring of thy land that the Lord thy God 
giveth thee, and shalt put it in a basket, 
and shalt b go unto the place which the 
Lord thy God shall choose to place his 
name there. 

3 And thou shalt go unto the priest that 
shall be in those days, and say unto him, I 
profess this day unto the Lord thy God, 
that I am come unto the country which the 
Lord sware unto our fathers for to give 
us. 

4 And the priest shall take the basket out 
of thine hand, and set it down before the 
altar of the Lord thy God. 

5 And thou shalt speak and say before 
the Lord thy God, c A Syrian d ready to 
perish icas my father ; and he went down 
into Egypt, and sojourned there with e a 
few, and became there a nation, great, 
mighty, and populous: 

6 And / the Egyptians evil entreated us. 
and afflicted us, and laid upon us hard 
bondage: 

7 And 9 when we cried unto the Lord God 
of our fathers , the Lord heard our voice, 
and looked on our affliction, and our labour, 
and our oppression: 

8 And the Lord brought us forth out ot 
Egypt with a mighty hand, and with an 
outstretched arm, and * with great terrible- 
ness. and with signs, and with wonders: 

9 And he hath brought us into this place, 
and hath given us this land, even • a land 
that floweth with milk and honey. 

10 And now, behold, I have brought the 
first-fruits of the land which i thou, O Lord, 
hast given me. And thou shalt set it be- 
fore theLoRD thy God, and worship before 
the Lord thy God: 

11 And k thou shalt rejoice in every good 
thing which the Lord thy God hath given 
unto thee, and unto thine house, thou, and 
the Levite, and the stranger that is among 
you. 

12 1F When thou hast made an end of 
tithing all the l tithes of thine increase the 
third year, which is m the year of tithing, 



Who may and who may not DEUTEKONOMY, XXIII. Enter into the Congregation. 



according to a favourite superstition of 
ancient idolators (see on Lev. 19. 19.). 12. 
thou shalt not make thee fringes upon the four 

f[uarters— or, according to some eminent Bib- 
lcal interpreters, tassels on the coverlet of the ' 
bed. The precept is not the same as Num. ; 
15. 38. 13-30. If a man take a wife, &c— 
The regulations that follow might be imper- \ 
atively needful in the then situation of the 
Israelites; and yet, it is not necessary that we , 
should curiously and impertinently inquire 
into th em. So far was it f rom4)eing unworthy 
of God to leave such things upon record, that 
the enactments must heighten our admira- 
tion of His wisdom and goodness in the 
management of a people so perverse and so 
given to irregular passions. Nor is it a 
better argument that the Scriptures were not 
written by inspiration of God to object, > 
that this passage, and others of a like na-| 
ture, tend to corrupt the imagination, and 
will be abused by evil-disposed readers, 
than it is to say that the sun was not created 
by God, because its light may be abused , 
by wicked men as an assistant in com- 1 
mitting crimes which they have meditated. I 

fHORNE.] 

CHAPTER XXin. 
Ver. 1-25. Who may anjl> who may not ] 
Enter into the Congregation. 1. He ; 
that is wounded, &c. shall not enter into the i 
congregation of the Lord— "To enter into the 
congregation of the Lord " means either ad- 
mission to public honours and offices in the 
Church and State of Israel, or, in the case of j 
foreigners' incorporation with that nation 
by marriage. The rule was, that strangers j 
and foreigners, lor fear of friendship or* 
marriage connexions with them leading the 
people into idolatry, were notadmissable till 
their conversion to the Jewish faith. But 
this passage describes certain limitations of , 
the general r i le. The following parties were ! 
excluded from the full rights and privileges j 
of citizenship:— 1st, Eunuchs— it was a very 
ancient practice for parents in the east by | 
various arts to mutilate their chi dren, with j 
a view of training them for service in the I 
houses of the great. 2d, Bastards— such an j 
indelible stigma in both these instances ! 
was designed as a discouragement to practices ! 
that were disgraceful, but too common from j 
intercourse with foreigners. The word ren- ! 
dered "bastard," however, is by sine sup- 
posed to mean a tl stranger" (Zech. 9. 6.) J 
3d, Ammonites and Moabites were excluded 
—for without provocation they combined to J 
engage a soothsayer to curse the Israelites; J 
and further endeavoured, by ensnaring them 
into the guilt and licentious abominations 
of idolatry, to seduce them from their al- 
legiance to God, and thereby make them for- 
feit the privileges of their national cove- 
nant. The offence of the Ammonites and 
Moabites was an aggravated one. It was I 
not only a denial of common hospitality and j 
kindness to strangers and pilgrims; but it 
was a scheme of premeditated villany, in- \ 
dicating deep malice and inextinguishable j 
hatred. Their exclusion, therefore, as avow- 1 
ed public enemies, was perpetual and im- j 
mutable, even to the tenth generation shall | 
they not enter— Many eminent writers think 
that this law of exclusion was applicable 
only to males; at ail events that a deft- j 
nite is used for an indefinite number (Neh. ' 
13.1.). As God cannot do evil, the declaration , 
150 



must be considered n^t to foster enmity 
against the people (Kuth, 4.10; 2 Ki. 10.2,), but 
against their crime. And it was the more 
necessary to make it at this time, as many 
of the Israelites being established on the 
east side of Jordan in the immediate neigh- 
hood of those people, God raised this par- 
tition-wall between them to prevent the con- 
sequences of evil communications. 4th, More 
favour was to be shewn to Edomites and 
Egyptians— to the former from their near 
relationship to Israel; and to the latter, from 
their early hospitalities to the family of 
Jacob as well as the many acts of kindness 
rendered them by private Egyptians at the 
Exodus (Ex. 12. 36.). The grandchildren of 
Edomite or Egyptian proselytes were declar- 
ed admissible to the full rights of citizenship 
as native Israelites; and by this remarkable 

f>rovision, God taught His people a practical 
esson of generosity and gratitude for special 
deeds of kindness, to the forgetfulness of all 
the persecution and ill services sustained 
from those two nations. 9-14. When the host 
goest forth— keep thee from every wicked thing 
—From theft, violence, licentiousness, and 
all the excesses incident to life in a camp 
(Luke, 3. 14.). Cleanliness being indispens- 
ably necessary, the strictest sanitary regula- 
tions are always enforced by those who have 
charge of a large bodyof men;the first appear- 
ance of disease is watched— precautions are 
taken to prevent the spread of infection. But 
in warm climates something more is requi- 
site; constant care in the removal of foul and. 
foetid matter; and accordingly Turkish sol- 
diers are said to carry an implement similar 
to that with which every Israelite was en- 
joined to furnish himself. In the case of 
the Israelites, cleanliness was the more im- 
perative, that their heavenly king \* as pre- 
sent in the camp {v. 14, whence some think 
that the ark was carried with them m their 
wars); and moreover, cleanliness was sym- 
bolical of the moral purity to which God was 
training them. 15, 16. Thou shalt not deliver 
unto his master the servant which has escaped 
—Evidently a servant of the Canaan stes or 
some of the neighbouring people, who was 
driven by tyrannical oppression, or induced, 
with a view of embracing the true religion 
to take refuge in Israel. 19, 20. Thou shalt 
not lend upon usury to thy brother . . . Unto 
a stranger— The Israelites being employed 
chiefly in the culture of the soil and the 
rearing of cattle, would have little occasion 
to borrow except for personal use through 
temporary want and poverty. They jived in 
a simple state of society, and hence they 
were encouraged to lend to each other in a 
friendly way, without any hope of gain. But 
the case was different with foreigners, who, 
engaged in trade and commerce— borrowed 
to enlarge their capital and might reasonably 
be expected to pay interest on their loans. 
Besides, the distinction was admirably con- 
ducive to keeping the Israelites separate 
from the rest of the world. 21, 22. When 
thou vowest a vow— (See on Num. 30. 2.,). 24, 
25. When thou comest into thy neighbour's 
vineyard— Vineyards, like corn fields men- 
tioned in the next verse, were often unen- 
closed. In vine-growing countries grapes are 
amazingly cheap; and \ e need not wonder, 
therefore, that all within reach of a passen- 
ger's arm was free,— the quantity plucked 
was a loss never felt by the proprietor, and it 



the first fruits and tithes DEUTERONOMY, XXVII, XXVIII. 



The curses of the knu. 



and hast given it nnto the Levite, the 
stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, 
that they may eat within thy gates, and 
be tilled; 

13 Then thou shalt say before the Lord 
thy God. I have brought away the hallowed 
things out of mine House, and also have 
given them unto the Levite, and unto the 
Btranger, to the fatherless, and to the 
widow, according to all thy commandments 
which thou hast commanded me: I have not 
transgressed thy commandments, n neither 
have I forgotten them: 

14 1 ° have not eaten thereof in my mourn- 
ing, neither have I taken away ought there- 
of for any unclean use, nor given ought 
thereof for the dead: but I have hearkened 
to the voice of the Lord my God, and have 
done according to all that thou hast com- 
manded me. 

15 Look v down from thy holy habitation, 
from heaven, and bless thy people Israel, 
and the land which thou hast given us. as 
thou swarest unto our fathers, a land that 
tioweth with milk and honey. 

16 H This day the Lord thy God hath 
commanded thee to do these statutes and 
judgments: thou shalt therefore keep and 
do them with all thine heart, and with all 
thy soul. 

17 Thou hast * avouched the Lord this day 
to be thy God, and to walk in his ways, and 
to keep" his statutes, and his command- 
ments, and his judgments, and to hearken 
unto his voice: 

18 And r the Lord hath avouched thee 
this day to be his peculiar people, as he 
hath promised thee, and that tliou shouldest 
keep all his commandments; 

19 And to make thee e high above all na- 
tions which he hath made, in praise, and 
in name, and in honour; and that thou 
mayest be ' an holy people unto the Lord 
thy God, as he hath spoken. 

CHAPTER XX VII. 

1 The people are to write the law upon stones, and 

to build an altar of whole stones. 11 The tribes 

divided on Gerizim and EbaL 14 The curses 

pronounced on Ebal. 

X ND Moses with the elders of Israel com- 
- rL manded the people, saying, Keep all 
the commandments which I command you 
tliis day. 

2 And it shall be on the day ° when ye 
Bhall pass over Jordan unto the land which 
the Lord thy God giveth thee, that b thou 
shalt set thee up great stones, and plaster 
them with plaster: 

3 And thou shalt write upon them all the 
words of this law, when thou art passed 
over, that thou mayest go hi unto the land 
which the Lord thy God giveth thee, a 
land that floweth with milk and honey; as 
the Lord God of thy fathers hath promised 
thee. 

4 Therefore it shall be when ye be gone 
over Jordan, that ye shall set up these 
stones, which I command you this day, c in 
mount Ebal, and thou shalt plaster them 
with plaster. 

5 And there shalt thou build an altar 
unto the Lord thy God, an altar of stones: 
thou d shalt not lift up any iron tool upon 
them. 

6 Thou shalt build the altar of the Lord 
thy God of whole stones ; and thou shalt 
offer burnt offerings thereon unto the Lord 
thy God: 

151 



B. C. 1451. 



CHAP. 26. 
n p s . 119. 

141, 153, 

176. 
o Lev. 7. 20. 

Lev. 21, 1, 

11. 

Hos. 9. 4. 
P 2 Cl,r. 6. 

26,27. 

Is. 63. 15. 

Zech.2.13. 
q Ex. 20. 19. 
r Ex. 6. 7. 

Ex. 19. 5. 

ch. 7. 6. 

ch. 14. 2. 

ch. 28. 9. 
8 ch. 4. 7, 8. 

ch. 28. 1. 

Psalm 148. 

14. 
t Ex. 19. 6. 

ch. 7. 6. 

ch. 28. 9. 

1 Pet. 2. 9. 



CHAP. 27. 
a Josh. 4. 1. 
b Josh. 8.32. 
cch. 11 29. 

Josh. 8. 30. 
d Ex. 20. 25. 

Josh. 8 31. 
e Hab. 2. 2. 
f ch. 11.29. 
Judg. 9. 7. 
1 for a curs- 
ing. 
g ch. 33. 10. 

Dan. 9. 11. 
h Ex. 20. 4, 

23. 

Ex. 34. 17. 

Lev. 19. 4. 

Lev. 26. 1. 

ch. 4. 16, 

23. 

Is. 44. 9. 

Hos. 13. 2. 
t Nu. 5. 22. 
Jer. 11. 5. 
1 Cor. 14. 

16. 
j Ex. 20. 12. 
Lev. 19. 3. 
k Pro. 22. 28. 
I Lev. 19. 14. 
1* Ex. 22. 21. 

ch. 10. 18. 

Mai. 3. 5. 
n Lev. 18. 8. 

1 Cor. 5. 1. 
o 2 Sa. 13. 1. 
P Lov. 24. 

17. 

Num. 35. 

31. 
9 Exod. 23. 

7,8. 

ch. 10. 17. 

ch. 16. 19. 

Ps. 15. 5. 

Er-ck. 22. 

12. 
r Ps. 119. 21. 

Jer. 11. 3. 

Gal. 3. 10. 



CHAP. 28. 
« Ex. 15. 26. 

Lev. 26. 3. 

Is. 55. 2. 
61Chr.l4.2. 

Pro. 14. 34. 

R". 2. 10. 
cZock.1.6. 



/ And thou shalt offer peace offerings, and 
shalt eat there, and rejoice before the Lord 
thy God. 

8 And thou shalt write upon the stones 
all the words of this law e very plainly. 

9 1T And Moses and the priests the Levites 
spake unto all Israel, saying, Take heed, 
and hearken, O Israel; this dav thou art 
become the people of the Lord thy God. 

10 Thou shalt therefore obey the voice of 
the Lord thy God, and do his command- 
ments and his statutes, which I command 
thee this day. 

11 11 And Moses charged the people the 
same day, saying, 

12 These shall stand /upon mount Gerizim 
to bless the people, when ye are come over 
J ordan ; Simeon, and Levi, and J udah, and 
Issachar, and Joseph, and Benjamin: 

13 And these shall stand upon mount Ebal 
1 to curse; Reuben, Gad, and Asher, and 
Zcbulun, Dan, and Naphtali. 

14 11 And g the Levites shall speak, and 
say unto all the men of Israel with a loud 
voice, 

15 Cursed h be the man that maketh any 
graven or molten image, an abomination 
unto the Lord, the work of the hands of 
the craftsman, and putteth it in a secret 
place. * And all the people shall answer 
aud say, Amen. 

16 Cursed i be he that setteth light by his 
father or his mother. And all the people 
shall say, Amen. 

17 Cursed * be he that removeth his neigh- 
bour's land-mark. And all the people shall 
say, Amen. 

18 Cursed * be he that maketh the blind to 
wander out of the way. And all the people 
shall say, Amen. 

19 Cursed "* be he that perverteth the 
judgment of the stranger, fatherless, and 
widow. And all the people shall say, Amen. 

20 Cursed n be he that lieth with his 
father's wife; because he uncovereth his 
father's skirt. And all the people shall say. 
Amen. 

21 Cursed be he that lieth with any man- 
ner of beast. And all the people shall say, 
Amen. 

22 Cursed °be he that lieth with his sister, 
the daughter of his father, or the daughter 
of his mother. And all the people shall 
say, Amen. 

26 Cursed be he that lieth with his 
mother-in-law. And all the people shall 
say, Amen. 

24 Cursed p be he that smiteth his neigh- 
bour secretly. And all the people shall 
say, Amen. 

25 Cursed * be he that taketh reward to 
slay an innocent person. And all the people 
shall say, Amen. 

26 Cursed r be he that confirmeth not all 
the words of this law to do them. And all 
the people shall say, Amen. 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 

1 The blessings for obedience. 15 The curses for 

disobedience. 

A ND it shall come to pass, a if thou shalt 
-"- hearken diligently unto the voice of 
the Lord thy God, to observe and to do 
all his commandments which I command 
thee this dav, that the Lord thy God will 
set thee b on high above all nations ol the 
earth: 

2 And all these blessings shall come on 
thee, and c overtake • thee, if thou shalt 



Of Divorces. 



was a kindly privilege afforded to the poor 
and wayfaring man. 

CHAPTER XXIV. 
Ver. 1-22. Of Divorces. 1. it Come to pass 
that she find no favour in his eyes— It appears 
that the practice of divorces was at this early 
period very prevalent amongst the Israelites, 
who had in all probability become .'amiliar 
with it in Egypt (LajsieJ, where too great 
facilities, and that on the most frivolous 
1 retexts, have always existed to the dissolu- 
tion of the nuptial tie. The usage being too 
deep-rooted to be soon or easily abolished, 
was tolerated by Moses (Matt. 19. 8,). but it 
was accompanied under the law with two 
conditions, which were calculated greatly to 
prevent the evils incident to the permitted 
system, viz.— 1st, That the act of divorce- 
ment was to be certified on a written docu- 
ment, the preparation of which, with legal 
formality, would afford time for reflection 
and repentance; and 2d, That, in the event 
of the divorced wife being married to an- 
other husband, she could not, on the ter- 
mination of that second marriage, be restored 
to her first husband, however desirous he 
might be to receive her. In the circum- 
stances of the Israelitish people, this law 
of divorce was of great use in preserving 
public morals, and promoting the comfort 
and permanence of married life, 5. When a 
man hath taken a new wife, he shall not go 
to war—This law of exemption was founded 
on good policy, and was favourable to ma- 
trimony, as it afforded a full opportunity 
for the affections of the newly married pair 
being more firmly engaged, and it diminished 
or removed occasions for the divorces just 
mentioned. 6. No man shall take the nether 
or the upper millstone— The "upper" stone 
being concave, covers the "nether" like a 
lid; and it has a small aperture, through 
which the corn is poured, as well as a handle 
by which it is turned. The propriety of the 
lav/ prohibiting either being taken was 
founded on the custom of grinding corn 
every morning for daily consumpt. If either 
of the stones, therefore, which composed the 
handmill was wanting, a person would be 
deprived of his neces>ary provision; and as 
there was no other means of preparing it, 
all rational prospect of subsistence, no less 
than of paying his debts, was taken away. 
7. If a man be found stealing any of his 
brethren— (See on Ex. 21. 16.). 8, 9. Take 
heed in the plague of leprosy— (See on Lev. 
13. 14. . Avoid all occasion of contracting 
that dreadful disease, especially in the way 
of punishment for disobedience, like Miriam. 
But in the event of being overtaken by it, 
be implicitly subject to the counsels and 
instructions of the Levites, who were di- 
vinely directed what remedies to prescribe. 
10-13. When thou dost lend thy 'mother any 
thing— The course recommended was, in 
kind and considerate regard, to spare the 
borrower's feelings, by not exposing the 
poverty of his house, or affording an oppor- 
tunity for the creditor to shew insolvency. 
In the case of a poor man who had pledged 
his cloak, it was to be restored before night, 
as the poor in Eastern countries have com- 
monly no other covering for wrapping them- 
selves in when they go to sleep than the 
hyke or plaid they have worn during the 
day. 14, 15. Thou shalt not oppress a hired 
Bervant that is poor and needy— Hired ser- 
151 



DETJTEHONOMY, XXTV, XXV. Stripes not to Exceed Forty. 

rants in the East are paid every day. No 
one works after the sun goes down, even in 
winter. The wages are given at the close of 
the day; and for a master t to defraud the 
labourer of his hire, or to withhold it wrong- 
fully for a night, might have subjected a 
poor man with his family to suffering, and 
was therefore an injustice to be avoided 
(Lev. 19. 13. ). 16»18. The fathers shall not be 
put to death for the children— God, the sov- 
ereign author and proprietor of life, may, in 
certain circumstances, command this pen- 
alty: but the rule was, addressed for the 
guidance of earthly magistrates, and it esta- 
blished the equitable principle that none 
should be responsible for the crimes of 
others, and that impartial justice should be 
blended with mercy in all their decisions. 
19-22. When thou cuttest down thine harvest 
—The grain pulled up by the roots or cut 
down with a sickle was laid in loose sheaves; 
the fruit of the olive was obtained by strik- 
ing the branches with long poles, and the 
grape clusters, severed by a hook, were 
gathered in the hands of the vintager. Here 
is a beneficient provision for the poor, who 
were to participate in the general joy at the 
crowning of the year with the divine good- 
ness. Every forgotten sheaf in the harvest- 
field was to lie; the olive tree was not to be 
beaten a second time; nor gleaning grapes to 
be gathered in order that in collecting what 
remained, the hearts of the stranger, the 
fatherless, and the widow might be glad- 
dened by the bounty of Providence. 
CHAPTER XXV. 
Ver. 1-19. Stripes must not exceed 
Forty. 2. worthy to be beaten— In judicial 
sentences, which awarded punishment short 
of capital, scourging was the most comnv n 
form in which they were executed. The 
amount of stripes was of course proportioned 
to the nature or aggravations of the offence; 
and from the criminal being " caused to lie 
down," the Hebrew mode ol inflicting them 
seems to have been preciselythe same as the 
Egyptian bastinado, which was applied to the 
bared back of the culprit, who was stretched 
flat on the ground, his hands and feet being 
held by attendants. The Mosaic law, how- 
ever, introduced two important restrictions, 
viz.— 1st, That the punishment should be 
inflicted in presence of the judge, instead of 
being dealt with in private by some heart- 
less official; and 2d, That the maximum 
amount of it should be limited to lorty 
stripes, instead of being awarded according 
to the arbitrary will or passion of the ma- 
gistrate, who, like Turkish or Chinese rulers, 
often apply the stick till they cause death or 
lameness lor life. Of what the scourge con- 
sisted at first, whether a single stick or a 
bundle of twigs, we are not informed; but 
in later times, when the Jews were exceed- 
ingly scrupulous in adhering to the letter of 
the law, and. for fear of miscalculation, were 
desirous of keeping within the prescribed 
limit, it was formed of three cords, termin- 
ating in leathern thongs, and thirteen sti okes 
of this counted thirty-nine (2 Cor. 11. 24.). 
4. Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he tre*u- 
eth out the corn— In Judea, as in modern 
Syria and Egypt, the larger grains, wheat, 
barley, and rice, were not thrashet , but beat- 
en out by the feet of oxen, which, yoked 
together, trode round day after day the wide 
open spaces which form the thrashing floors. 



The blessings for obedience. DEUTERONOMY, XXVIII. The curses for disobedience. 



hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy 
God. 

3 Blessed d shalt thou be in the city, and 
blessed shalt thou be e in the field. 

4 Blessed shall be f the fruit of thy body, 
and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit 
of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and 
the flocks of thy sheep. 

5 Blessed shall be thy basket and thy 
1 store. 

6 Blessed g shalt thou be when thou comest 
in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou 
goest out. 

7 The Loed h shall cause thine enemies 
that rise up against thee to be smitten be- 
fore thy face: they shall come out against 
thee one way, and flee before thee seven 
ways. 

8 The Lord shall * command the blessing 
upon thee in thy 2 storehouses, and in all 
that thou 3 settest thine hand unto ; and he 
shall bless thee in the land which the Lord 
thy God giveth thee. 

9 The * Lord shall establish thee an holy 
people unto himself, as he hath sworn 
unto thee, if thou shalt keep the command- 
ments of the Lord thy God, and walk in 
his ways. 

10 And all people of the earth shall see 
that thou art l called by the name of the 
Lord ; and they shall be afraid of thee, 

11 And m the Lord shall make thee plen- 
teous 3 in goods, in the fruit of thy 4 body, 
and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the 
fruit of thy ground, in the land which the 
Lord sware unto thy fathers to give thee. 

12 The Lord n shall open unto thee his 
good treasure, the heaven to give the rain 
unto thy land in his season, and to bless 
all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt 
lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not 
borrow. 

13 And the Lord shall make thee the 
head, and not the tail ; and thou shalt be 
above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; 
if that thou hearken unto the command- 
ments of the Lord thy God, which I com- 
mand thee this day, to observe and to do 
them: 

14 And ° thou shalt not go aside from any 
of the words which I command thee this 
day, to the right hand or to the left, to go 
after other gods to serve them. 

15 1F But it shall come to pass, P if thou 
wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord 
thy God, to observe to do all his command- 
ments and his statutes, which I command 
thee this day, that all these curses shall 
come upon thee, and overtake thee: 

16 Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and 
cursed shalt thou be in the field. 

17 Cursed shall be thy basket and thy 
store. 

18 Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body, 
and the fruit of thy land, the increase of 
thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. 

19 Cursed shall thou be when thou comest 
in, and cursed shalt thou be when thou 
goest out. 

20 The Lord shall send upon thee q curs- 
ing, r vexation, and * rebuke, in all that 
thou settest thine hand unto 5 for to do, 
until thou be destroyed, and until thou 
perish Quickly; because of the wickedness 
of thy doings, whereby thou hast forsaken 
me. 

21 The Lord shall make * the pestilence 
cleave unto thee, until he have consumed 

1W 



B. C. 1451. 

CHAP. 28. 
d Psalm 128. 

1, 4. 
e Gen. 39. 6. 
/ Gen. 22.17. 

Psalm 107. 

38. 

Pro. 10.22. 

1 Tim. 4. 8. 

1 Or, dough, 
or, knead- 
ing trough. 

g Ps. 121. 8. 
ft 2 Sam. 22. 

38. 
i Lev. 25. 21. 

2 Or, barns. 
Pro. 3. 10. 

j ch. 15. 10. 

Ps. 90. 17. 

Pro. 16. 3. 
k Exod. 19. 

5, e. 
J2Chr.7.14. 

Is. 63. 19. 

Dan. 9. 18, 

19. 
m Pro v. 10. 
22. 

3 Or, for 
good. 

4 bolly. 

n Jam. 1. 18. 
o Josh. 1. 7. 

Pro. 4. 37. 
P Lam. 2. 17. 

Dan. 9. 11. 
q Pro. 3. 33. 

Zech. 6. 

3,4. 

Mai. 2. 2. 
r 1 Sam. 14. 

20. 
8 Psalm 80. 

16. 

Is. 30. 17. 

5 which thou 
wouldest 
do. 

t Jer. 24. 10. 
«■ Lev. 26.16. 

6 Or, 
drought. 

V Is. 30. 17. 
w Jer. 16. 4. 

Ezek. 23. 
46. 

7 for a 
removing. 

x Ex. 9. 9. 

V 1 Sa. 5. o. 
Ps. 78. 66. 

« Job 31. 10. 
Jer. 8. 10. 

8 profane, or, 
use it as 
common 
meat. 

9 shall not 
return 
to thee. 

a Jer. 5. 17. 
b 2 Ki. 17. 4. 

2 Kin. 24. 
12, 14. 

c Jer. 39. 1. 

2 Chr. 33.1. 

2Chr.36.1. 
d Jer. 16. 13. 
e 1 Kings 9. 

7.8. 

Jer. 24. 9. 

Zech. 8. 13. 
/ Ps. 44. 14. 
0Mic.6. 15. 

Hag. 1. 6. 

ft Ex. 10. 4. 

Joel 1. 4. 



thee from off the land whither thou goest 
to possess it. 

22 The u Lord shall smite thee with a 
consumption, and with a fever, and with 
an inflammation, and with an extreme 
burning, and with the 6 sword, and with 
blasting, and with mildew; and they shall 
pursue thee until thou perish. 

23 And thy heaven that is over thy head 
shall be brass, and the earth that is under 
thee shall be iron. 

24 The Lord shall make the rain of thv 
land powder and dust: from heaven shall 
it come down upon thee, until thou be de- 
stroyed. 

25 The v Lord shall cause thee to be smit- 
ten before thine enemies: thou shalt go 
out one way against them, and flee seven 
ways before them ; and w shalt be ? removed 
into all the kingdoms of the earth. 

26 And thy carcase shall be meat unto all 
fowls of the air, and unto the beasts of the 
earth, and no man shall fray them away. 

27 Ihe Lord will smite thee with * the 
botch of Egypt, and with v the emerods, 
and with the scab, and with the itch, 
whereof thou canst not be healed. 

28 The Lord shall smite thee with mad- 
ness, and blindness, and astonishment of 
heart: 

29 And thou shalt grope at noon-day, as 
the blind gropeth in darkness, and thou 
shalt not prosper in thy ways: and thou 
shalt be only oppressed and spoiled ever- 
more, and no man shall save thee. 

30 Thou z shalt betroth a wife, and an- 
other man shall lie with her: thou shalt 
build an house, and thou shalt not dwell 
therein: thou shalt plant a vineyard, and 
shalt not 8 gather the grapes thereof. 

31 Thine ox shall be slain before thine 
eyes, and thou shalt not eat thereof: thine 
ass shall be violently taken away from be- 
fore thy face, and 9 shall not be restored to 
thee: thy sheep shall be given unto thine 
enemies, and thou shalt have none to rescue 
them. 

32 Thy sons and thy daughters shall be 
given unto another people, and thine eyes 
shall look, and fail with longing for them 
all the day long: and tliere shall be no might 
in thine hand. 

33 The a fruit of thy land, and all thy la- 
bours, shall a nation which thou knowest 
not eat up ; and thou shalt be only oppressed 
and crashed alway: 

34 So that thou shalt be mad for the sight 
of thine eyes which thou shalt see. 

35 The Lord shall smite thee in the knees, 
and in the legs, with a sore botch that 
cannot be healed, from the sole of thy foot 
unto the top of thy head. 

36 The Lord shall 6 bring thee, and c thy 
king which thou shalt set over thee, unto 
a nation which neither thou nor thy fathers 
have known ; and d there shalt thou serve 
other gods, wood and stone. 

37 And thou shalt become * an astonish- 
ment, a proverb, /and a by-word, among 
all nations whither the Lord shall lead 
thee. 

38 Thou 9 shalt carry much seed out into 
the field, and shalt gather but little in; for 
the h locust shall consume it. 

39 Thou shalt plant vineyards, and dress 
them, but shalt neither drink of the wine, 
nor gather the grapts; for the worms shall 
eat them. 



Basket of First-Fruits. DEUTERONOMY, XXVI, XXVII. 

The animals were allowed freely to pick up 
a mouthful, when they chose to do so; a wise 
as well as humane regulation, introduced by 
the law of Moses, as it would have been not 
only great cruelty, but have produced a dis- 
piriting effect on the cattle, to be trampling, 
as was the primitive practice, with a bag on 
their mouths, or their necks bound up a 
whole day, amid heaps of grain, while they 
were under irksome restraint from touching 
the grain or the straw (cf. 1 Cor. 9. 9; 1 Tim. 
6. 17, 18.). 5-10. her husband's brother shall 
take her to wife— This usage existed before 
the age of Moses (Gen. 38. 8,), and seems to 
have originated in patriarchal times for 
preserving the name and honours of the 
eldest son— the chieftain of the family. But 
the Mosaic law rendered the custom obliga- 
tory (Matt. 22. 25.) on younger brothers, or 
the nearest kinsman, to marry the widow, 
(Ruth, 4. 4,), by associating the natural de- 
sire of perpetuating a brother's name, with 
the preservation of property in the Hebrew 
families and tribes. No betrothal was ne- 
cessary nor marriage ceremonies observed; 
it was a succession by divine right to the 
wife, with all the possessions of the deceased 
to the child, who would be the heir. In the 
event of the younger brother declining to 
comply with the law, the widow brought 
her claim before the authorities of the place 
at a public assembly (the gate of the city,), 
and he having declared his refusal, she was 
ordered to loose the thong of his shoe— a 
sign of degradation— following up that act 
by spitting on the ground— the strongest ex- 
pression of ignominy and contempt amongst 
Eastern people. The shoe was kept by the 
magistrate as an evi ience of the transaction, 
and the parties separated. 13-16. Thou shalt 
not have divers weights— lit., " a stone and a 
stone "—a just and false or a light and heavy 
one. Weights were anciently made of stone, 
and the facility for procuring stones appa- 
rently, though not exactly, similar, gave 
much occasion to fraud, bag— the leathern 
pouch in which the weights were kept. 
Stones are frequently used still by Eastern 
shop-keepers and traders, who take them 
out of the bag and put them in the balance. 
The man who is not cheated by the trader 
and his bag of divers weights must be bles- 
sed with more acuteness than most of his 
fellows [Roberts.] (cf. Pro. 16. 11; 20. 10. J. 
14. divers measures— Ji£., "an ephah and an 
ephah," which was the common and stan- 
dard measure in Israel. 17-19. Remember 
what Amalek did — This cold-blooded and 
dastardly atrocity is not narrated in the 
previous history (Ex. 17. 14.). It was an un- 
provoked outrage on the laws of nature and 
humanity, as well as a daring defiance of 
that God who had so signally shewn His 
favour towards Israel (see on 1 Sam. 15.; 27. 
8; 30.;. 

CHAPTER XXVI. 
Ver. 1-15. The Confession of Him that 

OFFERETH THE BASKET OF ElRST-FRUITS. 

2. Thou shalt take of the first of all the fruit— 
The Israelites in Canaan being God's ten- 
ants at will, the entire produce of the land 
was His, and as holding of Him, they were 
required to give Him tribute in the form 
of first-fruits and tithes. No Israelite was 
at liberty to use any productions of his 
fields, until he had presented the required 
offering. The terms of the law {v. I,) seem 

152 



End of Tithing. 

to restrict the obligation to Canaan proper: 
but the duty was considered equally binding 
on those who resided on the East of Jor- 
dan. The tribute began to be exigible 
after the settlement in the promised land, 
and it was yearly repeated at one of the 
great feasts— the first-fruits of barley at the 
Passover (Lev. 2. 14; 23. 10,); of wheat at 
Pentecost (Lev. 23. 16; Nu. 28. 26; ch. 16. 9,i; 
and those of other fruits as they ripened. 
Every master of a family carried it on his 
shoulders in a little basket of osier, peeled 
willow, or palm leaves, and brought it to 
the sanctuary. 5. Thou shalt speak and say 
before the Lord thy God— the act of presenta- 
tion was accompanied by a formal expres- 
sion of devout acknowledgment. A Syrian 
ready to perish was my father— rather, a wan- 
dering Syrian. The ancestors of the He- 
brews were nomad shepherds, either Syri- 
ans by birth as Abraham, or by long resi- 
dence as Jacob ; and when, out of deep 
degradation and prolonged persecution, they 
were led through a succession of marvel- 
lous experiences, till they were established 
as a nation in the possession of the pro- 
mised land; it was to God's unmerited good- 
ness they were indebted for their distin- 
guished privileges, and in token of gratitude 
they brought this basket of first-fruits. 11. 
thou shalt rejoice— either taking the comfort- 
able use of the possessions which God had 
given them, or rather, as the context indi- 
cates, feasting with their friends and the 
Levites, who were invited on such occasions 
to share in the cheerful festivities that f( >1- 
lowed oblations (ch. 12. 7; 16. 10-15). 12-15. 
When thou hast made an end of tithing . . . 
the third year— Among the Hebrews there 
were two tithings. The first was appropri- 
ated to the Levites (Nu. 18. 21.). The second 
being the tenth of what remained was 
brought to Jerusalem in kind; or if that 
was found inconvenient, it was converted 
into money, and the owner on arriving in 
the capital, purchased sheep, bread, and oil, 
which afforded a feast to his family and the 
Levites (ch. 14. 22. 23. \ This was done for 
two years together. But this second tithing 
was eaten at home and distributed amongst 
the poor of the place at discretion (ch. 14. 28, 
29.). 13. Thou shalt say before the Lord thy 
God— This was a solemn and conscientious 
declaration that nothing which should be 
devoted to the Divine service had been se- 
cretly reserved for personal use. 14. I have 
not eaten thereof in my mourning— in a season 
of sorrow, which brought defilement on 
sacred things; according to a second class of 
commentators,—" I have not eaten thereof, 
under a pretence of poverty, and grudging 
to give any away to the poor;" according to 
a third class, the words expressed a repu- 
diation of an idolatrous custom of the 
Egyptians, who, in offering their first-fruits 
to lsis, invoked that deity in mournful 
strains, neither, for any unclean use— i.e., 
any common purpose, different from what 
God had appointed, and which would have 
been a desecration of it. nor given ought 
thereof for the dead— on any funeral service, 
or, as some refer the words, to an idol, which 
is a dead thing— a lifeless image, or a hero 
deified after his decease. 

CHARTER XXVn. 
Ver. 1-10. The Peo ple are to Write 
the Law upon Stones. 1. Keep all the 



7- • --, i' . ... ; 



DEtTTERONOMY, XXIX. 



for disobedience. 



40 Thou shalt hv 
all thy coasts, but thou shalt nc 

- with the oil; for thine olive shall 

.It beset sons and daughters, 
- Joy them; for *they 

. :■:> into cap- 

htofthy land shall 
me, 
43 The srrr - in thee shall 

get up abo v c I hgh, and thou shalt 

shall lend to thee, and thou shalt 
not lend to him: ;" he shall be the head, and 
-halt be the 
reover all these curses shall come 
nee. and over- 
take thee, till thou be destroyed: because 
thou h not unto the voice of the 

Lord thy God, to keep his commandments 
and hi-: Inch he commanded thee: 

i A n i they shall be upon thee * for a sisna, 
■nd for a wonder, and upon thy seed for 
ewer. 

47 Because l thou servedst not the Lobd 
Fatness, and with dadness 
of "heart, for the abundance of all u 

erefore shalt thou serve thine ene- 
irhieh the Lord shall send against 
thee, in hunarer, and in thirst, and in 
nakedness, and in want of all ihioos: and 
he ■* shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, 
until he have lesl i thee, 

* Lord shall bring a nation against 
thee from far, from the end of thr 

_ie iiieth: a nation whose 
tongue "thou shalt not M understand; 
SO A nation *& of fierce countenance, 
which p shall not regard the person of the 
old, nor show fav 

i he shall q eat the fruit of thy cattle, 
and the fruit of thy land, until thou be de- 
stroyed: which also shall not leave thee 
either corn. wine, or oil. or the increase of 
docks of thy sheep, until he 
have destroyed thee, 

52 And he shall r besiege thee in all thy 
gates, until thy hizh and fenced walls come 
down, wherein thou trustedst. throughout 
all thy land: and he shall besiege thee in 
all thy gates, throughout all thy land, 
which the Lord thy God hath \ 

i * thou si 
vmn '-- body, the flesh of thy son an i of 
lighten, which the Lord thy God 
hath in in the siege, and m the 

straitness. wherewith thine enemies shall 
c:-t:e- th:-e: 

xa that is tender among 
you, an 

I 

.n^nt a -.ii 

ieh he shall Leave: 

Si that he will not give to any of them 

of the flesh of his children whom he shall 

e he hath nothing left him in 

the siege, and in t 

thine enemies shall distress thee in all thy 

56 The tender and delicate woman among 
you, which would not adventure to 
sole of her foot upon the ground for deli- 
cateness and ten A ahafi be 

evil toward the husband of her bosom, and 

toward her son, and toward her daughter. 

ward her ^ young one that 

cometh out from between her feet, and to- 

b m children which she shall L . 

151 



10 the* 
rial] Ml 
la tan* 

i Jer. Sd- 28. 
U Or, pa* 



til est them for want of all thing* 
secretly in th 
with thine enemy shall distress thee in thy 

thou wilt not observe to do all the 

a law that are written in this 

hat thou mavest fear * this glorious 

and fearful • name, THE LuKL ILLY 

k is. a. is. & Then the Lord win make thy plagues 
e»a-5.15. w wonderful, and the plagues of thy seed, 
i^a. even great plagues, and of long con tin u- 
ance,and sore sicknesses, and of long eun- 
ti'.n.t t. 

60 Moreover he will bring upon thee all 
the diseases which thou wast 

afraid of; and they shall cleave unt 

mess, and everv plague, 
which is not written in the book of this 
in will the Lord 16 bring upon thee, 
until thou be destroyed. 

62 And ye shall be left few in number, 
^here;.- the stars of 
for multitude; because thou wouldest not 
obey the voice of the Lord thy G«hL. 

63 And it shall come to pass. Uutt a* the 
Lord * rejoiced over you to do yon good, 
and to multiply you; so the Lord 2 will re- 
joice over you to* destroy you. and to brin<| 
you to nought; and ye shall be plucked 
from on the land whither thou guest to 

1 -- — ::. 

64 And the Lord • shall scatter thee 
among all people, from the one end of the 
earth even unto the other; and there thou 
shaft serve . hich neither thou 
nor thy fathers have known, even wood and 

65 And b among these nations shalt thou 
find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy 
foot have rest : c but the Lord st 
thee there a trembling heart, and failing oi 

\nd sorrow ofiiiind: 

66 And thy life shall hang in doubt before 
thee; and thou shalt fear day and night, 
and shalt have none assurance of thy 
life: 

67 In d the morning the Would 
God it and at even thou shah 

e morning! for the 
fear of thine b thou shalt 

fear, and for the OghJ a thine eyes which 

6S And the Lord e shall bring thee into 
Egypt again with ships, by the way 
whereof 1 spake unto thee. Thou shalt see 
it no more again: and there ye shall be sold 
unto your enemies for bondmen and bond- 
women, and no man shall buy yon. 

CHAPTER XXIX. 
lAnaAorMtkmtocbediemce. lQThe people are ttil 

imuiafid before At Lard ::■ mttr mta lu corner 

noMt. 18 Tkegreat writfAo* him that jbUtereth 

kiwisdf i» his Kiiktdiisss. 

'THE SI -rords of the covenant 

■*- which the Lord commanded Moses 
to make with the children of Israel m the 
land ot I i ic-s the covenant which 

he made with them in lloreb. 

2 T And Moses called unto all Israel, and 
said unto them, Ye have seen all that the 
Lord did before your eyes in the land of 
Egypt unto Phanvh. and unto all his ser- 
vants, and unto all his land: 

3 The a great temptations which thine 
eyes have seen, the signs, and those great 
miracles: 

4 Yet l the Lord hath not given you aa 



efe. 4. 34. 
A. 7. 19. 
6 la. 6, 9. 

a ;.; tt. 

J- 5. -A. 



Z - 4. 
18. 

I Tkmm '2 



The Tribes divided on 



DEUTERONOMY, XXVIII. 



Gerizim and Ebal. 



commandments which I command you this day i 11-13. The Thibes Divided on Geri- 
— This chapter should have commenced at ! zim and Ebad. 11-13. these shall stand 
verse 16 of the preceding one, for there j upon mount Gerizim . . . these shall stand upon 

part of the j mount Ebal— Those long rocky ridges lay in 



Moses enters on the concluding . 
discourse which he pronounced on the plains 
ofMoab; and having put the people in re- 
membrance of the national covenant which 
had been mutually established between the 
Lord and Israel, by which He chose them 
for His people, and they engaged to serve 
Him as their God, he proceeds to found on 
that solemn transaction a general, but ear- 
nest exhortation to obedience. Moses was 
surrounded, while giving this address, by 
the elders, or principal authorities in Israel, 
who by their presence, gestures, or audible 
declaration, not only approved of its strain, 
but united with him in enforcing fidelity 
to the divine service. Some further means, 
however, were thought necessary to promote 
the remembrance and observance of the 
divine laws. 2. It shall be on the day when 
ye shall pass over Jordan— day is often put for 
time; and the meaning is "about the time," 
for it was not till some days after the pas- 
sage, that the following instructions were 
acted upon, thou shalt set thee up great 
stones, and plaster them with plaster. These 
stones were to be taken in their natural 
state, unhewn, and unpolished— the occasion 
on which they were used not admitting of 



the province of Samaria, and the peaks re- 
ferred to were near Shechem (Nablousj, ris- 
ing in >teep precipices, to the height of about 
800 feet, and separated by a green, well- 
watered valley, of about 500 yards wide. 
The adjoining sides of the two mounts give 
to the valley an air of pleasant, and, at he 
same time, of complete seclusion. The peo- 
ple of Israel were here divided into two 
parts. On mount Gerizim (now Jebel-et- 
Tur) were stationed the descendants of 
Rachel and Leah, the two principal wives of 
Jacob, and to them was assigned the most 
pleasant and honourable office of pronounc- 
ing the benedictions- while on the twin hill 
of Ebal (now In ad-el-Deen) were placed 
the posterity of the two secondary wives, 
Zilpah and Bilhah, wiih those of Reuben, 
who had lose the primogeniture, and Ze- 
buiun, son of Leah, youngest son; to them 
were committed the necessary but painful 
duty of pronouncing the maledictions. Thus 
one-half the Hebrew people were ranged on 
the one hill, winch seems well suited to be 
the mount of Blessing, as it smiles still with 
verdu e and olives; and the other half on 
the opposite Ebal, a bare, rugged, and de- 



long or elaborate preparation ; and they j solate" hill, to hear the law rehearsed (see on 
were to be daubed over with paint or white ! Judg. 9. 7. 1. The ceremony might have taken 
wash, to render them more conspicuous, j place on the lower spurs of the mountains, 
Stones and even rocks are seen in Egypt and I where they approach more closely to each 
the peninsula of Sinai, containing iiiscrip-l other; and although the account given here 
tions made 3000 years ago, in paint or plais- j of the proceedings is very brief, the curses 
ter, of which, owing to the serenity of the! only being recorded, the course observed 
climate, the coating is as firm and the colour was as fodows:— Amid the silent expecta- 
as fresh, as if it had been put on yesterday, tions of the solemn assembly, the priests 
The sphinx is covered with inscriptions in standing round the ark in the valley below, 
black paint, upon the red surface of the said aloud, looking to Gerizim, "Blessed is 
statue. By some similar method, or, as some the man that maketh not any graven im- 
suppose by the letters being in relievo, while ! age," when the people ranged on that hill 
the spaces were filled up by paint or mortar, I re -ponded in full simultaneous _shouts of 



those stones may have been inscribed, and 
it is most probable that Moses learned the 
art from the Egyptians. 3. Thou shalt write 
upon them all the words of this law— not cer- 
tainly the whole five books of Moses, nor 
even the abridgement of it given in this 
book of Deuteronomy. It might be, as some 
think, the Decalogue; but a greater proba- 
bility is, that it was "the blessings and 



'Amen;" then turning round to Ebal, they 
cried, " Cursed is the man that maketh any 
graven image;" to which those that covered 
the ridge answered, "Amen." The same 
course at every pause was followed with all 
the blessings and curses (see on Josh. 8. 33. 
34.). These blessings and curses attendmi 
on disobedience to the divine will, which 
had been revealed as a law from heaven, be 



curses" which comprised in fact an epitome j it observed, are given in the form of a de- 
of the law (Josh. 8. 34.). 5-10. there shalt thou j duration, not a wish, as the words should be 
build an altar ... of whole stones— The stones rendered. " Cursed is he," and not " Cursed 



were to be in their natural state, as if a 
chisel would communicate pollution to them. 
It is not certain whether the same stones 
formed the monument, on the sides of which 
the words of the law were inscribed, as well 



be he." 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 
Ver. 1-68. The Blessings for Obedi- 
ence. 1. if thou shait hearken diligently 
unto the voice of the Lord thy God— In this 



as the altar on which the victims were sac- j chapter the blessings and curses are enume 
rificed that signalised its renewed ratifica- 1 rated at length, and in various minute de- 
tion. At all events, the stony pile was so tails, so that on the first entrance of the Is- 
large as to contain all the conditions of the j raelites into the land of promise, their whole 
covenant, so elevated as to be visible to the destiny was laid before them, as it was to re- 
whole congregation of Israel ; and the religi- suit from their obedience or the contrary. 2. 
ous ceremonial performed on the occasion All these blessings shall come on thee— their 
was solemn and impressive: consisting first, | national obedience was to be rewarded by 
of the elementary worship needed for sinful •: extraordinary and universal prosperity. 3 
men; and secondly, of the peace-offerings, in the city and in the field— whether living in 
or lively, social feasts, that were suited to {town or country; whether engaged in trade 
the happy people, whose God was the Lord, j or agriculture. 5. thy basket and thy store— 

Tl-navtw iiruw +Viiio 4-Vio lour ,uViir»V-i /lnnrlflmnarl I +V10 \nrr\-rrl " otnro " ij van rl I >rfifl " kn.PJl.fl HO'. 



and the typical expiation— the 
principles of revealed religion. 
153 



two great trough (Ex. 12. 34,), so that the meaning is, 
I there will be plenty of fruit for the basket. 



The covenant renewed. 



DEUTERONOMY, XXX. Mercy promised to thepevilenU 



heart to perceive, aitd eyes to sec, and ears 
to hear, unto this day. 

5 And c I have led von forty years in the 
wilderness: your clothes are hot waxen old 
upon you, and thy shoe is not waxen old 
upon thy loot. 

6 Ye d have not eaten bread, neither have 
ye drunk wine or ink: that ye 
mieht know that I am the Lord your 

7 And when ye came unto this place, 
Sihon e the king of Heshbon. and Og the 
king of Bashan. came out against us unto 
battle, and we smote them: 

8 And we took their land, and / gave it 
for an inherit .ance unto the Heal 

and to the Gadites, and to the half tribe of 
Manasseh. 

9 Keep 3 therefore the words of this cove- 
nant, and do them, that ye may prosper in 
all that ye do. 

10 r Ye stand this day all of you before 
the Lord your God; your captains of your 
tribes, your elders, and your oriicers, vsith 
all the men of Israel, 

11 Your little ones, your wives, and thy 
stranger that is in thy camp, from '"■ the 
hewer of thy wood unto the drawer of thy 
water; 

12 That thou shouldest l enter into cove- 
nant with the Lord thy God. and ■ into his 
oath, which the Lord thy God maketh 
with thee this day; 

13 That he may establish thee to-day for 
a people unto himself, and that he may be 
unto thee a God, as he hath said unto thee, 
and as he hath sworn unto thy fathers, to 
Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. 

14 Neither with you only; do I make this 
covenant and this oath; 

15 But with Mm that standeth here with 
us this day before the Lord our God. * and 
also with him that is not here with us this 
day; 

16 (For ye know how we have dwelt in 
the land "of Egypt ; and how we came 
through the nations which ye passed by ; 

17 And ye have seen their" abominations, 
and theif 2 idols, wood and stone, silver 
and gold, which wen among them:) 

15 Lest thai og you man. 

or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart 
turneth away this day from the Lord our 
God, to so and serve the gods of these 
nations : « lest there should be among you 
a root that beareth 3 gall and wormwood ; 

19 And it come to pass, when he heareth 

rds of this curse, that he blc^ 
self in his heart, saying, '" I shall have 
peace, though I walk ■ in the • imagination 
of mine heart, ■ to add * (irunkenness to 
thirst: 

20 The p Lord will not spare him. but 
then q the anger of the Lord and r his 
jealousy shall smoke against that man, 
and all the curses that are written in this 

dnall he upon him, and the Lord 
shall blot out his name from under heaven. 

21 And the Lord * shall separate him unto 
evil out of all the tribes of Israel, according 
to all the curses of the covenant that 6 are 
written in this book of the law: 

22 So that the generation to come of vour 
children that shall rise up after you,*and 
the stranger that shall come from a far 
land, shall say, when they see the 

of that land, and the sicknesses " which the 
Loed hath laid upon it ; 
154 



CHAP 29. 


c ch. 1. 3. 


ch. 8. 2. 


d Ex. 16. 12. 


Ps. 72. 24. 


« Km. 21. 23. 


/ Xu. 32. 33. 




1 Ki 2. 3. 


1 JWh.9.9. 


1 t<ass. 




j Jer. 31. 31. 


H:-:.5. 7 EL 


* Acta 2. 39. 


1 C:r. 7.14. 




1 Heb" 12. 15. 




| : . 5 : tUk 


herb. 


m p s . 14. 1. 


n Xu. 15. 39. 


Ec. 11. 9. 


4 Or, stub- 


: :r"T= = . 


far. 7. M, 


i h. m i 


5 ••: i -milk- 


er, t: :.-; 


u\ :rs-.T. 


P Ezek. i*. 7. 


3 Ps. 74. 1. 


r P=>. 79. 5. 


EKk.23.2o. 


I Ma:. 24. 51. 




7 ~r:7z-.:- 




hmtk z-.'.i 


it sick. 


t Jer. 17. 6. 


Zerh 2. ?. 




■ 1 Ki. 9. 5. 


Jer. 22. 5. 


8 Or, who 


Lid net 


EriTen to 


:..t- izr 


portion. 


1 1: ridei. 


■ Ps. 11. 6. 


Dan. 9. 11. 


KSCfar.TJa 


Ps. 52. 5. 


Pro. 2. 22. 


1 Ar.s 1. 7. 


8 P5. 19. 7. 


Lu. Id. 29. 


Mb : a 


Ac-.s 17.11. 


2 Tim, S. 


16. 



CHAP. 3D. 
a Lev. 26. 40. 
I or. .25. 
ci Kin. 8, 

47,48. 
d Ml 1. 9. 

I». 55. 7. 

Lam. 3. 40. 

JmJ 2. 12. 
e Psalm 106. 

45. 

Ps. 126.1.4. 

Jer. 29. 14. 

Lam. 3.22. 
f Ps. 147.2. 
' Jer. 32. 37. 

Esek.34.13. 
' 9 ch. 28. 64. 

Nek 1. SL 
h ch. 10. 16. 

Ere. 11. 19. 

i ch. 25. 11. 

[; J«.3S,4L 



23 And that the whole land thereof is 
brimstone, f and salt. and burning, that it 
is not sown, nor beareth. nor any grass 
groweth therein. u like the overthrow of 
Sodom, and Gomorrah, Admah. and Ze- 
boim, which the Lord overthrew in his 
nd in his wrath; 

2-i Even all nations shall say. v Wherefore 
hath the Lord done thai 9 land? 

w± 2 - -"• Ae heat ... 

25 Then men shah say. Because the 

d the covenant of the Lord G 
their fathers, which he made with them 
when he brought them forth out of the 
land of Egypt: 

26 Eor they went and served otho: 

rshipped them, gods whom 
■d B wham he had not • 
unto them: 

27 And the anger of the Lord was kindled 
against this land. w to bring upon it all the 
comes that are written in this book: 

28 And the Lord z rooted them out of 
their land in anger, and in wrath, and in 
great indignation, and cast them into an- 
other land, as it is this day. 

29 The * secret things belong unto tbe 
Lord our God: but 'those things 

are revealed belong unto us and to our 
children for ever, that we may do all the 
words of this law. 

CHAPTER XXX. 

1 Qnmt mercies premised unto the penitent. 11 
T' r -e commandment is manifest, to Death and 

life are set before the Israelites. 

A >T) a it shall come to pass, when & all 
-**■ these things are come upon thee, the 
blessing and the curse, which I have set 
:hee, and c thou shalt call them to 
mind among all the nations whither the 
Lord thy God hath driven thee. 

2 And shalt d return unto the Lord thy 

od shalt obey his voice, acco: 
all that I command thee this day, thou and 
thy children, with all thine heart, and with 
all thy soul ; 

3 That e then the Lord thy God will turn 
thy captivity, and have compassion upon 
thee, and will return and / gatber thee 

D the nations, whither the Lord thy 
God hath scattered 

■i If - J any of thine be driven out unto the 
outmost parts of heaven. ' m thence will 
the Lord thy God gather .~ce, and from 
thence will he fetch thee: 

5 And the Lord thy God will bring thee 
into the land which thy fathei 

and thou shalt possess it ; and he -v\ ill do 
thee good, and multiply thee above thy 
fathers. 

6 And h the Lord thv God will circumcise 
thine heart, and the "heart of thy seed, to 
love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, 
and with all thy soul, that thou mayest 
live. 

7 And the Lord thy God will put all these 
curses upon thine enemies, and on them 
that hate thee, which pc ee. 

8 And thou shalt return, and obey the 
voice of the Lord, and do all his command- 
ments, which I command thee this day. 

9 And » the Lord thy God will make thee 
plenteous in every wbrk of thine hand, in 
the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy 
cattle, and in the* fruit of thy land, for 

I : i the Lord will again * rejoi i 
tnee for good, &o he rejoiced over thy 

thrhr-rr;: 



Blessings for Obedience. 



DEUTEEONOMY, XXVIII. 



Curses for Disobedience. 



and meal for the kneading-trough; an abun- 
dant supply of all the necessaries and com- 
forts of life. 6. when thou comest in, and 
when thou goest out— they should have plea- 
sant and prosperous .journeys when they re- 
quired to travel, and should return home in 
Happiness and safety. 7. flee before thee 
seven ways— i. e., in various directions, as 
always happens in a rout. 10. called by the 
name of the Lord— i.e., are really and actually 
His people (ch. 14. 1; 26. 18.). 11. The Lord 
shall make thee plenteous in goods— Beside the 
natural capabilities of Canaan, and the di- 
vision of tribes, which insured the cultiva- 
tion of every spot,— even the sides of the 
mountains, its extraordinary fruitfulness, 
and the number of its inhabitants were 
traceable to the snecial blessing of heaven, 
which that favoured people for ages enjoyed. 
12. The Lord shall open unto thee his good 
treasure— The seasonable supply of the early 
and latter rain was one of the principal 
means by which their land was so uncom- 
monly fruitful, thou shalt lend unto many 
nations, and shall not borrow— i.e., thou shalt 
be in such affluent circumstances, as to be 
capable, out of thy supeifluous wealth, to 
give aid to thy poorer neighbours. 13, 14. 
the head and not the tail— an Oriental form of 
expression, indicating the possession of in- 
dependent power and great dignity and ac- 
knowledged excellence (Isa. 9. 14; 19. 15.). 
This high condition was realised in the 
reigns of David and Solomon, and it would 
have been longer maintained had the Is- 
raelites adhered to the conditions of their 
covenant with God. The detail of blessings 
comprehends the possession of everything 
necessary for a people's happiness,— health 
and wealth, security from external disturb- 
ance, and prosperity in all their internal 
concerns. They are exclusively temporal 
blessings, such as were calculated to engage 
the interest of a people like the Israelites, 
and were suited to the character of their 
dispensation. But at all times they are in- 
cluded among the benefits held out by the 
gospel itself (1 Tim. 4. 8, ' ; they form power- 
ful incentives 1 1 obedience. 15. But if thou 
wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord- 
Curses that were to follow them in the event 
of disobedience are now enumerated, and 
they are almost exact counterparts to the 
blessings which were described in the pre- 
ceding coniext, as the reward of a faithful 
adherence to the covenant. The parallel is 
observed in the particulars specified {vs. 
16 19,!; and the special blessing of heaven in 
all their undertakings promised to faithful 
and continued obedience, is substituted by 
an unmitigated curse {v. 20,) overhanging 
them in every situation. 21. pestilence- 
some fatal epidemic: there is no reason, how- 
ever, to think that the plague, which is the 
great modern scourge of the East, is referred 
to. 22. a consumption— a wasting disorder; 
but the European phthisis is almost un- 
known in Asia, fever, inflammation, ex- 
treme burning— (fever is rendered " burning 
ague" Lev. 26. 16,), and the others men- 
tioned along with it, evidently point to those 
febrile affect; s which are of malignant 
character ani I great frequency in the East, 
the sword— rather "dryness,"— the effect on 
the human body of such violent disorders, 
blasting and mildew— two atmospheric influ- 
ences fatal to grain. A hot or scorching wind, 
154 



before the harvest is ripe, is one of the most 
disastrous occurrences that can take place 
in Palestine. 23. heaven . . . brass . . . earth 
. . . iron— strong Oriental figures used to de- 
scribe the effects of long-continued drought. 
But the language is limited to Judea: "the 
heaven that is over thy head, the earth that 
is under thee,"— i.e., while the clouds may 
carry vapour and moisture to other regions, 
there shall be none in Judea; and this want 
of regular and seasonable rain is allowed by 
the most intelligent observers, to be one 
great cause of the present sterility of Pales- 
tine. 24. the rain of thy land powder and dust 
—An allusion probably to the dreadful ef- 
fects of tornadoes in the East, which, rais- 
ing the sand in immense twisted pillars, and 
driving them along with the fury of a tem- 
pest, darken the heavens and envelop cara- 
vans and armies in a stifling deluge of dust. 
To this species of rain Moses was no stran- 
ger; he had seen it and felt its effects in the 
sandy deserts of Arabia, and he places it 
among the curses that were in subsequent 
ages to punish the apostacy of the Israel- 
ites. These shifting sands are most destruc- 
tive to cultivated lands; and in consequence 
of their encroachment many once fertile re- 
gions of the East are now barren deserts. 
27. the botch of Egypt— a troublesome erup- 
tion, marked by red pimples to which, at 
the ri4ng of the Nile, the Egyptians are 
subject, emerods— fistula or piles, scab- 
scurvy, itch— the disease commonly known 
by that name; but it is far more malignant 
in the East than is ever witnessed in our 
part of the world. 28. madness, blindness, 
and astonishment of heart— they would be 
bewildered and paralyzed with terror at the 
extent of their calamities. 29-33. thou shalt 
grope at noonday— a general description of 
the painful uncertainty in which they would 
live. During the middle ages the Jews were 
considered everywhere a legitimate prey 
—their most valuable possessions liable at 
any time to be seized by rapacious violence; 
their lives in continual jeopardy, so that 
they were driven from society into hid- 
ing places which they w r ere afraid to 
leave, not knowing from what quarter they 
might be assailed, and their children dragged 
into captivity, from which no friend could 
rescue, and no money ransom them. 35. the 
Lord shall smite thee in the knees and in the 
legs— this is an exact description of elephan- 
tiasis, a horrible disease, something like 
leprosy, which, covers the body with a foul 
and ulcerous skin— attacks particularly the 
lower ext emities, which are covered with 
tumours that degenerate into loathsome 
and incurable sores. 36. The Lord shall 
bring thee and thy king— This shows how 
wide-spread would be the range of the na- 
tional calamity, which even the monarch, 
with all his guards and means of protec- 
tion, should not escape; and at the same 
time how hopeless, when he who should 
have been their defender shared the cap- 
tive fate of his subjects, there shalt thou 
serve other gods, wood and stone— The Hebrew 
exiles, with some honourable exceptions, 
were seduced, or compelled into idolatry in 
the Assyrian and Babylonish captivities 
(Jer. 44. 17-19. >. Thus, the sin to which they 
had too often betrayed a perverse fondness, 
a deep-rooted propensity,— became their 
punishment and their misery. 37. thou shalt 



Moses encourageth 



DEUTERONOMY, XXXI. 



the people and Joshua. 



10 If thou shalt hearken unto the voice of 
the Lord thy God, to keep his command- 
ments and his statutes which are written 
in this book of the law, and if thou turn 
unto the Lord thy God with all thine 
heart, and with all thy soul. 

11 1T For this commandment which I 
command thee this day, * it is not hidden 
from thee, neither is it far oft': 

12 It ' is not in heaven, that thou shouldest 
say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and 
bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and 
doit? 

13 1\ either is it beyond the sea, that thon 
shouldest sav. Who shall go over the sea 
for us, and bring it unto us, that we may 
hear it, and do it? 

14 But the word is verynigb unto thee, in 
thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou 
mayest do it. 

15 1T See, m I have set before thee this 
day life and good, and death and evil; 

16 In that I command thee this day to 
love the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, 
and to keep his commandments, and his 
statutes, and his judgments, that thou 
mayest live and multiply: and the Lord 
thy God shall bless thee in the land whither 
thou goest to possess it. 

17 But if thine heart turn away, so that 
thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn 
away, and worship other gods, and serve 
them ; 

18 I n denounce unto you this day, that ye 
shall surely perish, and that ye shall not 
prolong yonr days upon the land whither 
thou passest over Jordan to go to possess 
it. 

19 I call heaven and earth to record this 
day against you, that I have set before you 
life and death, blessing and cursing: there- 
fore choose life, that both thou and thy 
seed may live ; 

20 That thou mayest love the Lord thy 
God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, 
and that thou mayest cleave unto him; for 
he is thy ° life, and the length of thy days; 
that thou mayest dwell in the land which 
the Lord sware unto thy fathers, to Abra- 
ham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them. 

CHAPTER XXXI. 
1 Moses encourageth the people, and Joshua: 9 he 
delivers the law to th-e priests, to read it every 
seventh year to the people. 19 Godgiveth Moses 
a song to testify against the people. 23 Joshua 
receiveth a charge. 

AND Moses went and spake these words 
""- unto all Israel. 

2 And he said unto them, I a am an hun- 
dred and tw r enty years old this day; I can 
no more b go out and come in: also the 
Lord hath said unto me, c Thou shalt not 
go over this Jordan. 

3 The Lord thy God, d he will go over 
before thee, and he will destroy these na- 
tions from before thee, and thou shalt pos- 
sess them: and Joshua, he shall go over 
before thee, as the Lord hath said. 

4 And the Lord shall do unto them e as 
he did to Sihon and to Og, kings of the 
Amorites , and unto the land of them, whom 
he destroyed. 

5 And / the Lord shall give them up be- 
fore your face, that ye may do unto them 
according unto all the commandments 
which I have commanded you. 

6 Be g strong, and of a good courage, h fear 
not, nor be afraid of them: for the Lord 

155 



B. 0.1451. 



CHAP. 30. 
ft Is. 45. 19. 
I Ro. 10. 6. 
m ch. 11. 26. 
n ch. 4. 26. 

ch. 8. 19. 
o Job 12. 10. 

Ps. 27. 1. 

Ps. 66. 9. 

Dan. 5. 23. 

John 11. 25. 

Acts 17. 

25,28. 



CHAP. 31. 
a Ex. 7. 7. 

ch. 34. 7. 
b Num. 27. 

17. 

1 Ki. 3. 7. 
c Num. 20. 

12. 

ch. 3. 27. 
dch.9.3. 
e Nu. 21. 24. 
/ch. 7. 2. 
g Josh. 10.25. 

1 Chr. 22. 

13. 
h ch. 1. 29. 

ch. 7. 18. 
i ch. 20. 4. 
j Josh. 1. 5. 

Heb. 13. 5. 
ft ch. 1. 38. 

ch. 3. 28. 
I Ex. 13. 21. 

Ps. 37. 3. 
m 1 Chr. 28. 

20. 
n ch. 17. 18. 

Nu. 4. 15. 
Josh. 3. 3. 

1 Chr. 15. 
12. 

P ch. 15. 1. 
q Lev. 23- 34. 
r ch. 16. 16. 
8 Josh. 8.34. 

2 Ki. 23. 2. 
Neh. 8. 1. 

t ch. 4. 10. 
u ch. 11. 2. 
v Ps. 78. 6, 7. 
w Num. 27. 
13. 

* Ex. 33. 9. 

1 lie down. 
2 Sam. 7. 
12. 

V Ex. 32. 6. 

* Exod. 34. 
15. 

Judges 2. 
17. 

<* Judg. 10. 

6, 13. 
b 2 Chr. 15. 2. 

2 Chr. 24. 

20. 
« ch. 32. 20. 

Psalm 104. 

29. 

Is. 8. 17. 

Is. 64. 7. 

Ezek. 39. 

23. 

2 find 
them. 
Nehem. 9. 
32. 

d Judg. 6. 

13. 
e Num. 14. 

42. 
/Neh. 9. 25. 

26. 

Hoi. 13. 6. 



thy God, * he it is that doth go with thee; 
he 3 will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. 

7 1T And Moses called unto Joshua, and 
said unto him in the sight of all Israel, 
Be * strong, and of a good courage: for thou 
must go with this people unto the land 
which the Lord hath sworn mito their 
fathers to give them; and thou shalt cause 
them to inherit it. 

8 And the Lord, * he it is that doth go 
before thee; m he will be with thee, he will 
not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear 
not, neither be dismayed. 

9 IT And Moses wrote this law, n and de- 
livered it unto the priests the sons of Levi, 
which ° bare the ark of the covenant of the 
Lord, and unto all the elders of Israel. 

10 And Moses commanded them, saying, 
At the end of every seven years, in the 
solemnity of the p year of release, « in the 
feast of tabernacles, 

11 When all Israel is come to r appear 
before the Lord thy God in the place which 
he shall choose, * thou shalt read this law 
before all Israel in their hearing. 

12 Gather * the people together, men, 
and women, and children, and thy stranger 
that is within thy gates, that they may 
hear, and that they may learn, and fear 
the Lord your God, ana observe to do all 
the words of this law: 

13 And that their children, u which have 
not known any thing, v may hear, and 
learn to fear the Lord your God, as long 
as ye live in the land wnither ye go over 
Jordan to possess it. 

14 11 And the Lord said unto Moses, w Be- 
hold, thy days approach that thou must 
die: call Joshua, and present yourselves in 
the tabernacle of the congregation, that I 
may give him a charge. And Moses and 
J oshua went, and presented themselves in 
the tabernacle of the congregation. 

15 And * the Lord appeared in the taber- 
nacle in a pillar of a cloud: and the pillar 
of the cloud stood over the door of the 
tabernacle. 

16 1T And the Lord said unto Moses, Be- 
hold, thou shalt i sleep with thy fathers; 
and this people will » rise up, and z go 
awhoring after the gods of the strangers ot 
the land whither they go to be among them, 
and will a forsake me, and break my cove- 
nant which I have made with them. 

17 Then my anger shall be kindled against 
them in that day, and b I will forsake them, 
and I will c hide my face from them, and 
they shall be devoured, and many evils and 
troubles shall 2 befall them ; so that they 
will say in that day, d Are not these evils 
come upon us, because our God is e not 
among us? 

18 And I will surely hide my face in that 
day for all the evils which they shall have 
wrought, in that they are turned unto other 
gods. 

19 Now therefore write ye this song for 
you, and teach it the children of Israel: put 
it in their mouths, that this song may be a 
witness for me against the children of 
Israel. 

20 For when I shall have brought them 
into the land which I 6ware unto their 
fathers, that floweth with milk and honey; 
and they shall have eaten and filled them- 
selves, /and waxen fat; then will they turn 
unto other gods, and serve them, and pro- 
yoke me, ana break my covenant. 



An Exhortation 



DEUTERONOMY, XXIX. 



to Obedience. 



become an astonishment, a proverb, and a bye- 
word among all nations — Other people should 
wonder at their great and protracted cala- 
mities. The annals of almost every nation, 
for 1800 years, afford abundant proofs that 
this has been, as it still is, the case; the 
very name of Jew being a universally recog- 
nised term for extreme degradation and 
wretchedness, and is often applied bypassion- 
ate people in derision, "you Jew. 49. the 
Lord shall bring a nation against thee from far 
—The predictions in this and the subsequent 
verses are usually referred to the invasion 
of the Romans, and certainly the course of 
that destructive war answers with literal 
exactness to the prophetic intimations in 
this passage— " they came from far;" the 
soldiers of the invading army were taken 
from France, Spain, and Britain,— then con- 
sidered "the end of the earth." Julius Se- 
verus, the commander, afterwards Vespa- 
sian and Hadrian, left Britain for the scene 
of contest. Morever, the ensign on the 
standards of the Roman army was an eagle- 
and the dialects spoken by the soldiers of 
the different nations that composed that 
army were altogether unintelligible to the 
Jews. 50. A nation of fierce countenance— A 
just description of the Romans who were 
not on'y bold and unyielding, but ruthless^ 
and implacable; sparing, as Josephus ex- 
pressly records, neither age, nor condition, 
nor sex. 51. he shall eat the fruit of thy 
cattle, &c— the ravages of an invading army 
are in all cases disastrous; but so great and 
dreadful were the excesses committed by 
the Romans, from the time they entered 
Judea, that, according to the Jewish histo- 
rian, every district of the country through 
which they passed was strewed with the 
wrecks of their devastations. 52. He shall 
besiege thee until thy high and fenced walls 
come down— All the fortified places to which 
the people bet ok themselves for safety, 
were burnt or demolished, and the walls of 
Jerusalem itself razed to the ground. 53-57. 
thoushalt eat the fruit of thine own body — (See 
on 2 Ki. 6. 29; Lam. 4. 10.;. Such were the 
dreadful extremities to which the inhabit- 
ants during the siege were reduced, that, ac- 
cording to the testimony of Josephus, many 
women sustained a wretched existence by 
ea ing the flesh of their own children. Par- 
ental affection was extinguished, and the 
nearest relatives were jealously avoided lest 
they should discover and demand a share of 
the revolting viands. 62. ye shall be few in 
number— Notwithstanding the teeming po- 
pulation of ancient Judea, there has been 
ever since the destruction of Jerusalem only 
an inconsiderable remnant of Jews existing 
in that land. This diminution took place 
at an early period; for according to Jose- 
phus, 1,100,000 persons died by famine, pes- 
tilence, and other causes, at the time of the 
siege; and more than 90,000 were carried cap- 
tives by the Romans. In the subsequent 
war of Hadrian, 580,000 were slain and de- 
stroyed through various causes. Ever since, 
Palestine has been in the hands of many 
successive masters; but all have been equally 
hostile to the Jewish race ; comparatively 
few have remained in that country; those 
who did so were aliens in the land oi their 
fathers; and of all classes of the inhabitants, 
they are the most degraded and miserable 
beings, dependent for their support on con 
155 



tributions from Europe. 63. ye shall be 
plucked from off the land— Hadrian issued a 
proclamation, forbidding any Jews to reside 
in Judea, or even to appr ach its confines. 
64. The Lord shall scatter thee among all people 
—There is, perhaps, not a country in the 
world where Jews are not to be found. But 
for centuries they underwent every species 
of public and private persecution; they 
have nowhere acquired a settlement, and al- 
though they are in some European States 
admitted to the privileges of citizenship, 
those "tribes of the wandering foot and 
weary breast" are always looked upon as 
foreigners, whose wishes and destiny are as- 
sociated with another land. Who that looks 
on this condition of the Hebrews is not filk I 
with awe, when he considers the fulfilment 
of this prophecy? 68. Ihe Lord shall bring 
thee into Egypt again with ships— The accom- 
plishment ol this prediction took place un- 
der Titus, when, according to Jo? ephus, mul- 
titudes of Jews were transported in ships to 
the land of the Nile and sold as slaves. 
Those above seventeen years of age were 
despatched to various parts of the Roman 
Empire, to be employed in the public works, 
or doomed to fight with wild oeasts in the 
amphitheatres. Those under seventeen were 
exposed as slaves in such numbers and such 
abject circumstances, that the market was 
glutted with them. Thirty were offered for 
a trifle, and it was often difficult to find a 
purchaser. These curses have been dread- 
fully fulfilled on apostate Israel, and of this 
every Jew of every subsequent age has been 
a living memorial. " Here, then, are in- 
stances of prophecies delivered above 3,000 
years ago; and yet, as we see, being fulfilled 
m the world at this very time; and what 
stronger proofs can we desire of the divine 
legation of Moses? How these instances 
may affect others I know not; but, for my- 
self, I must acknowledge, they not only con- 
vince, but amaze and astonish me beyond 
expression; they are truly, as Moses fore- 
told (vs. 45, 46,: they would be, a sign and a 
wonder for ever." [Bishop IS ewton.] 
CHAPTER XXIX. 
Ver. 1-9. An Exhortation to Obedi- 
ence. 1. These are the words of the covenant 
—Whether this verse be considered a conclu- 
sion to what is contained in the preceding 
chapters, or a preface to what is to follow, is 
of no importance to determine: the dis- 
course of Moses is continued, and the sub- 
ject of that discourse was Israel's covenant 
with God— the privileges it conferred, and 
the obligations it imposed, beside the cove- 
nant which he made with them in Horeb— It 
was substantially the same; but it was 
renewed now. in different circumstances. 
They had violated its conditions. Moses 
rehearses them; and. as he was about to 
die, gives them a clear and full explan- 
ation of it, that they might have a bet- 
ter knowledge of its conditions, and be 
more disposed to comply with them. 2. 
Moses called unto all Israel, Ye have seen all 
that the Lord did, &c— This appeal to the ex- 
perience of the people, though made gener- 
ally, was applicable only to that portion of 
them who had been very young at the period 
of the Exodus, and who remembered the 
marvellous transactions that preceded and 
followed i hat era. Yet, alas ! those wonder- 
ful events made no good impression upon 



Joshua- reeeiveth a charge. 



DEUTERONOMY, XXXII. 



The song of Moses, 



21 And it shall come to pass, when many 

evils and troubles are befallen them, that 

ng shall testify s against them as a 

witness; for it shall not be forgotten out of 

aths of their seed: for 9 I know their 

itiou h which * they go about, even 

now. before I have brought them into the 

land which I sware. 

SB Moses therefore wrote this song the 
same day, and taught it the children of 

23 And he srave Joshua the son of Nun a 
charge, and said, »Be strong, and of a good 

: thou shalt bring the children 
of Israel into the land which I sware unto 
them: and I will be with thee. 

24 r And it came to pass, when Moses had 
made an end of writing the words of this 
law in a book, until they were finished, 

25 That Moses commandea the Levites. 
which bare the ark of the covenant of the 
Lord, saving, 

2ti Take this book of the law, J and put it 
in the side of the ark of the covenant of 
the Lord your God, that it may be there 
for a witness against thee. 

27 For * J know thy rebellion, and thy 
stirf l neck: behold, while I am yet alive 
with you this day. ye have been rebellious 
against the Lord;" and how much more 
after my death! 

2$ Gather unto me all the elders of your 
and your officers, that I may speak 
:rds "in their ears, m and call heaven 
and earth to record against them, 

89 For I know that alter my death ye will 
utterly corrupt yourselves, and turn aside 
from the wav which I have commanded 
you; and evil will befall you in the latter 
days : because ye will do evil in the sight of 
the Lord, to provoke him to anger through 
: vour nanus. 

30 And Muses spake in the ears of all the 
-.uion of Israel the words of this 
song, until they were ended. 

CHAPTER XXXIT. 
) Moses' song, which sets forth the perfections of 
Gi-d: 44 the ptopie exhorted to set their hearts 
wpm it. 48 God sends him up to mount Nsko, to 
see the land, and die. 

(".LIVE a ear, O ye heavens, and I will 
v -^ sp-ak; and hear, earth, the words of 
mv mouth. 

2 My l doctrine shall drop as the rain, my 
speech shall distil as the de*v, c as the small 
rain upon the tender herb, and as the 
showers upon the grass: 

3 Because I will publish the name of 
the Lord: ascribe ye greatness unto our 
God. 

4 Be is the Rock, d his work is perfect ; 
for e all his ways are judgment: / a God of 
truth, and o without iniquity, just and 
right is he. 

5 i They have corrupted themselves, 
* their spot is not the spot of his children: 

re a perverse and crooked genera- 
tion. 

6 Do ye thus h requite the Lord, foolish 
people and unwise; is sot Le « thv father 
that hath 9 bought thee I hath he not made 
thee, and established th 

7 Remember the days of old. consider the 
years of 3 many generations: ask thy lather, 
and he will show thee ; thy elders, ana they 
will tell thee. 

o When the Most High * divided to the 



CHAP. 31. 

3 baftm 
01Chr.2S.9. 

Bm 5. 3. 
H:s. 13. 5. 
John 2. 24. 
R*v. 2. 23. 
h Arnoi US 

4 do. 

t tak 1.5, 
; •; Ki. 22. 8. 
* eh. 9. 24. 
I Ex. 32. 9. 

ch.9. 6. 
■»eh.30.19. 
eh. 32.1. 



CHAP. 32. 

a p.v ea. t, 

I Is. e& ML 

c p 5 . n. o. 

i 2 Sam. 22. 

31. 
e Dan. 4. 37. 
/ Jer. 10. 10. 
9 Job 34. 10. 

Ps. 92. 15. 

1 He hath 
:::: '-"- 
:■ I :z : ;j 

2 Or, that 
they are 
z:: kil 
r).['_Lriz, 
BM is 
Bkar ':".::. 

* Psalm 116. 
12. 

i Is. 63. 16. 

j 2 Sa. 7. 23- 

Ps. 74. 2. 

3 rrr.T-i - .::n 

tmi gum- 
tt - - . 
'< Seek. S 2. 

I Gen. 11 8. 
»>1 Sa.10.1. 

4 cord. 

5 : :: — - 
passed him 
5,: : i:. 

n Den. 4. 36. 

o Ps. 17. 8. 
I Pro. 7. 2. 
i Zech. 2. 8. 

P Kb. 55. 14. 

IMS* ft 

r P 5 . 147. 14. 

i BokOLU. 

t U. 1. 4. 

« Ps. 89. 26. 

6 Or, which 
—-.•=-. z.:: 

! God. 

7 Or.de- 
s - : sed 

■ >ia:. 17.17. 
»1 Sam. 12. 
21. 

* Bo. 10. 19. 
V Lam. 4- 11. 

8 Or, hath 
Imi. 

9 Or. hath 
c:lsu-.:L 

* Lam. 1.20. 

II :t.~ -.he 



■ Ft MS 5. 
13 Or, our 

hL-hhand, 
i I Ml 



- their inheritance, when he 
rated the sons of Adam, he set the I I 

of the people according to the number of 
the children of Israel: 

9 For ■ the Lord's portion is his people; 
Jacob is the * lot of his inheritance. 

10 He found him in a de>ert land, and in 
the waste howling wilderness ; he 5 led him 
about, he n instructed him, he ° kept hku 
as the apple of Lis eye. 

H As an ea^rie stirreth up her nest, flut- 
tereth over her young, spreadeth abroad 
her wings, taketh them, beareth them on 
her wines ; 

12 80 the Lord alone did lead him, and 
the re sms no strange god with him. 

13 He p made him ride on the high places 

sftTth, that he might eat the increase 
of the fields; and he niaue him : 
honey 2 out of the rock, and oil out of the 
flinty rock ; 

14 Butter of kine, and milk of sheep, with 
fat of lambs, and rams of the breed of 
Bashan, and goats. r with the fat of hd 

of wheat ; and thou didst drink the * pure 
blood of the grape. 

15 But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: 
thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, 
thou art covered with fatness : then he 
forsook * God which maae him. and lightly 

med the u Rock of his salvation. 

16 They provoked him to jealousy with 
strange gods, with abominations provoked 
they him to ansrer. 

17 Tbey sacrificed unto devils. 6 not to 
God; to gods whom they knew not, to new 
gods that came newly up, whom yuur 

feared not. 

the Rock that begat thee thou art 
unmindful, and hast forgotten God that 
formed thee. 

19 And when the Lord saw it, he " ab- 
horred them, : the provoking of 
hia i u sad .: hn daughters. 

20 And he said, I will hide mv face from 
them, I will see what their end shall be: 
for they are a very froward generation, 
children r in whom is no faith. 

21 They have moved me to jealousy with 
that vshich Is not God: they have pi. 

me to anger u with their vanities: ana z I 
will move them to jealousy with 
which are not a people; I will provoke 
them to anger with a loohsh nation. 

22 For y a fire is kindled in mine anger, 
and 6 shall burn unto the lowest hell, and 
& shall consume the earth with her increase, 
and set on hre the foundations of the 
mountains. 

23 I will heap mischiefs upon them ; I will 
spend mine arrows upon them. 

24 Thtxi shall be burnt with hunger, and 
devoured with 10 burnine heat, and with 
bitter destruction : I will also send the 
teeth of beasts apon them, with the poison 
0:' serpents of the dust. 

25 The z sword without, and terror u with- 
in, shall M destroy both the your. 

and the virgin, the suckling also with the 
man of grey hairs. 

26 I saia. I would scatter them into 
corners, I would make the remembrance of 
them to cease from among men: 

27 Were it not that I feared the wrath of 
the enemy, lest their adversaries should be- 
have themselves strangely, and lest they 
should a say, 13 Our hand is high, and the 
Lv&d hath hot done all this. 



r Great Mercies promised 
them [v. 4.). They were strangers to 



grace of wisdom which is liberally given to 
all who ask it; and their insensibility was 
all the more inexcusable that so many mir- 
acles had em performed which might have 
led to a certain conviction of the presence 
and the power of God with them. The pre- 
servation of their clothes and shoes, the 
supply of daily food and fresh water; these, 
continued without interruption or diminu- 
ti n during so many years' sojourn in the 
desert, were miracles which unmistakeably 
proclaimed the immediate hand of God, 
and vi ere performed for the express purpose 
of training them to a practical knowledge 
of, and habitual confidence in, Him. Their 
experience of this extraordinary goodness 
and care, together with their remembrance 
of the brilliant successes by which, with 
little exerdon or loss on their part, God en- 
abled them to acquire the valuable territory 
on which they stood, is mentioned again to 
enforce a faithful adherence to the covenant, 
as the direct and sure means of obtaining 
its promised blessings. 10-29. Ye stand this 
day all of you, before the Lord— The whole 
congregation of Israel, of all ages and condi- 
tions, all— young as well as old; menials as 
well as masters; native Israelites as well as 
naturalized strangers; all were assembled 
before the tabernacle to renew the Sinaitic 
covenant. None of them were allowed to 
consider themselves as exempt from the 
terms of that national compact, lest any 
lapsing into idolatry might prove a root of 
bitterness, spreading its noxious seed and 
corrupt influence all around (cf. Heb. 12. 15.). 
It was of the greatest consequence thus to 
reach the heart and conscience of every one, 
for some might delude themselves with the 
vain idea, that by taking the oath {v. 12,) by 
which they engaged themselves in covenant 
with God, they would secure its blessings; 
and even though they should not rigidly 
adhere to His worship and commands, but 
follow the devices and inclinations of their 
own hearts, yet that He would wink at such 
liberties and not punish them. It was of 
the greatest consequence to impress all with 
the strong and abiding conviction, that 
while the covenant of grace had special 
blessings belonging to it, it at the same tune 
had curses in reserve for transgressors; the 
infliction of which would be as certain, as 
lasting and severe. This was the advantage 
contemplated in the law being rehearsed a 
second time. The picture of a once rich and 
flourishing region, blasted and doomed in 
consequence of the sins of its inhabitants, is 
very striking, and calculated to awaken awe 
in every reflecting mind. Such is, and long 
has been, the desolate state of Palestine; 
and, in looking at its ruined cities, its 
blasted coast, its naked mountains, its ste- 
rile and parched soil— all the sad and un- 
mi^takeable evidences of a land lying under 
a curse, numbers of travellers from Eu- 
rope, America, and the Indies— " strangers 
from a far country" {v. 22,), in the present day 
see that the Lord has executed his threat- 
ening. Who can resist the conclusion that 
it has been inflicted " because the inhabit- 
ants had forsaken the covenant of the Lord 
God of their fathers, and the anger of the 
Lord was kindled against this land, to bring 
upon it all the curses that are written in 
this book i" 29. The secret things belong unto 
156 ' 



D EUTEKON OMY, XXX. 

the Lord 



unto the Penitent, 



that 



This verse has no apparent con- 
nection with the thread of discourse; and it 
is thought to have been said in answer to the 
looks of astonishment or the words of in- 
quiry, whether they would be ever so wicked, 
as to deserve such punishments, The re- 
corded history of God s providential dealings 
towards Israel presents a wonderful combi- 
nation of " goodness and severity." There is 
much of it involved in mystery too profound 
for our limited capacities to fathom; but, 
from the comprehensive wisdom displayed 
in those parts which have been made known 
to us, we are prepared to enter into the full 
spirit of the apostles' exclamation, how un- 
searchable are His judgments (Eom. 11.33.;. 
CHAPTER XXX. 
Ver. 1-10. Great Mercies promised 
unto the Penitent. 2, 3. When all these 
things are come upon thee, and thou shalt re- 
turn . . . then the Lord shall turn thy captivity 
—The hopes of the Hebrew people are ar- 
dently directed to this promise, and they 
confidently expect that God. commiserating 
their forlorn and fallen condition, will yet 
rescue them from all the evils of their long 
dispersion. They do not consider the pro- 
mise as fulfilled by their restoration from 
the captivity in Babylon, for Israel was not 
then scattered in the manner here described 
—"among all the nations," "unto the utmost 
parts of heaven" (v. 4,.); and when God re- 
called them from that bondage, all the Is- 
raelites were not brought back, they were 
not multiplied above their fathers {v. 5,), nor 
were their hearts and those of their children 
circumcised to love the Lord (v. 6.). It is 
not, therefore, of the Babylonish captivity, 
that Moses was speaking in this passage; it 
must be of the dispersed state to which they 
have been doomed for 1800 years. This pre- 
diction may have been partially accom- 
plished on the return of the Israelites from 
Babylon; for, according to the structure and 
design of Scripture prophecy, it may have 
pointed to several similar eras in their na- 
tional history; and this view is sanctioned 
by the prayer of Nehemiah(Neh. 1. 8,9.). But 
undoubtedly it will receive its full and com- 
plete accomplishment in the conversion of 
the Jews to the Gospel of Christ. At the re- 
storation from the Babylonish captivity, that 
Eeople were changed in many respects for the 
etter. They were completely weaned from 
sensible idolatry: and this outward reforma- 
tion was a prelude of the higher attainments 
they are destined to reach in the age of Mes- 
siah, " when the Lord God will circumcise 
their hearts and the hearts of their seed to 
love the Lord." The course pointed out 
seems clearly to be this: that the hearts oi 
the Hebrew people shall be circumcised 
Col. 2. 2, ) ; in other words, by the combined 
influences of the Word and Spirit of God, 
their hearts will be touched and purified 
from all their superstition and unbelief; 
they will be converted to the faith of Jesus 
Christ as their Messiah— a spiritual deliv- 
erer, and the effect of their conversion will 
be that they will return and obey the voice 
(the Gospel, the Evangelical law) of the 
Lord. The words may be interpreted either 
wholly in a spiritual sense iJohn, 11. 51, 52,), 
or as many think, in a literal sense also 
(Rom. ll.). They will be recalled from all 
places of the dispersion to their own land, 
and enjoy the highest prosperity. The mer- 
U 



The song of Moses. 



DEUTERONOMY, XXXIII. 



Moses btesseth the triors. 



28 For they are a nation void of counsel, 
neither is there any understanding in 
them. 

2y Oh 6 that they were wise, that they 
understood this, that they would consider 
then latter end! 

30 How should c one chase a thousand, 
and two put ten thousand to flight, except 
then Rock d had sold them, and the Lord 
had shut them up? 

31 For their rock is not as our Rock, 
even e our enemies themselves being judges. 

32 For then- vine 14 is of the vine of feodom, 
and of the fields of Gomorrah: their grapes 
are grapes of gall, then* clusters are hitter: 

33 Their wine is the poison of dragons, 
and the cruel venom of asps. 

31 Is not this / laid up in store with me, 
and sealed up among my treasures? 

35 To 9 me belong eth vengeance and re- 
compence; their toot shall slide in due 
time : for the day of their calamity is at 
hand, and the things that shall come upon 
them make haste. 

36 For the Lord shall judge his people, 
and h repent himself for his sen-ants, when 
he seetn that their M power is gone, and 
there is none shut up, or left. 

37 And he shall say, * Where are their 
gods, their rock in whom they trusted; 

38 Which did eat the fat of their sacri- 
fices, and drank the wine of their drink 
offerings? let them rise up and help you, 
and be 16 your protection. 

39 See now that I, even I, am he, and 
there J is no god with me: * I kill, and I 
make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither 
is there any that can deliver out of my 
hand. 

40 For * I lift up my hand to heaven, and 
Bay, I live for ever. 

41 If I whet my glittering sword, and mine 
hand take hold on judgment, I will render 
vengeance to mine enemies, and will reward 
them that hate me. 

42 I will make mine arrows drunk with 
blood, and my sword shall devour flesh: 
and that with the blood of the slain and or 
the captives, from the beginning of m re- 
venges upon the enemy. 

43 17 Rejoice, n O ye nations, with his 
people ; for he will ° avenge the blood of 
his servants, and will render vengeance to 
his adversaries, and p will be merciful unto 
his land, and to his people. 

44 1F And Moses came and spake all the 
words of this song in the ears of the people, 
he and 18 Hoshea the son of Nun. 

45 And Moses made an end of speaking all 
these words to all Israel: 

46 And he said unto them, Set your 
hearts unto all the words which I testify 
among you this day, which ye shall com- 
mand your children to observe to do, all 
the words of this law. 

47 For it is not a vain thing for you; 
because * it is your life: and through this 
thing ye shall prolong your days in the 
land whither ye go over Jordan to possess 

48 IF And r the Lord spake unto Moses 
that selfsame day, saying, 

49 Get thee up into this mountain Abarim, 
unto mount ftebo, which is in the land of 
Moab, that is over against Jericho, and 
behold the land of Canaan, which 1 give 
unto the children of Israel for a posses- 
sion; 

157 



CHAP. 32. 

6 Ps. 81. 13. 
Lu. 19. 42. 

e Josh. 23.10. 

d Ps. 44. 12. 

e 1 Sa. 4. 8. 
Jer. 40. 3. 

14 Or, is 
worse 
than the 
vine of 



etc. 
/ Job 14. 17. 
g Ps. 94. 1. 
h Judg.2.18. 

Jcr. 31. 20. 

15 hand. 

i Judg.10.14. 

16 an hiding 
for vou. 

j Is. 45. 5. 
k Ps. C8. 20. 
I Ex. 6. 8. 
"»Job 13.24. 

17 Or, Praise 
his people, 
ye na- 
tions, or, 
Sing ye. 

n Ro. 15. 10. 
o Rev. 6. 10. 
P Ps. 85. 1. 

18 Or, Jo- 
shua. 

3 Pro. 3. 2. 

Ro. 10. 5. 

r Nu. 27. 12. 

8 Nu. 20. 11. 

19 Or, strife 
at Kadesh. 



CHAP. 33. 
a Gen. 49. 28. 
b Ex. 19. 18. 

Judg. 5. 4. 

Hab. 3. 3. 
c Dan. 7. 10. 

Acts 7. 53. 

Gal. 3. 19. 

Heb. 2. 2. 
1 a fire of 

law. 
d Hos. 11. 1. 

Mai. 1. 2. 
e 1 Sa. 2. 9. 

Ps. 50. 5. 
/Lu. 10. 39. 

Acts 22. 3. 
g John 7. 19. 
h Job 29. 25. 
i Gen. 49. 8. 
3 Ex. 28. 30. 
k ch. 13. 6. 

Mat. 10. 37. 

Markl0.29. 

1 Ex. 32. 26. 
m Jer. 18. 18. 

Mai. 2. 5. 

2 Or, Let 
them teach, 
etc. 

Lev. 10.11. 

3 Or,let them 
put incenso. 
Ex.30. 7,8. 

4 at thy 
nose. 

n p 8 . 51. 19. 
o Ps. 20. 3. 
p Gen. 49.25. 
q Gen. 27.28. 

5 thrust 
forth. 

6 moons. 

r Hab. 3. 6. 

« Ex. 3. 2, 4. 

AcU 7. 30. 



50 And die in. the mount whither thou 
goest up, and be gathered onto thy people; 
as Aaron thy brother died in mount Hor, 
and was gathered unto his people: 

51 Because " ye trespassed against me 
among the children of Israel at the waters 
of 19 Meribah-Kadesh, in the wilderness of 
Zin; because ye sanctified me not in the 
midst of the children of Israel. 

52 Yet thou shalt see the land before thee; 
but thou shalt not go thither unto the 
land which I give the children of Israel. 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 

I The majesty of God. 4 The blessings of the twelve 

tribes. 26 The excellency of Jsr'ael. 

AXD this is a the blessing wherewith 
Moses the man of God blessed the chil- 
dren of Israel before his death. 

2 And he said, t> The Loud came from 
Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; 
he shined forth from mount Paran. and he 
came with e ten thousands of saints: from 
his right hand ivent i a fiery law for them. 

3 Yea, d he loved the people; e all his 
saints are in thy hand: and they /sat down 
at thy feet; everyone shall receive of thy 
words. 

4 Moses ° commanded us a law, even the 
inheritance of the congregation of Jacob. 

5 And he was ; ' king in Jeshurun, when 
the heads of the people and the tribes of 
Israel were gathered together. 

6 If Let Reuben live, and not die ; and let 
not his men be few. 

7 IT And this is tlie blessing of Judah: and 
he said, Hear, Lord, the voice of Judah, 
and bring him unto his people : * let his 
hands be sufficient for him; and be thou 
an help to him from Ins enemies. 

8 *H And of Levi he said, f Let thy Thum- 
mim and thy Urim be with thy holy one, 
whom thou didst prove at Massah, and 
with whom thou didst strive at the waters 
of Meribah ; 

9 Who said unto his * father and to his 
mother, 1 have not seen him; l neither did 
he acknowledge his brethren, nor knew his 
own children: for ■ they have observed thy 
word, and kept thv covenant. 

10 2 They shall teach Jacob thy judgments, 
and Israel thy law: a they shall put Incense 
* before thee, n and whole burnt sacrifice 
upon thine altar. 

II Bless, Lord, his substance, and "accept 
the work of his hands: smite through the 
loins of them that rise against him, and of 
them that hate him, that they rise not 
again, 

12 1T And of Beniamin he said,The beloved 
of the Lord shall dwell in safety by him; 
and the LORD shall cover him all the 
day long, and he shall dwell between his 
shoulders. 

13 1f And of Joseph he said, p Blessed 
of the Lord be his land, for the precious 
things of heaven, for q the dew, and for the 
deep that coucheth beneath, 

14 And for the precious fruits bronght 
forth by the sun, and for the precious 
things 5 put forth by the 6 moon, 

15 And for the chief things of the ancient 
mountains, and for the precious things r of 
the lasting hills, 

16 And for the precious things of the earth 
and fulness thereof, and for the good will 
of 8 him that dwelt in the bush: let the 
blessing come upon the head of Joseph, 



The Majesty of God. DEUTERONOMY 

them— war, famine, pestilence (Ps. 77. 17, 
are 



XXm. Moses blesseth the tribes. 

,,tion. 6. Let Reuben live and not die— A1- 
called in Scripture the arrows of the though deprived of the honour and privi- 
Almighty. 29. that they would consider leges of primogeniture, he was still to hold 
their iatter en 1— the terrihle judgments, 'rank as one of the tribes of Israel. He 



which, in the event of their continued and 
incorrigible disobedience, would impart so 
awful a c .aracter to the close of 'heir na- 
tional history. 32. vine of Sodom . . . grapes 
of gall— This fruit, which the Arabs call 
Lots Sea Orange," is of a bright yellow 
colour, and grows in clusters of three or 
four. When mellow, it is tempting in ap- 

f>earance, but on being struck, explodes 
ike a puff-ball, consisting of skin and 
fibre only. 44-47. Moses spake all the words 
of ! his song in the ears,&c— It has been beauti- 
fully styled " the Song of the Dying Swan." 
LLowTH.] It was designed to be a national 
anthem, which it should be the duty and 
care of magistrates to make well known by 
frequent repe.ition, to animate the people 
to right sentiments towards a steadfast ad- 
herence to His service. 48-51. Get thee up 
and die, because ye trespassed at Meribah— 
(See on Num. 20. 12.). 52. Thou shalt see 
the land, but shalt not go thither— Num. 27. 
12.]. Notwithstanding so severe a disap- 
pointment, not a murmur or complaint es- 
capes his lips; he is not only resigned but 
acquiescing; and in the near prospect of his 
death, he pours forth the feelings of his de- 
vout heart in sublime strains and eloquent 
blessings. 

CHAPTER XXXIH. 
Ver. 1-28. The Majesty of God. 1. 
Moses, the man of God— 1 his was a common 
designation of a prophet 1 Sam. 2. 27; 9. 6,), 
and it is here applied to Moses, when, like 
Jacob, he was about to deliver ministeri- 
ally before his death, a prophetic benedic- 
tion to Israel. 2-4. The Lord came— under 
a beautiful metaphor, borrowed from the 
dawn and progressive splendour of the sun, 
the Majesty of God is sublimely described 
as a divine light which appeared in Sinai, 
and scattered its beams on all the adjoin- 
ing region in directing Israel's march to 
Canaan. In these descriptions of a theo- 
phania, God is represented as coming from 
the south, and the allusion is in general 
to the thunderings and lightnings of Sinai; 
but other mountains in the same direction 
are mentioned with it. The location of 
Seir was on the East of the Ghor; Mount 
Paran was either the chain on the west of 
the Ghor, or rather the mountains on the 
southern border of the desert towards the 
peninsula. [Kob.] (cf. Jud. 5. 4, 5; Ps. 68. 
7, 8; Hab. 3. 3.). ten thousand saints— ren- 
dered by some, " with the ten thousand of 
Kadesh," or perhaps better still, " from Me- 
ribah-Kadesh." [Ewald.] 2.). a fiery law— 
so called both because of the thunder and 
lightning which accompanied its promulga- 
tion (Ex. 19. 16-18; ch. 4. 11,), and of the fierce 
unrelenting curse denounced against the 
violation of its precepts (2 Cor. 3. 7-9.). Not- 
withstanding those awe-inspiring symbols of 
Majesty that were displayed on Sinai, the 
law was really given in kindness and love 
(v. 3, ) as a means cf promoting both the tem- 
poral and eternal welfare of the people; and 
it was " the inheritance of the congregation 
of Jacob," not only from the hereditary obli- 
gation under which that people were laid to 
observe it, but from its being the grand dis- 
tinction, the peculiar privilege of the na- 
167 



was more numerous than several other 
tribes (Num. 1. 21; 2. 11,), yet gradually 
sunk into a mere nomadic tribe, which had 
enough to do merely "to live and not die." 
Many eminent Biblical scholars, resting on 
the most ancient and approved manuscripts 
of the Septuagint, consider the latter clause 
as referring to Simeon; " and Simeon, let his 
men be few," a reading of the text which is 
in harmony with other statements of Scrip- 
ture respecting this tribe Num. 25. 6-14; 1. 
23; 26. 14; Josh. 19. 1.). 7. This is the blessing 
of Judah— Its general purport points to the 
great power and independence of Judah, as 
well as its taking the lead in all military 
expeditions. 8-10. Of Levi he said— The bur- 
den of this blessing is the appointment of 
the Levites to the dignified and sacred 
office of the priesthood (Lev. io. 11; ch. 22. 
8; 17. 8-11,); a reward for their zeal in sup- 
po ting the cause of God, and their unspar- 
ing severity in chastising even their nearest 
and dearest relatives who had participated 
in the idolatry of the molten calf (Ex. 32. 
26-28; cf. Mai. 2. 4-6.). 12. Of Benjamin he 
said— A distinguishing favour was conferred 
on this tribe in having its portion assigned 
near the temple of God. between nis shoul- 
ders— i.e., on his sides or borders. Mount 
Zion, on which stood the city of Jerusalem, 
belonged to Judah; but Mount Moriah, the 
site of the sacred edifice, lay in the confines 
of Benjamin. 13-17. of Joseph he said— The 
territory of this tribe, diversified by hill and 
dale, wood and water would be rich in all 
the productions— olives, grapes, figs, &c, 
that are reared in a mountainous region as 
well as in the grain and herbs that grow in 
the level fields. " The firstling of the bul- 
lock and the horns of the unicorn " (rhino- 
ceros), indicate glory and strength, and it is 
supposed that under these emblems were 
shadowed forth the triumphs of Joshua 
and the new kingdom of Jeroboam, both of 
whom were of Ephraim (cf. Gen. 48. 20.). 
18, 19. Zebuluii, rejoice in thy going out— on 
commercial enterprises and voyages by sea. 
and Issachar in thy tents— preferring to re- 
side in their maritime towns, shall suck of 
the abundance of the sea and treasures hid in 
the sand— Both tribes should traffic with the 
Phoenicians in gold and silver, pearl and 
coral, especially in murex, the shellfish that 
yielded the famous Tyrian dye, and in glass, 
which was manufactured irom the sand of 
the river Belus, in their immediate neigh- 
bourhood. 20, 21. of Gad he said— Its posses- 
sions were larger than they would have been 
had they lain west of Jordan; and this tribe 
had the honour of being settled by Moses 
himself in the fi st portion of land conquer- 
ed. In the forest region, south of the Jab- 
bok, "he dwelt as a lion" (cf. Gen. 30. 11; 
49. 19.). Notwithstanding, they faithfully 
kept their engagement to join the " heads of 
the people" in the invasion of Canaan. 22. 
Dan is a lion's whelp— His proper settlement 
in the south of Canaan being to small, he by 
a sudden and successful irruption, esta- 
blished a colony in the northern extremity 
of the land. This might well be described 
as the leap of a young lion from the hills of 
Bashan. 23. of Naphtali he said— ihe plea- 



Moses blesseth the tribes. 



DEUTERONOMY, XXXIY. 



Tfie death of Moses. 



and upon the top of the head of him that 
was separated from his brethren. 

17 His glory is like the firstling of his 
bullock, and his horns are like the horns 
of 7 unicorns: with them * he shall push 
the people together to the ends of the 
earth: and they are the ten thousands of 
Ephraim, and they are the thousands of 
Manasseh. 

18 11 And of Zebulun he said, Rejoice, 
Zebulun, in thy going out; and, Issachar, 
in thv tents. 

19 They shall u call the people unto the 
mountain ; there v they shall offer sacrifices 
of righteousness: for they shall suck of the 
abundance of the seas, and of treasures hid 
in the sand. 

20 H And of Gad he said, Blessed be he 
that w enlargeth Gad: he dwelleth as a lion, 
and teareth the arm with the crown of the 
head. 

21 And * he provided the first part for 
himself, because there, in a portion of the 
lawgiver, was he 8 seated; and y he came 
with the. heads of the people, he executed 
the justice of the Loud, and his judgments 
with Israel. 

22 H And of Dan he said, Dan is a lion's 
whelp: 2 he shall leap from Bashan. 

23 TAnd of Naphtali he said, O Naphtali, 
satisfied with favour, and full with the 
blessing of the Lord ; a possess thou the 
west and the south. 

21 11 And of Asher he said, Let Asher be 
blessed with children ; let him be acceptable 
to his brethren, and let him b dip his foot 
in oil. 

25 9 Thy shoes shall be iron and brass; 
and as thy days, so shall thy strength 
be. 

26 1T There is e none like unto the God of 
Jeshurun, * who rideth upon the heaven in 
thy help, and in his excellency on the 

27 The eternal God is thy e refuge, and 
underneath are the everlasting arms: and 
he shall thrust out the enemy from before 
thee ; and shall say, Destroy them. 

28 Israel / then shall dwell in safety 
alone: the fountain of Jacob sliaU be upon 
a land of corn and wine ; also his heavens 
shall drop down dew. 

29 Happy 9 art thou, O Israel: * who is 
like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord, 
the shield of thy help, and who is the sword 



CHAP. 33. 

7 an unicorn. 
t 1 Kin. 22. 

11. 

Ps. 44. 5. 

" Is. 2. 3. 

v Ps. 4. 5. 

u> Josh. 13. 

10. 

1 Chr.l2.S. 

* Nu. 32. 16. 

8 cielcd. 

V Josh. 4. 12. 

* Josh. 19. 47. 
Judg.18.27. 

a Josh. 19. 

32. 
6 Job 29. 6. 

9 Or, Under 
thy shoes 
shall be 
iron. 

c Ex. 15. 11. 
Ps. 86. 8. 
Jer. 10. 6. 
d Ps. 68. 4, 
33,34. 
Ps. 104. 3. 
Hab. 3. 8. 
e Ps. 90. 1. 
/Nu. 23. 9. 
Jer. 23. 6. 
Jer. 33. 16. 
g Ps. 144. 15. 
h 2 Sam. 7. 
23. 

10 Or, shall 
be sub- 
dued. 



CHAP. 34. 

1 Or, the hill. 
a Josh. 19. 

40-48. 

Judges 18. 

28. 
6 ch. 11. 24. 
c Judg. 1. 16. 

Judg.3.13. 
d Josh. 1.1,2. 
e Jude 9. 
/ch.31. 2. 
9 Josh. 14. 

10. 

2 moisture 
find. 

h Gen. 50. 3. 
i Is. 11. 2. 

Dan. 6. 3. 
/ Num. 27. 

18. 



of thy excellency! and thine enemies iu shall 

be found liars unto thee; and thou shalt 

tread upon their high places. 

CHAPTER XXXIV. 

1 Moses from mount Ifebo vieweth the land: 6 his 
death and burial: 1 his age: 8 thirty days' 
mournvig for him: 9 Joshua succeedeth him. 
10 The praise of Moses. 

A ND Moses went up from the plains of 
^ Moab unto the mountain of N'ebo, to 
the top of * Pisgah, that is over against 
Jericho. And the Lord showed him all the 
land of Gilead, a unto Dan. 

2 And all Naphtali, and the land of Eph- 
raim, and Manasseh, and all the land of 
Judah, & unto the utmost sea, 

3 And the south, and the plain of the val- 
ley of J ericho, c the city of palm trees, unto 
Zoar. 

4 And the Lord said unto him, This is 
the land which I sware unto Abraham, 
unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, saying, 1 will 
give it unto thy seed: I have caused thee 
to see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not 
go over thither. 

5 M So d Moses the servant of the Lord 
died there in the land of Moab, according 
to the word of the Lord. 

6 And he buried him in a valley in the 
land of Moab, over against Beth-peor: but 
no e man knoweth of his sepulchre unto 
this day. 

7 1T And / Moses was an hundred and 
twenty years old when he died: g his eye 
was not dim, nor his 2 natural force 
abated. 

8 1f And the children of Israel wept for 
Moses in the plains of Moab h thirty days: 
so the days of weeping and mourning for 
Moses were ended, 

9 IF And Joshua the son of Nun was full 
of the * spirit of wisdom ; for 3 Moses had 
laid Ms hands upon him: and the children 
of Israel hearkened unto him, and did as the 
Lord commanded Moses. 

10 1F And there arose not a prophet since 
in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord 
knew face to face, 

11 In all the signs and the wonders which 
the Lord sent him to do in the land of 
Egypt to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, 
and to all his land, 

12 And in all that mighty hand, and in all 
the great terror which Moses showed in the 
sight of all IsraeL 



THE 



BOOK OF JOSHUA. 



CHAPTER I. 
1 The Lord appoints Joshua to succeed Moses. 3 
Extent of the promised land. 5 God promises 
to assist Joshua. 10 Joshua prepares the people 
to pass over Jordan. 
"NJOW after the death of Moses the servant 
xy of the Lord it came to pass, that the 
Lord spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, 
Moses' a minister, saying, 

2 Moses b my servant is dead; now there- 
fore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all 
this people, unto the land which I do give 
to them, even to the children of Israel. 

3 Every c place that the sole of your foot 



B. C. 1451. 



CHAP. 1. 

a Deu. 1. 38. 

6 Deu. 34. 5. 

c Deu. 11. 24. 

d Gen. 15.18. 
Nu. 34. 3. 

e Deu. 7. 24. 

/ Ex. 3. 12. 

g Deu. 31. 6. 

1 Or, thou 
shalt cause 
this people 
to inherit 
the laud. 



shall tread upon, that have I given unto 
you, as I said unto Moses. 

4 From d the wilderness and this Lebanon, 
even unto the great river, the river Eu- 
phrates, all the land of the Hittites, and 
unto the great sea toward the going down 
of the sun, shall be your coast. 

5 There e shall not any man be able to 
stand before thee all the days of thy life: 
as / 1 was with Moses, so I will be with 
thee : I g will not fail thee, nor forsake 
thee. 

6 Be strong and of a good courage : tor 
i unto this peopl } shalt tbou divide fur an 



The Death of Mosc<*. 



JOSHUA, I. 



sant and fertile territory of this tri'-e lay t ■ 
" the west," on the borders of lakes Merom 
and Ohinnereth, and to "the south" of the 
northern Danite<. 24,25. of Asner he said— 
The condition of this tribe is described as 
combining all the elements of earthly feli- 
city—dip his foot in oil— These words allude 
either to the process of extracting the oil 
by foot presses, or to his district as par- 
ticularly fertile, and adapted to the cul- 
ture of the olive, shoes of iron and brass 
—These shoes suited his rocky coast from 
Oar 1 1 1 el to Sidon. Country people as well as 
ancient warriors, had their lower extremi- 
ties protected by metallic greaves (1 Sam. 17. 
6; Eph. 6. 15,), and iron- soled shoes. 26-29. 
There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun— 
The chapter concludes with a congratula- 
tory address to Israel on their peculiar hap- 
piness and privilege in having Jehovah tor 
their God and protector, who rideth upon 
the heavens in thy help— an evident allusion 
to the pillar of cloud and fire, which was 
bo'h the guide and shelter of Israel. 28. 
the fountain of Jacob— the posterity of Is- 
rael shall dwell in a blessed and favoured 
land. 

CHAPTER XXXIV. 
Ver. 1-12. Moses from Mount Nebo 
vteweth the Land. 1. Moses went up from 
the plains of Moab— This chapter appears 
from internal evidence to have been writ- 
ten subsequently to the death of Moses, and 
it probably formed, at one time, an intro- 
duction to the book of Joshua, unto the 
mountain of Nebo, to the top of Pisgah— lit, 
the head or summit of the Pisgah,—i.e., the 
height (cf. Num. 23. 14; ch. 3. 17-27; 4. 49.). 
The general name given to the whole moun- 
tain range east of Jordan, was Abarim (cf. 
ch. 32. 49,), and the peak to which Moses 
ascended was dedicated to the heathen 
Nebo, as Balaam's standing place had been 
consecrated to Peor. Some modern travel- 
lers have fixed on Jebel-Attarus, a high 
mountain south of the Jabbok (Zurka), as 
the Nebo of this passage. [Buckhardt, 
Seetzen, &c] But it is situated too far 
north for a height which, being described as 
"over against Jericho," must be looked for 
above the last stage of the Jordan, the Lord 
showed him all the land of Gilead— That pas- 
toral region was discernible at the northern 
extremity of the mountain-line on which 
he stood, till it ended, far beyond his sight, 
in Dan. Westward, there were on the hori- 
zon, the distant hills of "all Naphtali." 



Joshua succeedeth Moses. 

Coming nearer was " the land of Ephraim 
and Manasseh." Immediately opposite was 
" all the land of Judah," a title at first re- 
stricted to the portion of this tribe, beyond 
which were "the utmost sea" (the Mediter- 
ranean! and the Desert of the "South." These 
were the four great marks of the future in- 
heritance of his people, on which the narra- 
tive fixes our attention. Immediately be- 
low him was "the circle" of the plain of 
Jericho, with its oasis of palm trees; and far 
away on his left, the last inhabited spot be- 
fore the great Desert "Zoar." The foreground 
of the picture alone was clearly discernible. 
There was no miraculous power of vision 
imparted to Moses. That he should see all 
that is described is what any man could do, 
if he attained sufficient elevation. The at- 
mosphere of the climate is so subtile and 
free from vapour, that the sight is carried to 
a distance of which the beholder, who judges 
from the more dense air of Europe, can form 
no idea. [Vere Monro.] But between 
him and that " good land " the deep valley 
of the Jordan intervened; " he was not to go 
over thither." 5. So Moses died— After hav- 
ing governed the Israelites forty years. 6. 
he buried him— or, " he was buried in a val- 
ley," i.e., a ravine or gorge of the Pisuah. 
Some think that he entered a cave and there 
died, being according to an ancient tradi- 
tion of Jews and Christians, buried by 
angels (Jude, 9; Nu. 21. 20.). no man know- 
eth of his sepulchre unto this day— This con- 
cealment seems to have been owing to a 
special and wise arrangement of Providence, 
to prevent its being ranked among "Holy 
places,'' and made the resort of superstitious 
pilgrims or idolatrous veneration, in after 
ages. 8. wept for Moses thirty days— seven 
days was the usual period of mourning, but 
for persons of high rank or official emin- 
ence, it was extended to thirty (Gen. 50. 3-10; 
Nu. 20. 29.). 9. Joshua was full of the spirit 
of wisdom— He was appointed to a peculiar 
and extraordinary office; he was not the suc- 
cessor of Moses, for he was not a prophet or 
civil ruler, but the general or leader, called 
to head the people in the war of invasion, 
and the subsequent allocation of the tribes. 
10-12. there arose not a prophet since — In 
whatever light we view this extraordinary 
man, the eulogy pronounced in thee in- 
spired words will appear just. No Hebrew 
prophet or ruler equalled him in character, 
official dignity as well as knowledge of God's 
will and opportunities of announcing it. 



THE 



BOOK OF JOSHUA. 



CHAPTER I. 
Ver. 1-18. The Lord appoints Joshua 

to succeed Moses. 1. Now after the death 
of Moses— Joshua having been already ap- 
pointed and designated leader of Israel Nu. 
27. 18-23,), in all probability assumed the 
reins of government immediately " after the 
death of Moses." the servant of the Lord— 
this was the official title of Moses, as in- 
vested with a special mission to make known 
the w.ll of God; and it conferred great hon- 
158 



our and authority, the Lord spake— -pro- 
bably during the period of public mourn- 
ing, and either by a direct revelation to 
the mind of Joshua, or by means of Urim 
and Thummim (Num. 27. 21.). This first 
communication gave a pledge that the Di- 
vine instructions which, according to the 
provisions of the Theocracy, had been im- 
parted to Moses, -would be continued to the 
new leader, though God might not perhaps 
speak to him "mouth to mouth" (Nu. 12. 



Joshua succeedeth Moses. 



JOSHUA, II. 



Bahab receiveth the spies. 



inheritance the land which I sware unto 
their fathers to give them. 

7 Only be thou strong and very courage- 
ous, that thou mayest observe to do 
according to all the law h which Moses 
my servant commanded thee : turn not 
from it to the right hand or to the left, 
that thou mayest 2 prosper whithersoever 
thou goest. 

8 This • book of the law shall not depart 
out of thy mouth ; but i thou shalt meditate 
therein day and night, that thou mayest 
observe to do according to all that is writ- 
ten therein: for * then thou shalt make 
thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt 
3 have good success. 

9 Have not I commanded thee? Be strong 
and of a good courage; l be not afraid, 
neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord 
thy Cod is with thee whithersoever thou 
goest. 

10 1T Then Joshua commanded the officers 
of the people, saying, 

11 Pass through the host, and command 
the people, saying, Prepare you victuals; 
for m within three days ye shall pass over 
this Jordan, to go in to possess the land, 
which the Lord your God giveth you to 
possess it. 

12 1F And to the Reubenites, and to the 
Gadites, and to half the tribe of Manasseh, 
spake Joshua, saying, 

13 Remember n the word which Moses the 
servant of the Lord commanded you, say- 
ing, The Lord your God hath given you 
rest, and hath given you this land. 

14 Your wives, your little ones, and your 
cattle, shall remain in the land which 
Moses gave you on this side Jordan; but 
ye shall pass before your brethren 4 aimed, 
all the mighty men of valour, and help 
them ; 

15 Until the Lord have given your breth- 
ren rest, as he hath given you, and they 
also have possessed the land which the 
Lord your God giveth them: ° then ye 
shall return unto the land of your posses- 
sion, and enjoy it, which Moses the Lord's 
servant gave you on this side Jordan to- 
ward the sun-rising. 

16 1F And they answered Joshua, saying, 
All that thou commandest us we will do, 
and whithersoever thou sendest us we will 
go. 

17 According as we hearkened unto Moses 
in all things, so will we hearken unto thee: 
only the Lord thy God^be with thee, as he 
was with Moses. 

18 Whosoever he be that doth rebel against 
thy commandment, and will not hearken 
unto thy words in all that thou com- 
mandest him, he shall be put to death: 
only be strong and of a good courage. 

CHAPTER II. 
1 Ifahab receives and conceals the two spies sent 
from Shittim; 8 the covenant between her and 
them : 23 their return and report to Joshua. 
A ND Joshua the son of Nun 1 sent a out 
■ X1 - of Shittim two men to spy secretly, 
Baying, Go view the land, even Jericho. 
And they went, and * came into an harlot's 
house, named c Rahab, and 2 lodged there. 

2 And d it was told the king of Jericho, 
saying, Behold, there came men in hither 
to-night of the children of Israel to search 
out the country. 

3 And the king of Jericho sent unto 
Rahab, saying, Bring forth the men that 

159 



CHAP. 1. 

h Nu. 27. 23. 
ch. 11. 15. 

2 Or. do 
•wisely. 
Deu. 29. 9. 

i Deut. 17. 

18, 19. 
j Ps. 1. 2. 
A 1 Chr. 32. 

13. 

Pro. 3. 1. 

3 Or, do 
wisely. 

I Ps. 27. 1. 

Jer. 1. 8. 
m ch. 3. 2. 

Deu. 9. 1. 

Deut. 11. 

31. 
»»Nu.32. 20, 

28. 

ch. 22. 2, 

3,4. 

4 marshalled 
by five, as 
Ex. 13. 18. 

o ch. 22. 4. 
P 1 Sam. 20. 

13. 

lKi.1.37. 



CHAP. 2. 
1 Or, had 

sent. 

a Nu. 25. 1. 

b Heb. 11. 31. 
Jam. 2. 25. 

C Mat. 1. 5. 
But it is 
doubtful 
whether 
this is the 



2 lay. 

d Ps. 127. 1. 

Pro. 21.30. 
e 2 Sa. 17. 19. 

Heb. 11. 31. 
/Ex. 1.17. 

2Sa.17.19. 
9 Gen. 35. 5. 

Ex. 23. 27. 

Deu. 2. 25. 

Deu. 11.25. 

3 melt. 
Ex. 15. 15. 

h Ex. 14. 21. 

ch. 4. 23. 
i Nu. 21. 24, 

34, 35. 
j Ex. 15. 14, 

15. 

* ch. 5. 1. 
ch. 7. 6. 
Is. 13. 7. 

4 rose up. 

I Deu. 4. 39. 
m 1 Sam. 20. 

14, 15, 17. 
» Ephes. 6. 

1,2. 

1 Tim. 5. 8. 

5 instead of 
you to 
die. 

o Judg.1.24. 

Mat. 5. 7. 
P Acts 9. 25. 
q Ex. 20. 7. 
r ch. 6. 23. 

6 gather. 

« Num. 35. 
20, 27. 

* Mat. 27. 
25. 



are come to thee, which are entered into 
thine house: for they be come to search out 
all the country. 

4 And e the woman took the two men, ami 
hid them, and said thus, There came men 
unto me, but I wist not whence they were: 

5 And it came to pass, about the' time of 
shutting of the gate, when it was dark, that 
the men went out: whither the men went 
I wot not: pursue after them quickly; for 
ye shall overtake them. 

6 But /she had brought them up to the 
roof of the house, and hid them with the 
stalks of flax, which she had laid in order 
upon the roof. 

7 And the men pursued after them the 
way to Jordan unto the fords: and as soon 
as they which pursued after them were 
gone out, they shut the gate. 

8 1T And, before they were laid down, she 
came up unto them upon the roof; 

9 And she said unto the men, I know that 
the Lord hath given you the land, and that 
your g terror is fallen upon us, and that all 
the inhabitants of the land 3 faint because 
of you. 

10 For we have heard how the Lord 
dried h up the water of the Red sea for you, 
when ye came out of Egypt ; and » what ye 
did unto the two kings of the Amorites, 
that were on the other side Jordan, Sihon 
and Og, whom ye utterly destroyed. 

11 And as soon as we had i heard these 
things, * our hearts did melt, neither 4 did 
there remain any more courage in any 
man, because of you: for l the Lord your 
God, he is God in heaven above, and in 
earth beneath. 

12 Now therefore, I pray you, m swear 
unto me by the Lord, since Ihave showed 
you kindness, that ye will also show kind- 
ness unto n my father's house, and give me 
a true token: 

13 And that ye will save alive my father, 
and my mother, and my brethren, and my 
sisters, and all that they have, and deliver 
our lives from death. 

14 And the men answered her, Our life 
5 for yours, if ye utter not this our business. 
And it shall be, when the Lord hath given 
us the land, that ° we will deal kindly and 
truly with thee. 

15 Then she p let them down by a cord 
through the window; for her house was 
upon the town wall, and she dwelt upon 
the wall. 

16 And she said unto them, Get you to 
the mountain, lest the pursuers meet you; 
and hide yourselves there three days, until 
the pursuers be returned: and afterward 
may you go your way. 

17 And the men said unto her, We will be 
blameless q of this thine oath which thou 
hast made us swear: 

18 Behold, when we come into the land, 
thou shalt bind this line of scarlet thread 
in the window which thou didst let us down 
by: r and thou shalt 6 bring thy father, and 
thy mother, and thy brethren, and all thy 
father's household, home unto thee. 

19 And it shall be, that whosoever shall 
go 8 out of the doors of thy house into the 
street, his blood shall be upon his head, 
and we will be guiltless ; and whosoever 
shall be with thee in the house, * his blood 
shall be on our head, if any hand be upon 
him. 

20 And if thou utter this our business, 



Rahab Receives and 



JOSHUA, n. 



Conceals the Tvjo Spie-9. 



8. . Joshua— The original name, Oshea (Nu. i ceals the Two Spies. 1. Joshua sent two 
13. 8,i, which had been according to Eastern men to spy secretly— Faith is manifested by 
ussge changed like those of Abram and an active persevering use of means (Jam. 
Sarai (Gen. 17. 5-15,) into Jehoshua or Jo- 2. 22,); and accordingly Joshua, while con- 
shua, i.e., God's salvation, was significant of tiding in the accomplishment of the Divina 
the services he was to render, and typified promise (ch. 1. 3,) adopted every precaution 
those of a greater Saviour Heb, 4. 8.). which a skilful general could think ot to 
Moses' minister— -i.e., his official attendant, render his first attempt in the invasion of 
who, from being constantly employed in Canaan successful. Two spies were de- 
important services, and early initiated into spatched to reconnoitre the country, parti- 
the principles of the government, would be ! cularly in the neighbourhood of Jericho; for 
well trained for undertaking the leadership in the prospect of investing that place, it 



of Israel. 2-9. Now, therefore, arise, go over 
this Jordan— Joshua's mission was that of a 
military leader. This passage records his 



was desirable to obtain full information as 
to its site, its approaches, the character 
and resources of its inhabitants. This mis- 



call to begin the work, and the address con- 1 sion required the strictest privacy, and it 
tains a literal repetition of the promise made ! seems to have been studiously concealed 



to Moses (Deu. 11. 24, 25; 31. 6-8; 23.). 3, 4. 
Every place . . . have I given you— meaning, 
of course, not universal dominion, but only 
the territory comprised within the bounda- 
ries here specified isee on Deu. 19. 8, 9.). all 
the land of the Hittites— These occupied the 
southern extremities, and were the domin- 
ant tribe, of Canaan. Their superior power, 
and the extent of their dominions, are at- 
tested by the mention of them under the 
nameofKhita, on the Assyrian inscriptions, 
and still more frequently on the Egyptian 
inscriptions of the 18th and 19th Dynasties. 
What life and encouragement must have 
been imparted to Joshua by the assurance 
that his peop e who had been overwhelmed 
with fear of that gigantic race, were to pos- 
sess "all the land of the Hittites?" 5-9. 



from the knowledge of the Israelites them- 
selves, lest any unfavourable or exaggerated 
report, publicly circulated, might have dis- 
pirited the people, as that of the spies did 
in the days of Moses. Jericho— Some derive 
this name from a word signifying "new 
moon" in reference to the crescent -like 
plain in which it stood, formed by an am- 
phitheatre of hills- others from a word sig- 
nifying "its scent, on account of the fra- 
grance of the balsam and palm trees in which 
it was embosomed. Its site was long suppos- 
ed to be represented by the small mud- walled 
hamlet Er-Blha; but recent researciies have 
fixed on a spot about half-an-hour's journey 
westward, where large ruins exist, and about 
six or eight miles distant from the Jordan. 
i It was for that age a strongly-fortified town. 
There shall not any be able to stand before thee the key of the Eastern pass through the deep 
—Canaan was their's by a divine grant; and ! ravine, now called Wady-Kelt, into the in- 
the renewed confirmation of that grant to terior of Palestine, they came into an harlot's 
Joshua when about to lead the people into house— Many expositors, desirous of remov- 
it, intimated not only a certan, but an easy ing the stigma of this name from an ances- 
couquest. It is remarkable, however, that \ tress of the Saviour (Matt. 1. 5,), have called 
his courage and hope of victory was made ; her a hostess or tavern-keeper. But scrip- 
to depend see on Deu. 17. 19.) on his firmjtural usage (Lev. 21. 7-14: Deu. 23. 18; Jud. 
and inflexible adherence to the law of God, 11. 1; 1 Ki. 3. 16,), the authority of the Sep- 
not only that regarding the extirpation! tuagmt, followed by the apostles (Heb. 11.31: 
of the Canaanites, but the whole divine Jam. 2. 25,) and the immemorial style or 



code. 10-18. Then Joshua commanded the 
officers of the people— These were the Shote- 
rim isee on Ex. 5. 6; Deu. 20. 5.). prepare 
yea victuals— not manna, which, though it 
still fell, would not keep; but corn, sheep, 
and articles of food procurable in the con- 
quered countries, for within three days ye 
shall pass over this Jordan— (i.e., the third day 
according to Heb. idiom)— the time allotted 



Eastern Khans, which are never kept by 
women, establish the propriety of the term 
employed in our version. Her house was 
probably recommended to the spies by the 
convenience of its situation, without any 
knowledge of the character of the inmates. 
But a divine influence directed them in the 
choice of that lodging-place. 2, 3. It was 
told to the king— By the sentinels who at such 



for getting ready ere the encampment in a time of threatened invasion would be 
Abel-Shittim b oke up, and they removed to posted on the Eastern frontier, and whose 
the desert bank of the river where no vie- 1 duty required them to make a strict report 
tuals could be got. At the same time Joshua to head-quarters of the arrival of all stran- 



himself convened the 2§ tribes which had 
settled East of Jordan, to remind them of 
their engagement (Num. 32. 1-42,); to assist 



gers. 4-6. The woman took the two men and 
hid them— lit. him, i.e., each of them in sep- 
arate places, of course previous to the ap- 



their brethren in the conquest of Western j pearance of the royal messengers, and in 
Canaan. Their readiness to redeem their j anticipation of a speedy search after her 
pedge, and the terms in which they answer- 1 guests. According to Eastern manners, which 
ed the appeal of Joshua, displayed to great pay an almost superstitious respect to a 
advantage their patriotic and pious feelings j woman's apartment, the royal messengers 
at so interesting a crisis, ye shall pass ! did not demand admittance to search, but 
"armed"— i.e., officered or marshalled under ; asked her to bring the foreigners out. 6. 
five leaders in the old and approved caravan she had . . . hid them with the stalks of flax- 
order (see on Ex. 13. 18.). all the mighty men j Flax, with other vegetable productions, is 
of valour— The words are not to be interpret- j at a certain season spread out in the flat roofs 
ed strictly as meaning the whole, but only of Eastern houses to be dried in the sun; 
the flower or choice of the fighting men (see and after lying awhile, it is piled up in nu- 

which, from the lux 



on ch. 4. 12, 13 

CHAPTER H. 
Ver. 1-7. Rahab receives and con- 



merous little stacks, 

uriant growth of the flax, rise to a height 

of 3 or 4 feet. Behind some of these stacks 



The people come to Jordan. 



JOSHUA, III, IV. 



The passage over Jordan. 



then we -will be quit of thine oath which 
thou hast made us to swear. 

21 And she said, According unto your 
words, so be it. And she sent them away, 
and they departed : and she hound the 
scarlet line in the window. 

22 And they went, and came unto the 
mountain, and abode there three days, 
until the pursuers were returned: and the 
pursuers sought them throughout all the 
way, but found them not. 

23 So the two men returned, and descended 
from the mountain, and passed over, and 
came to Joshua the son of Nun, and told 
him all things that befell them: 

24 And they said unto Joshua, Truly M the 
Lord hath delivered into our hands all the 
land; for even all the inhabitants of the 
country do 7 faint because of us. 

CHAPTER III. 

1 Joshua comes to Jordan. 1 The Lord encour- 
ages him. 9 Joshua encourages the people. 14 
The waters of Jordan are divided. 

A ND Joshua rose early in the morning • 
-"- and they removed from a Shittim, and 
came to Jordan, he and all the children of 
Israel, and lodged there before they passed 
over. 

2 And it came to pass b after three days, 
that the officers went through the host; 

3 And they commanded the people, say- 
ing, c When ye see the ark of the covenant 
of the Lord your God, d and the priests the 
Levites bearing it, then ye shall remove 
from your place, and go after it. 

4 Yet e there shall be a space between you 
and it, about two thousand cubits by meas- 
ure: come not near unto it, that ye may 
know the way by which ye must go: for ye 
have not passed this way * heretofore. 

5 And Joshua said unto the people, 
Sanctify /yourselves: for to-morrow the 
Lord will do wonders among you. 

6 And Joshua spake unto the priests, say- 
ing, 9 Take up the ark of the covenant, 
and pass over before the people. And they 
took up the ark of the covenant, and went 
before the people. 

7 11 And the Lord said unto Joshua, This 
day will I becin to h magnify thee in the 
sight of all Israel, that they may know 
that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with 
thee. 

8 And thou shalt command the priests 
that bear the ark of the covenant, saying, 
When ye are come to the brink of the 
water of Jordan, ye shall stand still in 
Jordan. 

9 f And Joshua said unto the children of 
Israel, Come hither, and hear the words of 
the Lord your God. 

10 And Joshua said, Hereby ye shall know 
that the » living God is among vou, and that 
he will without fail i drive out from before 
you the Canaan ites, and the Hittites, and 
the Hivites, and the Perizzites, and the 
Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the 
Jebusites. 

11 Behold, the ark of the covenant of * the 
Lord of all the earth passeth over before 
you into J ordan. 

12 N ow therefore * take you twelve men out 
ot the tribes of Israel, out of every tribe a 
man. 

lo And it shall come to pass, as soon as 

the soles of the feet of the priests that bear 

the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the 

earth, shall rest in the waters of Jordan. 

1G0 



B. C. 1451. 



CHAP. 2. 
u Ex. 23. 31. 

ch. 6. 2. 
ch. 21. 44. 
7 melt. 



CHAP. 3. 
« ch. 2. 1. 
b ch. 1. 10, 

11. 

c Nu. 10. 33. 

d Deu. 31. 9. 

« Ex. 19. 12. 

1 since yes- 
terday and 
the third 
day. 

/Ex. 19. 10. 
Lev. 20. 7. 
Nu. 11. 18. 
ch. 7. 13. 
1 Sa. 16. 5. 
Joel 2. 16. 

g Nu. 4. 15. 

h ch. 4. 14. 

1 Chr. 29, 
25. 

2 Chr. 1.1. 
i Deu. 5. 26. 

1 Sam. 17. 
26. 

2 Ki. 19. 4. 

Hos. i. la 

Mat. 16. 16. 

1 The*. 1.9. 
j Ex. 33. 2. 

Deu. 7. 1. 

Ps. 44. 2. 
k Ps. 24. 1. 

Job 41. 11. 

Mic. 4. 13. 

Zech. 4. 14. 

Zech. 6. 5. 
I ch. 4. 2. 
m Ps. 78. 13. 

Ps. 114. 3. 
n Acts 7. 45. 
o 1 Chr. 12. 

15. 

Jer. 12. 6. 

Jer. 49. 19. 

Occasioned 

by the 

melting of 

the snow 

on Leban- 



P ch. 4. 18. 

ch. 5. 10, 

12. 
q 1 Ki. 4. 12. 

1 Ki. 7. 46. 
r Deu. 3. 17. 
8 Gen. 14. 3. 

Nu. 34. 3. 
t Ex. 14. 29. 



CHAP. 4. 
a Deu. 27. 2. 

ch. 3. 17. 
6 ch. 3. 12. 
c Ex. 12. 26. 

Ex. 13. 14. 

Deu. 6. 20. 

Ps. 44. 1. 

Ps. 48. 13, 

14. 

Ps. 78. 3, 

4, 5, 6. 

Is. 38. 16. 

1 to- morrow. 
d ch. 8. 13. 

e Nu. 16. 40. 
/Gen. 28. 18. 

ch. 24. 27. 

1 Sam. 7. 

12. 

2 B.C. 1427. 



that the waters of Jordan shall be cut ofl 
from the waters that come down from 
above ; and they m shall stand upon an 
heap. 

14 IT And it came to pass, when the people 
removed from their tents, to pass over 
Jordan, and the priests bearing the n ark 
of the covenant before the people ; 

15 And as they that bare the ark were 
come unto Jordan, and the feet of the 
priests that bare the ark were dipped in 
the brim of the water, (for ° Jordan over- 
fioweth all his banks p all the time of 
harvest,) 

16 That the waters which came down 
from above stood and rose up upon an 
heap very far from the city Adam, that is 
beside q 2aretan: and those that came down 
toward r the sea of the plain, even 8 the 
salt sea, failed, and were cut oft': and the 
people passed over right against Jericho. 

17 Ana the priests that bare the ark of 
the covenant of the Lord stood firm on 
dry ground in the midst of Jordan, ' and all 
the Israelites passed over on dry ground, 
until all the people were passed clean over 
Jordan, 

CHAPTER IV. 

1 Twelve stones taken for a memorial out of Jor- 
dan : 9 twelve other stones set up in the midst 
thereof. 10 The people pass over. 14 God 
magnifies Joshua. 

A ND it came to pass, when all the people 
■^ were clean passed ° over Jordan, that 
the Lord spake unto Joshua, saying, 

2 Take b you twelve men cut of the people, 
out of every tribe a man, 

3 And command ye them, saying. Take 
you hence out of the midst of Jordan, out 
of the place where the priests' feet stood 
firm, twelve stones ; and ye shall carry them 
over with you, and leave them in the lodg- 
ing place where ye shall lodge this night." 

4 Then Joshua called the twelve men, 
whom he had prepared of the children or 
Israel, out of every tribe a man: 

5 And Joshua said unto them, Pass over 
before the ark of the Lord your God into 
the midst of Jordan, and take you up every 
man of you a stone upon Ms shoulder, ac- 
cording unto the number of the tribes of 
the children of Israel: 

6 That this may be a sign among you, that 
when c your children ask their fathers * in 
time to come, saying, What mean ye by 
these stones? 

7 Then ye shall answer them, That <* the 
waters of Jordan were cut off before the 
ark of the covenant of the Lord ; when it 
passed over Jordan, the waters of Jordan 
were cut off: and these stones shall be for 
a e memorial unto the children of Israel for 
ever. 

8 And the children of Israel did so as 
Joshua commanded, and took up twelve 
stones out of the midst of Jordan, as the 
Lord spake unto Joshua, according to the 
number of the tribes of the children of 
Israel, and carried them over with them 
unto the place where they lodged, and laid 
them down there. 

9 And Joshua / set up twelve stones in the 
midst of Jordan, in the place where the 
feet of the priests which bare the ark of the 
covenant stood: and they are there 2 unto 
this day. 

10 IT For the priests which bare the ark 
stood in the midst of Jordan, until every 



Covenant with Rahab. 



JOSHUA, III. 



Joshua, comes to Jordan. 



Eahab concealed the spies, the time of shut- 
ting the gates— the gates of all Oriental cities 
are closed at sunset, after which there is no 
possibility either of admission or egress, 
the men went out— This was a palpable decep- 
tion. But, as lying is a common vice among 
heathen people, Eahab was probably un- 
conscious of its moral guilt, especially as 
she resorted to it as a means for screening 
her guests; and she might deem herself bound 
to do it by the laws of Eastern hospitality, 
which make it a point of honour to pre- 
serve the greatest enemy, if he has once 
eaten one's salt. Judged by the divine 
law, her answer was a sinful expedient; but 
her infirmity being united with faith, she 
was graciously pardoned and her service 
accepted (Ja. 2. 25.). 7. The men pursued 
after them the way to Jordan unto the fords— 
That river is crossed at several well known 
fords. The first and second immediately 
below the sea of Galilee: the third and fourth 
immediately above and below the pilgrims' 
bathing place, opposite Jericho, as soon as 
they were gone . . . shut the gate— This pre- 
caution was to ensure the capture of the 
spies, should they have been lurking in the 
city. 

8-21. The Covenant between Her and 
them. 8-13. She came up unto them to the 
roof and said— Eahab's dialogue is full of in- 
terest, as showing the universal panic and 
consternation of the Canaanites on the one 
hand ch. 24. ll;Deu. 2. 25,), and her strong 
convictions on the other, founded on a know- 
ledge of the divine promise; and the stupen- 
dous miracles that had opened the way of 
the Israelites to the confines of the pro- 
mised land. She was convinced of the # su- 
premacy of Jehovah, and her earnest stipu- 
lations for the preservation of her relatives 
amid the perils of the approaching invasion, 
attest the sincerity and strength of her faith. 
14. The men answered, Our life for yours— This 
was a solemn pledge— a virtual oath, though 
the name of God is not mentioned; and the 
words " if ye utter not this our business," 
were added, not as a condition of their 
fidelity, but as necessary for her safety, 
which might be endangered if the private 
agreement was divulged. 15. Her house was 
on the wall— In many Oriental cities houses 
are built on the walls with overhanging 
windows; in others the town wall forms the 
back wall of the house, so that the window 
opens into the country. Eahab's was pro- 
bably of this latter description, and the cord 
or rope sufficiently strong to bear the weight 
of a man. 16-21. She said— rather " she had 
said," for what follows must have been part 
of the previous conversation. Go, get you to 
the mountain— A range of white limestone 
hills extends on the north, called Quaranta- 
nia now Jebel-Karantul), rising to a height 
of from 1200 to 1500 feet, and the sides of 
which are perforated with caves. Some one 
peak adjoining, was familiarly known to the 
inhabitants as "the mountain." The pru- 
dence and propriety of the advice to flee in 
that direction rather than to the ford, were 
made apparent by the sequel. 21. She bound 
the scarlet line in the window— Probably soon 
after the departure of the spies. It was not 
formed, as some suppose, into net-wprk, as 
a lattice, but simply to hang down the wall. 
Its red colour made it conspicuous, and it 
was thus a sign and pledge of safety to Ea- 
160 



hab's house, as the bloody mark on the lin- 
i tels of the houses of the Israelites in Egypt 
to that people. 

CHAPTEEm. 

Ver. 1-6. Joshua comes to Jordan. 1. 
Joshua rose early in the morning— i.e., on the 
day following that on which the spies hid 
returned with their encouraging report, the 
camp was broken up in Snittim." (the 
acacia groves) and removed to the Eastern 
bank of the Jordan. The duration of their 
stay is indicated (v. 2,), being according to 
Heo. reckoning only one entire day, includ- 
ing the evening of arrival and the morning of 
the passage; and such a time would be abso- 
lutely necessary for so motley an assemblage 
of men, women, and children, with all their 
gear and cattle to make ready for going into 
an enemy's country. 2A. the officers went 
through the host, and commanded the people— 
The instructions given at this time and in 
this place were different from those describ- 
ed en. 1. 11 ). when ye see the ark, &c— The 
usual position of the ark, when at rest, was in 
the centre of the camp; and, during a inarch, 
in the middle of the procession. On this oc- 
casion it was to occupy the van, and be 
borne not by the Kohathite Levites, but the 
priests, as on all solemn and extraordinary 
occasions (cf. Nu. 4. 15; ch. 6. 6; 1 Ki. 8. 3-6.'. 
then ye shall go after it, yet there shall be a 
space between it and you— These instructions 
refer exclusively to the advance into the 
river. The distance which the people were 
to keep in the rear of the ark was nearly a 
mile; had they crowded too near the ark. 
the view would have been intercepted, and 
this intervening space, therefore, was or- 
dered, that the chest containing the sacred 
symbols might be distinctly visible to all 
parts of the camp, and be recognized as their 
guide in the untrodden way. 5. Joshua said 
unto the people— rather "had said," for as he 
speaks of rt to-morrow," the address must 
have been made previous to the day of cros- 
sing, and the sanctificationwas in all proba- 
bility the same as Moses had commanded 
before the giving of the law, consisting of an 
outward cleansing (Ex. 19. 10-15,) preparatory 
to that serious and devout state of mind 
with which so great a manifestation should 
be witnessed. 6. Joshua spake unto the priests 
—This order to the priests would be given 
privately, and involving as it did an import- 
ant change in the established order of march, 
it must be considered as announced in the 
name and by the authority of God. More- 
over, as soon as the priests stepped into the 
waters of Jordan they were to stand still. 
The ark was to accomplish what had been 
done by the rod of Moses. 

7, 8. The Lord encourageth Joshua. 
7, 8. The Lord said to Joshua, this day will I 
magnify thee— Joshua had already received 
distinguished honours (Ex. 24. 13; Deu. 31. 
7.). But a higher token of the divine favour 
was now to be publicly bestowed on him, 
and evidence given in the same unmistake- 
able manner, that his mission and autho- 
rity were from God as was of Moses (Ex. 14. 
31.). 

9-13. Joshua encourageth the Peo- 
ple. 9-13. Come hither and hear the words of 
the Lord— It seems that the Israelites had no 
intimation how they were to cross the river 
till shortly before the event. The premoni- 
tory address of Joshua, taken in connection 



The peopTe encamp at Gi'gal. 



JOSHUA, y, VI. 



Circumcision renewed. 



tiling was finished that the Lord com- 
manded Joshua to speak untu the people, 
according to all that Moses commanded 
Joshua: and the people hasted and passed 
over. 

11 And it came to pass, when all the peo- 
ple were clean passed over, that the ark of 
the Lord passed over, and the priests, in 
the presence of the people. 

12 And y the children of Reuben, and the 
children of Gad, and half the tribe of Alan- 
asseh, passed over armed before the chil- 
dren of Israel, as Moses spake unto them: 

13 About forty thousand a prepared for war 
passed over before the Lord unto battle, 
to the plains of Jericho. 

1-1 IF On that day the Lord * magnified 
Joshua in the sight of all Israel; and they 
feared him, as they feared Moses, all the 
davs of his life. 

lo IF And the Lord spake unto Joshua, 
saying, 

16 Command the priests that bear * the ark 

01 the testimony, that they come up out of 
Jordan. 

17Joshua therefore commanded the priests, 
saying, Come^e up out of Jordan. 

18 And it came to pass, when the priests 
that bare the ark of the covenant of the 
Lord were come up out of the midst of 
Jordan, and the soles of the priests' feet 
were * lifted up unto the dryland, that the 
waters of J ordan returned unto then- place 
and 5 flowed over all his banks, as they did 
before. 

19 IF And the people came up out of Jor- 
dan on the tenth day of the first month, 
and encamped J in Gilgal, in the east border 
of Jericho. 

20 And those twelve stones, which they 
took out of Jordan, did Joshua pitch in 
Gilgal. 

21 And he spake unto the children of 
Israel, saving, When your children shall 
ask their fathers 6 in time to come, saying, 
What mean these stones? 

22 Then ye shall let your children know, 
saying, Israel came over this Jordan on dry 
land. 

23 For the Lord your God dried up the 
waters of Jordan from before you, until ye 
were passed over, as the Lord your God 
did to the Red sea, * which he dried up 
from before us, until we were gone over: 

21 That l all the people of the earth might 
know the hand of the Lord, that it is 
m mighty; that ye might n fear the Lord 
your God 7 for ever. 

CHAPTER V. 

1 The Canaanites afraid. 2 Circumcision is re- 
newed. 10 The passover kept at Gilgal. 13 An 
A ngei appears to Joshua. 

AND it came to pass, when all the kings 
. of the Amorites, which were on the 
side of Jordan westward, and all the kings 
of the Canaanites, a which were by the sea, 
heard & that the Lord had dried up the 
waters of Jordan from before the children 
of Israel, until we were passed over, that 
their heart melted, c neither was there 
spirit in them any more, because of the 
children of Israel. 

2 IF At that time the Lord said unto 
Joshua, Make thee l sharp knives, and 
circumcise again the children of Israel the 
second time. 

3 And J oshua made him sharp knives, and 

161 



B. C. 1451. 



CHAP. 4. 

9 Nu. 32. 20. 

3 Or, ready 
armed. 

h ch. 3. 7. 
i Ex. 25. 16. 

4 plucked up. 

5 went, 
ch. 3. 15. 

f ch. 5. 9. 
ch. 15. 7. 

6 to-morrow. 
* Ex. 14. 21. 
1 1 Ki. 8. 42. 

2 Kin. 19. 
19. 

Ps. 106. 8. 
m Ex. 15.16. 

1 Cor. 29. 

12. 

Ps. 89. 13. 
n Ex. 14. 31. 

Deu 6. 2. 

Psalm 76. 

6-8. 

Jer. 10. 7. 

7 all days. 



CHAP. 5. 

a Nu. 13 29. 
6 Ex. 15. 14. 

Ps. 48. 6. 

Ezek. 21. 7. 
c 1 Ki. 10. 5. 
1 Or, knives 

of flints. 

Ex. 4. 25. 
20r,Gibeah- 

haaraloth. 
d Nu. 14. 29. 

Nu. 26. 64. 

Deu. 2. 16. 
« Deu. 1. 3. 

Ps. 95. 10. 
/ Heb. 3. 11. 
g Nu. 14. 31. 

3 when the 
people had 
made an 
end to be 
circum- 
cised. 

h Gen. 34.25. 
i 1 Sa. 14. 6. 

Lev. 18. 3. 

ch. 24. 14. 

Ezek. 20. 7. 

Ezek. 23. 

3,8. 

4 That is, 
roUinsj. 

$ Ex. 12. 6. 

Nu. 9. 5. 
ft Gen. 18. 2. 

Gen. 32. 24. 

Ex. 23. 23. 

Zech. 1. 8. 

Acts 1. 10. 

5 Or, prince. 
Dan. 10.13, 
21. 

Dan. 12. 1. 

Rev. 12. 7. 

Rev. 19. 11, 

14. 
I Gen. 17. 3. 

Lev. 9. 24. 

Heb. 1. 

2-14. 
m Ex. 3. 5. 

Acts 7. 33. 



CHAP. 6. 

1 did shut up, 
and was 
shut up. 

a ch. 2. 9. 

&Juds.7.16. 



circumcised the children of Israel at 2 the 
hill of the foreskins. 

4 And this is the cause why Joshua did 
circumcise: d All the people that came out 
of Egypt, that ivere males, even all the 
men of war, died in the wilderness by the 
way, after they came out of Egypt. 

5 IN ow all the people that came out were 
circumcised; but all the people that were 
born in the wilderness by the way as they 
came forth out of Egypt, them they had 
not circumcised. 

6 For the children of Israel walked e forty 
years in the wilderness, till all the people 
that were men of war, which came out of 
Egypt, were consumed, because they obeyed 
not the voice of the Lord: unto whom the 
Lord sware that / he would not show them 
the land which the Lord sware unto their 
fathers that he would give us, a land that 
fioweth with milk and honey. 

i 7 And g their children, whom he raised up 
in their stead, them Joshua circumcised: 
for they were uncircumcised, because they 
had not circumcised them by the way. 

8 And it came to pass, 3 when they had 
done circumcising all the people, that they 
abode in their places in the camp h till they 
were whole. 

9 And the Lord said unto Joshua, This 
day have I rolled awav » the reproach of 
Egypt from off you. Wherefore the name 
of the place is called 4 Gilgal unto this 
day. 

10 1F And the children of Israel encamped 
in Gilgal, and kept the passover J on the 
fourteenth day of the month at even in the 
plains of Jericho. 

11 And they did eat of the old corn of the 
land on the morrow after the passover, un- 
leavened cakes, and parched corn in the 
self-same day. 

12 IF And the manna ceased on the morrow 
after they had eaten of the old corn of the 
land; neither had the children of Israel 
manna any more ; but they did eat of the 
fruit of the land of Canaan that year. 

13 1F And it came to pass, when Joshua 
was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes 
and looked, and, behold, there stood * a 
man over against him with his sword drawn 
in his hand: and Joshua went unto him, 
and said unto him, Art thou for us, or for 
our adversaries? 

14 And he said, Nay; but as 5 captain of 
the host of the Lord am I now come. And 
Joshua l fell on his face to the earth, and 
did worship, and said unto him, What 
saith my Lord unto his servant? 

15 And the captain of the Lord's host 
said unto Joshua, m Loose thy shoe from off 
thy foot ; for the place whereon thou 
standest is holy. And Joshua did so. 

CHAPTER VI. 
1 Jericho shut up. 8 The city compassed six days. 

20 The walls fall dmun. 22 liahab is saved. 

26 The rebuilder of Jericho cursed. 
"NJOW Jericho 1 was straitly shut up be- 
-^ cause of the children of Israel: none 
went out, and none came in. 

2 And the Lord said unto Joshua, See, °1 
have given into thine hand Jericho, and the 
king thereof, and the mighty men of valour. 

3 And ye shall compass the city, all ye men 
of war, and go round about the city once. 
Thus shalt thou do six days. 

4 And seven priests shall bear before the 
ark seven & trumpets of rams' horns: and 



Waters of Jordan Divided. 



JOSHUA, IV. 



The People pass over. 



with the miraculous result exactly as he 
had described it, would tend to increase 
and confirm their faith in the God of their 
fathers as not a dull, senseless, inanimate 
thing like the idols of the nations, but a Be- 
ing of life, power, and activity to defend 
them and work for them. 

14. The Waters or Jordan are Di- 
vided. 14. And it came to pass, <fec— To un- 
derstand the scene described we must ima- 
gine the band of priests with the ark on 
their shoulders, standing on the depressed 
edge of the river, while the mass of tne peo- 
ple were at a mile's distance. Suddenly the 
wuole bed of the river was dried up; a spec- 
tacle the more extraordinary that it took 
place in the time of harvest, corresponding 
to our April or May,— when "the Jordan 
overfloweth all its banks." The original 
words may be more properly rendered 

fills all its banks," its channel, snow-fed 
from Lebanon, is at its greatest height— brim 
full: a translation which gives the only true 
description of the state of Jordan in harvest 
as observed by modern travellers. The river 
about Jericho is, in ordinary appearance, 
about 50 or 60 yards in breadth. But as 
seen in harvest, it is twice as broad; and in 
ancient times, when the hills on the right 
and left were much more drenched with rain 
and snow than since the forests have disap- 
peared, the river must, from a greater acces- 
sion of water, have been broader still than 
at harvest time in the present day. 16. the 
waters which c^me down from above— i.e., the 
Sea of Galilee "stood and rose up in a heap," 
a firm, compact barrier (Ex. 15. 8; Ps. 78. 13,), 
"very far," high up the stream; "from the 
city Adam, that is beside Zaretan," near 
mount Sartabeh, in the northern part of the 
Ghor (1 Ki. 7. 46,); i.e., a distance of thirty 
miles from the Israelitish encampment; and 
" those that came down towards the sea of 
the desert "—the Dead Sea— failed and were 
cut off Ps. 114. 2, 3.}. The river was thus 
dried up as far as the eye could reach. This 
was a stupendous miracJe; Jordan takes its 
name, "the Descender," from the force of 
its current, which, after passing the Sea of 
Galilee, becomes greatly increased as it 
plunges through twenty -seven "horrible 
rapids and cascades," besides a great many 
lesser, through a fall of 1000 ft-et, averaging 
from four to five miles an hour. [Lynch.] 
When swollen " in time of harvest," it flows 
with a vastly accelerated current, the priests 
and all the Israelites passed on dry ground— 
the river about Jericho has a firm pebbly 
bottom on which the host might pass with- 
out inconvenience when the water was clear- 
ed off. right against Jericho— The exact spot 
is unknown; but it cannot be that fixed by 
Greek tradition— the pilgrims' bathing-place 
—both because it is too much to the north, 
and the Eastern banks are there sheer pre- 
cipices of 10 or 15 feet high. 

CHAPTER IV. 

Ver. 1-8. Twelve Stones taken for a 
Memorial out of Jordan. 1, 2. The Lord 
spake unto Joshua, Take you twelve men— each 
representing a tribe; they had been previ- 
ously chosen for this service (ch. 3. 12,), and 
the repetition of the command is made here 
solely to introduce the account of its execu- 
tion. Though Joshua had been divinely in- 
structed to erect a commemorative pile, the 
representatives were not apprised of the 
161 



work they were to do till the time of the 
passage. 4, 5. Joshua called the twelve men— 
They had probably, from a feeling of rever- 
ence, kept back, and were standing on the 
eastern bank. They were now ordered to 
advance, and picking up each a stone, pro- 
bably as large as he could carry, from around 
the spot " where the priests stood," pass over 
before the ark, and deposit the stones in the 
place of next encampment (vs. 19, 20,), viz., 
Gilgal. 6, 7. that this may be a sign among 
you— The erection of cairns, or huge piles of 
stones, as monuments of remarkable inci- 
dents, has been common amongst all people, 
especially in the early and rude periods 
of their history. They are the established 
means of perpetuating the memory of im- 
portant transactions, especially amongst the 
nomadic people of the East; and although 
there be no inscription engraven on them, 
the history and object of such simple monu- 
ments are traditionally preserved from age 
to age. Similar was the purpose contem- 
plated by the conveyance of the twelve 
stones to Gilgal: it was that they might be a 
standing record to posterity of the mira- 
culous passage of the Jordan. 8. the children 
of Israel did so— that is, it was done by their 
twelve representatives. 

9. Twelve Stones set up in the 
midst of Jordan. 9. Joshua set up twelve 
stones in the place where the feet of the priests 
strod— In addition to the memorial just de- 
scribed, there was another memento of the 
miraculous event, a duplicate of the former, 
set up in the river itself, on the very spot 
where the ark had rested. This heap of 
stones might have been a large and com- 
pactly-built one, and visible in the ordin try 
state of the river. As nothing is said whence 
these stones were got, some have imagined 
that they might have been gathered in the 
adjoining fields, and deposited by the people 
as they passed the appointed spot, they are 
there unto this day— at least 20 years after the 
event, if we reckon by the date of this his- 
tory (ch. 24. 26,), and much later, if the words 
in the latter clause were inserted by Samuel 
or Ezra. 

10-13. The People pass over. 10. the 
priests who bare the ark stood in the midst of 
Jordan— This position was well calculated to 
animate the people, who probably crossed 
below the ark, as well as to facilitate Joshua's 
execution of the minutest instructions re- 
specting the passage (Num. 27. 21-23.;. The 
unfaltering confidence of the priests con- 
trasts strikingly with the conduct of the 
Seople, who hasted and passed over. 
heir faith, like that of many of God's people, 
was, through the weakness of nature, blended 
with fears. But perhaps their " haste " may 
be viewed in a more favourable light, as 
indicating the alacrity of their obedince, or 
it mighthave been enjoined, in order that 
the whole multitude might pass in one day. 
11. the ark . . . passed over, and the priests in 
the presence of the people— The ark is men- 
tioned as the efficient cause; it had been the 
first to move— it was the last to leave; and 
its movements arrested the deep attention 
of the people, who probably stood on the 
opposite bank, wrapt in admiration and 
awe of this closing scene. It was a great 
miracle, greater even than the passage or 
the EedSea in this respect: that, admitting 
the fact, there is no possibility oi rational- 



Jericho is besieged, 



josiiua, vii. 



taken, and destroyed. 



the seventh day ye shall compass the city 
seven times, and c the priests shall blow 
with the trumpets. 

5 And it shall come to pass, that when 
they make a long blast with the ram's horn, 
and when ye hear the sound of the trum- 
pet, all the people shall shout with a great 
shout; and the wall of the city shall fall 
down 2 flat, and the people shall ascend up 
every man straight before him. 

6 IT And Joshua the son of Nun called the 
priests, and said unto them, Take up the 
ark of the covenant, and let seven priests 
bear seven trumpets of rams' horns before 
the ark of the Lord. 

7 And he said unto the people, Pass on, 
and compass the city, and let him that is 
armed pass on before the ark of the Lord. 

8 11 And it came to pass, when Joshua 
had spoken unto the people, that the seven 

Eriests bearing the seven trumpets of rams' 
orns passed on d before the Lord, and 
blew with the trumpets: and the ark of the 
covenant of the Lord followed them. 

9 And the armed men went before the 
priests that blew with the trumpets, e and 
the 3 rereward came after the ark, the 
priests going on, and blowing with the 
trumpets. 

10 And Joshua had commanded the peo- 
ple, saying, Ye shall not shout, nor 4 make 
any noise with your voice, neither shall 
any word proceed out of your mouth, until 
the day I bid you shout; then shall ye 
shout. 

11 So the ark of the Lord compassed the 
city, going about it once: and they came 
into the camp, and lodged in the camp. 

12 H And Joshua rose early in the morn- 
ing, / and the priests took up the ark of the 
Lord. 

13 And seven priests bearing seven trum- 
pets of rams' horns before the ark of the 
Lord g went on continually, and blew with 
the trumpets: and the armed men went 
before them ; but the rereward came after 
the ark of the Lord, the priests going on, 
and blowing with the trumpets. 

11 And the second day they compassed 
the city once, and returned into the camp: 
so they did six days. 

15 And it came to pass on the seventh 
day, that they rose early, about the dawn- 
ing of the day, and compassed the city 
after the same manner seven times: only 
on that day they compassed the city seven 
times. 

16 And it came to pass at the seventh 
time, when the priests blew with the trum- 
pets. Joshua said unto the people, h Shout; 
for the Lord hath given you the city. 

17 And the city shall be 5 accursed, even 
it, and all that are therein, to the Lord: 
only liahab the harlot shall live, she and 
all that are with her in the house, » because 
she hid the messengers that we sent. 

18 And ye, i in any wise keep yourselves 
from the accursed thing, lest ye make 
yourselves accursed, when ye take of the 
accursed thing, and make the camp of 
Israel a curse, * and trouble it. 

19 But all the silver, and gold, and vessels 
of brass and iron, are 6 consecrated unto 
the Lord: they shall come into the trea- 
sury of the Lord. 

20 So the people shouted when the priests 
blew with the trumpets: and it came to 
pass, when the people heard the sound of 

162 



B. C. 1451. 



CHAP. 6. 

c Nu. 10. 8. 

2 under it. 
d That is, 

before the 
ark. 

ch. 4. 13. 
e Nu. 10. 25. 

3 gathering 
host. 

4 make your 
voice to be 
heard. 

/ Deu. 31.25. 
9 Gal. 6. 9. 
h Judges 7. 

20. 

2 Cbr. 13. 

14. 

5 Or, devot- 
ed. 

Lev. 27. 28. 

Mic. 4. 13. 
t ch. 2. 4. 

Mat. 10. 41. 
/ Deu. 7. 26. 

Deu. 13. 17. 

ch. 7. 1, 11, 

12. 

Is. 52. 11. 

Ro. 12. 9. 

2 Cor. 6. 

17. 

Eph. 5. 11. 

1 Thess. 5. 

22. 
k ch. 7. 25. 

1 Kin. 18. 

17, 18. 

Jonah 1. 

12. 

6 holiness. 

I Heb. 11. 30. 

7 under it. 
wi Deu. 7. 2. 
n ch. 2. 14. 

Heb. 11.31. 
o ch. 2.13. 

8 families. 
P Mat. 1. 5. 

9 B.C. 1427. 
q 1 Kin. 16. 

34. 

Mai. 1. 4. 
r ch, 1. 5. 
8 ch. 9. 1, 3. 

1 Sa. 2. 30. 



CHAP. 7. 

a ch. 22. 20. 

1 1 Chr. 2. 7, 
Achar. 

2 Or, Zimri, 

1 Chr. 2. 6. 

3 about two 
thousand 
men, or 
about three 
thousand 
men. 

6 Lev. 26. 17. 
Deut. 28. 
25. 

4 Or, in 
Morad. 

C ch. 2. 9, 

11. 

Lev. 26. 36. 

Ps. 22. 14. 
d Gen. 37. 

'19. 
e 1 Sam. 4. 

12. 

2 Sa. 1. 2. 
2 Sam. 13. 
19. 

Neh. 9. 1. 
JubS. 12. 



the trumpet, and the people shouted with 
a great shout, that i the- wall fell down 
7 flat, so that the people went up into the 
city, every man straight before him, and 
they took the city. 

21 And they m utterly destroyed all that 
was in the city, both man and woman, 
young and old, and ox, and sheep, and ass, 
with the edge of the sword. 

22 But Joshua had said unto the two men 
that had spied out the country, Go into the 
harlot's house, and bring out thence the 
woman, and all that she hath, n as ye sware 
unto her. 

23 And the young men that were spies 
went in, and brought out liahab, ° and her 
father, and her mother, and her brethren, 
and all that she had; and they brought out 
all her 8 kindred, and left them without 
the camp of Israel. 

24 And they burned the city with tire, and 
all that was therein: only the silver, and 
the gold, and the vessels of brass and of 
iron, they put into the treasury of the 
house of the Lord. 

25 And Joshua saved Rahab the harlot 
alive, and her father's household, and all 
that she had: and p she dwelleth in Israel 
even 9 unto this day; because she hid the 
messengers which Joshua sent to spy out 
Jericho. 

26 1T And Joshua adjured them at that 
time, saying, * Cursed be the man before 
the Lord that riseth up and buildeth this 
city Jericho: he shall lay the foundation 
thereof in his first-born, and in his youngest 
son shall he set up the gates of it. 

27 So r the Lord was with Joshua; and 
his 8 fame was noised throughout all the 
country. 

CHAPTER VII. 

1 Achan's trespass. 2 The Israelites smitten at Ai. 

6 Joshua's complaint: 1U God instructs him 
what to do. 16 Achan taken by lot: ID his con- 
fession : 24 he and all that he had destroyed in 
the valley of Achor. 

TJ UT the children of Israel committed a 
±J trespass in the accursed thing : a for 
i Achan, the son of Carmi, the sou of 

2 Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of 
Judah, took of the accursed thing: and the 
anger of the Lord was kindled against the 
children of Israel. 

2 And Joshua sent men from Jericho to 
Ai, which is beside Beth-aven, on the east 
side of Beth-el, and spake unto them, say- 
ing, Go up and view the country. And the 
men went up and viewed Ai. 

3 And they returned to Joshua, and said 
unto him, Let not all the people go up ; 
but let 3 about two or three thousand men 
go up and smite Ai ; and make not all the 
people to labour thither; for they are but 
tew. 

4 So there went up thither of the people 
about three thousand men: *> and they fled 
before the men of Ai. 

5 And the men of Ai smote of them about 
thirty and six men: for they chased them 
from before the gate even unto Shebarim, 
and smote them 4 in the going down : 
wherefore c the hearts of the people melted, 
and became as water. 

6 1T And Joshua d rent his clothes, and 
fell to the earth upon his face before the 
ark of the Lord until the eventide, he and 
the elders of Israel, and e put dust upon 
their heads. 



God Magnifies Joshua. JOSHUA, V. Circumcision Renewed. 

istic insinuations as to the influence of na- 1 that time— on ttye encampment being made 
tural causes in producing it, as have been j after the passage, the Lord said unto Joshua, 
made in the former case. 12, 13. The chii- make thee sharp knives— Stone knives, collect 
dren of Reuben . . . passed over armed before and make them ready. Flints have been 
the children of Israel— There is no precedency I used in the early times of all people: and 
to the other tribes indicated here; for there j although the use of iron was knownto the 



is no reason to suppose that the usual order 
of march was departed from; but these are 
honourably mentioned to show that, in pur- 
suance of their engagement (eh. 1. 16-18,), 
they had sent a complement of fighting men 
to accompany their brethren in the war of 
invasion, into the plains of Jericho— That 
part of the Araba or Ghor, on the west, is 
about seven miles broad from the Jordan 
to the mountain entrance at Wady-Kelt. 
Though now desert, this valley was in an- 
cient times richly covered with wood— an 
immense palm forest, 7 miles long, sur- 
rounded Jericho. 

14-24. God Magnifies Joshua. 14-17. 
On that day the Lord magnified Joshua — It ap- 
peared clear, from the chief part he acted, 
that he was the divinely-appointed leader : 
for even the priests did not enter the river, 
or quit their position, except at his com- 
mand; and thenceforward his authority was 
as firmly established as that of his prede- 
cessor. 18. The priests who bare the ark were 
come out of the midst of Jordan— Their cros- 
sing, which was the final act, completed the 
evidence of the miracle; for then, and not 
till then, the suspended laws of nature were 
restored, the waters returned to their place, 
and the river flowed with as full a current 
as before. 19. The people came out of Jordan 
on the tenth day of the' first month— i.e., the 
month Nisan, four days before the Passover, 
and the very day when the Paschal Lamb 
required to be set apart, the providence of 
God having arranged that the entrance into 
the promised land should be at the Feast. 
and encamped in Gilgal — the name is here 
given by anticipation see on ch. 5. 9.). It 
was a tract of land, according to Josephus, 
50 stadia (61 miles) from Jordan, and 10 stadia 
(l£ miles) from Jericho at the eastern out- 
skirts of the palm forest, now supposed to 
be the spot occupied by the village Kiha. 
20-24. Those twelve stones did Joshua pitch- 
probably to render them more conspicuous, 
they might be raised on a foundation of 
earth or turf; and the pile was designed to 
serve a double purpose — that of impressing 
the heathen with a sense of the omnipotence 
of God, while at the same time it would 
teach an important lesson in religion to the 
young and rising Israelites in after ages. 
CHAPTER V. 
Ver. 1. The Canaanites Afraid. 1. 
the kings of the Amorites . . . and Canaanites 
by the sea— Under the former designation 
were included the people who inhabited the 
mountainous region, and under the latter 
those who were on the sea-coast of Palestine, 
their heart melted— They had probably rec- 
koned on the swollen river interposing for 
a time a sure barrier of defence. But seeing 
it had been completely dried up, they were 
completely paralysed by so incontestible a 
proof that God was on the side of the in- 
vaders. In fact, the conquest had already 
begun in the total prostration of spirit 
among the native chiefs. "Their heart 
melted," but unhappily not into faith and 
penitent submission. 
2-12. Circumcision is Renewed. 2. At 
162 



Hebrews in the days of Joshua, probably the 
want of a sufficient number of metallic im- 
plements dictated the employment of flints 
on this occasion (cf. Ex. 4. 25.) circumcise 
again . . . the second time— lit. return and 
circumcise. The command did not require 
him to repeat the operation on those who 
had undergone it, but to resume the obser- 
vance of the rite, which had been long dis- 
continued. The language, however, evi- 
dently points to a general circumcising on 
some previous occasion, which, though un- 
recorded, must have been made before the 
celebration of the Passover at Sinai (cf. Ex. 
12. 48; Num. 9. 5,), as a mixed multitude 
accompanied the camp. " The second time " 
of general circumcising was at the entrance 
into Canaan. 3. at the hill— Probably one 
of the argillaceous hills that form the highest 
terrace of the Jordan, or a rising ground at 
the palm forest. 4-7. this is the cause why 
Joshua did circumcise— The omission to cir- 
cumcise the children born iu the wilderness 
might have been owing to the incessant 
movements of the people; but it is most 
generally thought that the true cause was a 
temporary suspension of the covenant with 
the unbelieving race who, being rejected of 
the Lord, were doomed to perish in the 
wilderness, and whose children had to bear 
the iniquity of their fathers (Num. 14. 33,), 
though, as the latter were to be brought into 
the promised land, the covenant would be 
renewed with them. 8. when they had done 
circumcising all the people— As the number of 
those born in the wilderness and uncircum- 
cised must have been immense, a difficulty 
is apt to be felt how the rite could have been 
performed on such a multitude in so short a 
time. But it has been calculated that the 
proportion between those already circum- 
cised (under twenty when the doom was 
pronounced,), and those to be circumcised, 
was one to four, and consequently the whole 
ceremony could easily have been performed 
in a day. Circumcision being the sign and 
seal of the covenant, its peiformance was 
virtually an infeoffment in the promised 
land, and its being delayed till their actual 
entrance into the country was a wise and 
gracious act on the part of God, who post- 
poned this trying duty till the hearts of the 
people, animated by the recent astonishing 
miracle, were prepared to obey the Divine 
will, they abode . . . till they were whole— It 
is calculated that, of those who did not need 
to be circumcised, more than 50,000 were left 
to defend the camp, if an attack had been 
then made upon it. 9. rolled away the re- 
proach of Erypt— The taunts industriously 
cast by that people upon Israel as nationally 
rejected by God by the cessation of circum- 
cision, and the renewal of that rite was a 
practical announcement of the restoration 
of the covenant. [Keil.] Gilgal— No trace 
either of the name or site is now to be found ; 
but it was about 2 miles from Jericho 
[Josephus,], and well suited for an encamp- 
ment, by the advantages of shade and water. 
It was the first place pronounced "holy" in 
the Holy Land [v. 15.). 10. kept the pass.ver 



A chart's trespass. 



JOSTTTTA, TTTT. 



God encourages JosTitta. 



7 And Joshua said, Alas, Lord God, 
wherefore / hast thou at all brought this 
people over Jordan, to deliver us into the 
Land, of the Amorites, to destroy us? would 
to God we had been content and dwelt on 
the other side Jordan! 

8 O Lord, what shall I say, when Israel 
tunieth their 5 backs before their ene- 
mies: 

U For the Canaanites and all the inhabi- 
tants of the land shall hear of it, and shall 
environ us round, and 9 cut off our name 
from the earth: and & what wilt thou do 
unto thy great name? 

10 11 And the Lord said unto Joshua, Get 
thee up ; wherefore 6 liest thou thus upon 
thy face? 

11 Israel hath sinned, and they have also 
tiansgressed my covenant which I com- 
manded them: *for they have even taken 
of the accursed thing, and have also stolen, 
and J 1 ' dissembled also, and they have put it 
even among their own stuff. 

12 Therefore * the children of Israel could 
not stand before their enemies, but turned 
thtir backs before their enemies, because 
they 'were accursed: neither will I be with 
you any more, except ye destroy the ac- 
cursed from among you. 

13 Up, m sanetitV 'the people, and say, 
Sanctify n yourselves against to-morrow: 
for thus saith the Lord God of Israel, 
There is an accursed thing in the midst of 
thee, Israel: thou canst not stand before 
thine enemies, until ye take away the ac- 
cursed thing from among you. 

14 In the morning therefore ve shall be 
brought according to your tribes: and it 
shall be, that the tribe which ° the Lord 
taketh shall come according to the families 
thereof; and the family which the Lord 
shall take shall come by households; and 
the household which the Lord shall take 
shall come man by man. 

15 And p it shall be, tliat he that is taken 
with the accursed thing shall be burnt with 
fire, he and all that he hath: because he 
hath transgressed the covenant of the Lord, 
and because he q hath wrought 7 folly in 
Israel. 

m 16 1f So Joshua rose up early in the morn- 
ing, and brought Israel bv their tribes; and 
the tribe of Judah was taken: 

17 And he brought the family of Judah; 
and he took the family of the Zarhites: and 
he brought the family of the Zarhites man 
by man ; and Zabdi was taken : 

18 And he brought his household man by 
man; and r Achan, the son of Carmi. the 
son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe 
of J udah, was taken. 

19 And Joshua said unto Achan, My son, 
give, 8 1 pray thee, glory to the Lord God 
of Israel, f and make confession unto him; 
and tell me now what thou hast done ; hide 
it not from me. 

ai And Achan answered Joshua, and said, 
Indeed I have sinned against the Lord 
God of Israel, and thus and thus have I 
done: 

21 When I saw among the spoils a goodly 
Baoyloidsh garment, and two hundred 
shekels of silver, and a 8 wedge of gold 
of fifty shekels weight, then I u coveted 
them, and took them ; and, behold, they 
are hid in the earth in the midst of my 
tent, and the silver under it. 

22 So Joshua sent messengers, and they 

163 



CHAP. 7. 

/ Ex. 5. 22. 

2 Ki. 3. 10. 

5 necks. 

9 Ps. S3. 4. 
h Ex. 32. 12. 
Nu.14.13. 

6 tallest. 

t ch. 6. 17. 
j Acts 5. 1. 
*Nu. 14. 45. 

Judg. 2.14. 
I Deu. 7. 20. 

eh. 6. 18. 
m Ex. 19. 10. 
n ch. a 5. 
o Pro. 16. 33. 

Jonah 1. 7. 
P 1 Sam. 14. 

38.39. 
q Gen. 34. 7. 

Judg. 20. 6. 

7 Or, wicked- 
ness. 

r Gen. 4. 7. 

Nu. 32. 23. 

Acts 6. 

1-10. 
« 1 Sa. 6. 6. 

Jer. 13. 16. 

John 9. 24. 
t Nu. 5. 6, 7. 

2 Chr. 30. 

22. 

Ps. 51. 3. 

Dan. 9. 4. 

8 tongue. 

" Pro. 15. 27. 
Eph.5.5. 
1 Tim. 6. 
10. 

9 poured. 

» ch. 15. 7. 
w ch. 6. 18. 

1 Chr. 2. 7. 
Gal. 5. 12. 

* Deu. 17. 5. 
V ch. 8. 29. 

2 Sam. 18. 
17. 

Lam. 3. 53. 
« Deu. 13. 17. 
2 Sam, 21. 
14. 
a Is. 65. 10. 
Hos. 2. 15. 

10 That is, 
trouble. 



CHAP. 8. 
a Deu. 1. 21. 

Deu. 7. 18. 

Deu. 31. 8. 

ch. 1. 9. 
6 ch. 2. 11. 

ch. 6. 2. 

Ps.44. 3. 
c ch. 6. 21. 
d Deu. 20.14. 
e Judg. 20.29. 

1 Or. in 
ambush. 

2 Chr. 13. 
13. 

Ec. 7. 19. 
/ Judg.20.32. 

2 pulled. 

g ch. 1. 16. 

2Sa.13.28. 
A ch. 3. 1. 

ch. 6. 12. 

ch. 7. 10. 

Gen. 22. 3. 

Ps. 101. 8. 

Ps. 119.00. 

Ec. 9. 10. 

Jwr.21.12. 



A ; 



ran unto the tent ; and, behold, it was hid 
in his tent, and the silver under it. 

23 And they took them out of the midst 
of the tent, and brought them -unto Joshua, 
and unto all the children of Israel, and 
9 laid them out before the Lord. 

24 And Joshua, and all Israel with him, 
took Achan the son of Zerah, and the 
silver, and the garment, and the wedge of 
gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and 
his oxen, and his asses, and his sheep, and 
his tent, and all that he had: and they 
brought them unto v the valley of Achor. 

25 And Joshua said, w "Why hast thou 
troubled us? the Lord shall trouble thee 
this day. * And all Israel stoned hiui with 
stones, and burned them with hre, after 
they had stoned them with stones. 

26 And they y raised over him a great 
heap of stones unto this day. So z the 
Lord turned from the fierceness of his 
anger. Wherefore the name of that place 
was called, a The valley of 10 Achor, unto 
this day. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

1 God encourages Joshua. 3 The stratagem 
whereby Ai was taken. 29 The king thereof 
hanged. 30 Joshua builds an altar, writes tlie 
law on stones, and pronounces blessings and 
cursings. 

ND the Lord said unto Joshua, ft Fear 
not, neither be thou dismayed: take all 
the people of war with thee, and arise, go 
up to Ai: see, & I have given into thy hand 
the king of Ai, and his people, and his city, 
and liis land: 

2 And thou shalt do to Ai and her king as 
thou didst unto c Jericho and her king: 
only d the spoil thereof, and the cattle 
thereof, shall ye take for a prey unto your- 
selves: lay thee an ambush for the city be- 
hind it. 

o H So Joshua arose, and all the people of 
war, to go up against Ai: and Joshua chose 
out thirty thousand mighty men of valour, 
and sent them away by night. 

4 And he commanded them, saying, Be- 
hold, e ye shall lie x in wait against the 
city, even behind the city: go not very far 
from the city, but be ye all ready: 

5 And I, and all the people that are with 
me, will approach unto the city: and it 
shall come to pass, when they come out 
against us, as at the first, that /we will flee 
before them, 

6 (For they will come out after us.) till we 
have 2 drawn them from the city; for they 
will say, They flee before us. as at the first: 
therefore we will flee before them. 

7 Then ye shall rise up from the ambush, 
and seize' upon the city: for the Lord jour 
God will deliver it into your hand. 

8 And it shall be, when ye have taken the 
city, that ye shall set the city on fire: ac- 
cording to the commandment of the Lord 
shall ye do. g See, 1 have commanded 
you. 

9 J oshua therefore sent them forth : and 
they went to he in ambush, and abode be- 
tween 13eth-el and Ai, on the west side of 
Ai: but Joshua lodged that night among 
the people. 

10 And Joshua h rose up early in th» 
morning, and numbered the people, and 
went up, he and the eiders of Israel, before 
the people to Ai. 

11 And all the people, even the people of 
war that were with him, went up, and 



JrricltO shut, Up. 



JOSHUA, VI. 



The City Compassed Six Days. 



on the fourteenth day at even— The time fixed 
by the law see Ex. 12. 18; Lev. 23. 5. Num. 
28. 16.'. Thus the national existence was 
commenced by a solemn act of religious 
dedication. 11, 12. they did eat old corn- 
Found in store-houses of the inhabitants 
who had fled into Jericho, parched corn— New 
grain (see on Lev. 23. 10,). probably lying in 
the fields. Roasted — a simple and primitive 
preparation, much liked in the East. This 
abundance of food led to the discontinuance 
of the manna; and the fact of its then ceas- 
ing, viewed in connection with its season- 
able appearance in the barren wilderness, is 
a striking proof of its miraculous origin. 

13-15. An Angel appears to Joshua. 13. 
When Joshua was by Jericho—in the imme- 
diate vicinity of that city, probably engaged 
in surveying the fortifications, and in medi- 
tating the best plan of a siege, there stood 
a man with a sword drawn— It is evident from 
the strain of the context that this was not a 
mere vision, but an actual appearance; the 
suddenness of which surprised, but did not 
daunt, the int' epid leader. 14. the host of the 
Ljrd— either the Israelitish people Ex. 7. 4; 
12. 41; Isa. 55. 4,), or the angels (Fs. 148. 2,\ or 
both included, and the Captain of it was the 
angel of the covenant, whose visible mani- 
festations were varied according to the occa 
sion. His attitude of equipment betokened 
his approval of, and interest in, the war of 
invasion. Joshua fell on his face, and did 
worship— The adoption by Joshua of this ab- 
solute form of prostration, demonstrates the 
sentiments of profound reverence with which 
the language and majestic bearing of the 
stranger inspired him. The re J character of 
this personage was disclosed by His accepting 
the lion age of worship (cf. Ac. 10. 25, 26; Eev. 
19. 10,), and still further in the command, 
"Loose thy shoe from off thy foot." (Ex. 3. 5.) 
CQAFTEK VI. 

Ver. 1--7. Jericho shut up. 1. Now 
Jericho was str titly shut up— This verse is a 
parenthesis introduced to prepare the way 
for the < irections given by the Captain of 
the Lord's host. See, I have given into 
thine hand— the language intimates that a 
purpose already formed was about to be 
carried into immediate execution; and that, 
although the king and inhabitants of Jeri- 
cho were fierce and experienced warriors 
who would make a stout and determined re- 
sistance, the Lord promised a certain and 
easy victory over them. 3-5. Ye shall com- 
pass the city, &c— Directions are here given 
as to the mode of procedure. Heb., " horns 
of jubilee;" i.e., the bent or crooked trumpets 
with which the jubilee was proclaimed. It 
is probable that the horns of this animal 
were used at first; and that afterwards, when 
metallic trumpets were introduced, the 
primitive name, as well as form of them, was 
traditionally continued. The design of this 
whole proceeding was obviously to impress 
the Canaanites with a sense of the Divine 
Omnipotence— to teach the Israelites a me- 
morable lesson of faith and confidence in 
God's promises, and to inspire sentiments of 
respect and reverence for the ark, as the 
symbol of His presence. The length of 
time during which those circuits were made 
tended the more intensely to arrest the at- 
tention, and to deepen the impressions, both 
of the Israelites and the enemy. The num- 
ber seven was among the Israelites the sym- 
163 



bolic seal of the covenant between God and 
their nation. [Keil. Heng.] 6, 7. Joshua 
called the priests — The pious leader, whatever 
military preparations he had made, surren- 
dered all his own views at once and unre- 
servedly, to the declared will of God. 

8-19. The City Compassed Six Davs. 
8-11. passed on before the Lord — before the 
ark, called " the ark of the covenant," for it 
contained the tables on which the covenant 
was inscribed. The procession was made in 
deep and solemn silence, conformably to the 
instructions given to the people by their 
leader at the outset, that they were to refrain 
from all acclamation and noise of any kind, 
until he should give them a signal. It must 
have been a strange sight; no mount was 
raised, no sword drawn, no engine planted, 
no pioneers undermining— here were armed 
men, but no stroke given; they must 
walk and not fight. Doubtless the people 
of Jericho made themselves merry with 
the spectacle. [Bp. Hall] 12-14. Joshua 
rose early in the morning — The second day's 
procession seems to have taken place in 
the morning. In all other respects down, 
even to the smallest details, the arrange- 
ments of the first day continued to be the 
rule followed on the other six. 15. On the 
seventh day they rose early,about the dawning of 
the day— On account of the seven circuits they 
had to make that day. It is evident, how- 
ever, that the mi lit a only of the Israel- 
ites had been called to the march— for it is 
inconceivable that two millions of people 
could have gone so frequently round the city 
in a day. 16. it came to pass at the seventh 
time— This delay brought out their faith 
and obedience in so remarkable a manner, 
that it is celebrated by the apostle Heb. 
11. 30.). 17-19. the city shall be accursed— ,See 
on Lev. 27. 28. 29.). The chercm, < r anathema, 
was a devotion to utter destruction (I)eu. 
7.2; 20. 17; 1 Sam. 15. 3.). When such a ban was 
pronounced against a hostile city, the men 
and animals were killed— no booty was al- 
lowed;to be taken; the ido s and all the pre- 
cious ornaments on them were to be burned 
(Deu. 7. 25;cf. 1 Chron. 14.12.) ; every thing was 
either to be destroyed, or consecrated to the 
sanctuary. Joshua p onounced this ban on 
Jericho, a great and wealthy city, evidently 
by Divine direction, and the severity of 
the doom, accordant with the require- 
ments of a law which was holy, just, and 
good, was justified not only by the fact of 
its inhabitants being part of a race who had 
filled up their iniquities, but by their resist- 
ing the light of the recent astonishing miracle 
at the Jordan. Besides, as Jericho seems to 
have been defended by re-inforcements from 
all the country(ch.24.11.),its destructionwould 
paralyze all the rest of the devoted people, 
and thus tend to facilitate the conquest 
of the land; showing, as so astounding a 
military miracle did, that it was done, hot 
by man, but by the power, and through 
the anger of God. 18. in any wise keep 
yourselves from the accursed thing— Gene- 
rally they were left at liberty to take the 
spoil of other cities that were captured 
(Deu. 2. 35; 3. 7; ch. 8. 27.). But this, as the 
first-fruits of Canaan, w r as made an excep- 
tion; nothing was to be spared but H&hab 
and those in her house. A violation of 
these stringent orders would not only render 
the guilty persons obnoxious the curse, 



Ai taken and destroyed. 



JOSHUA, IX. 



The law read on mount Thai. 



drew nigh, and came before the city, and 
pitched on the north side of Ai: now there 
was a valley between them and Ai. 

12 And he took about live thousand men, 
and set them to lie in ambush * between 
Beth-el and Ai, on the west side 3 of the 
city. 

13 And when they had set the people, 
even all the host that was on the north of 
the city, and 4 then- liers in wait on the 
west ol the city, Joshua went that night 
into the midst of the valley. 

14 And it came to pass, when the king of 
Ai saw it, that they hasted, and rose up 
early, and the men of the city went out 
against Israel to battle, he and all his 
people, at a time appointed, before the 
plain: but he wist i not that there were 
liers in ambush against him behind the 
city. 

15 And Joshua and all Israel k made as if 
they were beaten before them, and fled l by 
the way of the wilderness. 

1G And all the people that were in Ai were 
called together to pursue after them : 
and they pursued after Joshua, and were 
drawn m away from the city. 

17 And there was not a man left in Ai or 
Beth-el that Avent not out after Israel: and 
they left the city open, and pursued after 
Israel. 

13 And the Lord said unto J oshua, Stretch 
out the spear that is in thy hand toward 
Ai ; for n I will give it into thine hand. 
And Joshua stretched out the spear that 
lie had in his hand toward the city. 

19 And the ambush arose quickly out of 
their place, and they ran as soon as he had 
stretched out his hand: and they entered 
into the city, and took it, and hasted and 
set the city on lire. 

20 AndAvhenthe men of Ai looked behind 
them, they saAv, and, behold, the smoke of 
the city ascended up to heaven, and they 
had no » power to flee this way or that way: 
and the people that tied to the wilderness 
turned back upon the pursuers. 

21 And AA'hen Joshua and all Israel saw 
that the ambush had taken the city, and 
that the smoke of the city ascended, then 
they turned again, and slew the men of 
Ai. 

22 And the other issued out of the city 
against them ; so they were in the midst of 
Israel, some on this side, and some on that 
side: and they smote them, so that they 
let ° none of them remain or escape. 

23 And the king of Ai they took alive, and 
brought him to Joshua. 

21 And it came to pass, when Israel had 
made an end of slaying all the inhabitants 
of Ai in the field, in the Avilderness Avherein 
they chased them, and when they Avere all 
fallen on the edge of the sAvord, until they 
were consumed, that all the Israelites re- 
turned unto Ai, and smote it with the edge 
of the sAA-ord. 

25 And so it Avas, that all that fell that 
day, both of men and women, were twelve 
thousand, even all the men of Ai. 

26 For Joshua dreAv not his hand back, 
whereAA-ith he stretched out the spear, until 
he had utterly destroyed all the inhabit- 
ants of Ai. 

27 Only p the cattle, and.the spoil of that 
city, Israel took for a prey unto themselves, 
according unto the Avord of the Loan which 
he commanded Joshua. 

104 



B. C. 1461. 



CHAP. 8. 

i Gen. 12. 8. 

Gen. 28. 19. 

Judg. 1.22. 

3 Or, of Ai. 

4 their lying 
in wait. 

,; Judg.20.34. 

Ec. 9. 12. 
k Judg. 20. 

36. 
I ch. 15. 61. 

ch. 16. 1. 

ch. 18. 12. 

m £s.od. 14. 

3,4. 

Ps. 9. 16. 

Judg. 20. 

31. 
n Jer. 49. 3. 

5 hand. 
Ps. 76. 5. 
Job 11. 20. 
Amos 2.14. 

o Lev. 27. 29. 

Deu. 7. 2. 
P Num. 31. 

22, 26. 
q Deu. 13.16. 
r ]>.C. 1427. 
8 oh. 10. 26. 

Pa. 107. 40. 

Ps. 110. 5. 
* Deu. 21. 23. 

ch. 10. 27. 
u ch. 7. 26. 

ch. 10. 27. 

2 Sa. 18.17. 

V Gen. 8. 20. 
Gen. 12. 
7,8. 

Ex. 20. 24. 
w Deut. 27. 

4.5. 
« Ex. 20. 25. 

Deut. 27. 

5,6. 

V Ex. 20. 24. 
« Deu.27.2,8. 
a Deu. 31. 

9,25. 

6 Deu. 31. 12. 
c Deu. 11. 29. 

Deu. 27. 12. 
d Deu. 31.11. 

Neh. 8. 3. 
e Deu. 28. 2, 

15,45. 

Deut. 29. 

20, 21. 

Deut. 30. 

19. 
/Deu. 31. 12. 
g Ex. 12. 38. 

Zech. 8. 23. 
6 walked. 



CHAP. 9. 
a N U . 34. 6. 
b Ex. 3. 17. 

Ex. 23. 23. 
C Psalm 83. 

3,5. 
1 mouth. 
d ch. 10. 2. 

2 Sam. 21. 
1,2. 
e ch. 6. 27. 
/ Job 32. 19. 

Mat. 9. 17. 
g ch. 5. 10. 
h ch. 11. 19. 
i Ex. 23. 32. 

Deu. 7- 2. 

Judg. 2. 2. 
j Deut. 20. 

11. 

2 Ki. 10. 5. 



28 And Joshua burnt Ai, and made it q au 
heap for ever, even a desolation unto r this 
day. 

29 And 8 the king of Ai he hanged on a 
tree until eventide: * and as soon as the 
sun was down, Joshua commanded that 
they should take his carcase down irom the 
tree, and cast it at the entering of the gate 
of the city, and u raise thereon a great 
heap of stones, that remaineth unto this 
day. 

30 IT Then Joshua v built an altar unto the 
Lord God of Israel w in mount Ebal, 

31 As Moses the servant of the Lord com- 
manded the children of Israel, as it is 
written in the a book of the laAV of Moses, 
an altar of Avhole stones, over which no 
man hath lift up any iron: and y they 
otfered thereon burnt offerings unto the 
Lord, and sacrificed peace offerings. 

32 And * he aa rote there upon the stones 
a copy of the Law of Moses, which he Avrote 
in the presence of the children of Israel. 

33 And all Israel, and their elders, and 
officers, and their judges, stood on this 
side the ark and on that side before the 
priests the Levites, * which bare the ark of 
the covenant of the Lord, as well b the 
stranger, as he that was born among them; 
half of them over against mount Gerizim, 
and half of them over against mount Ebal; 
as c Moses the servant of the Lord had 
commanded before, that they should bless 
the people of Israel. 

31 And afterward d he read all the words 
of the haw, e the blessings and cursings, 
according to all that is Avntten in the book 
of the law. 

35 There was not a word of all that .Moses 
commanded, which Joshua read not before 
all the congregation of Israel, / with the 
women, and the little ones, and the 
strangers g that 6 were conversant among 
them. 

CHAPTER IX. 
1 The kings combine aqainst Israel. 3 The Gibe- 
onites, obtaining a "league by craft, 16 are con- 
demned to perpetual bondage- 

A ND it came to pass, when all the kings 
J °- which were on this side Jordan, in the 
hills, and in the valleys, and in all tne 
coasts of a the great sea over against Le- 
banon, b the Hittite, and the Amorite, the 
Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and 
the Jebusite, heard thereof, 

2 That they c gathered: themselves to- 
gether, to fight Avith Joshua and Avith 
Israel, Avith one i accord. 

3 H And when the inhabitants of «* Gibeon 
heard e aa hat J oshua had done unto J ericho 
and to Ai, 

4 They did work Avilily, and went and 
made as if they had been ambassadors, and 
took old sacks upon their asses, and/Avine 
bottles, old, and rent, and bound up ; 

5 And old shoes and clouted upon their 
feet, and old garments upon them ; and all 
the bread of their proAision Avas dry and 
mouldy. 

6 And they went to Joshua g unto the 
camp at Gilgal, and said unto him, and to 
the men of Israel, We be come from a far 
country: now therefore make ye a league 
with us. 

7 And the men of Israel said unto h the 
Hivites, Peradventure ye dAvell among us; 
and * how shall Ave make a league Avith you 8 

8 And they said unto Joshua, i We are 



Rahab is Saved, 



JOSHUA, vn. 



The Israelites Smitten 



but entail distress and adversity upon all 
Israel, by provoking the divine displeasure. 
These were the instructions given, or re- 
peated (Deu. 13. 17; 7. 26.), previously to the 
last act of the siege. 

20, 21. The Walls Fall Down. 20. So 
the people shouted when the priests blew— 
Towards the close of the seventh circuit, the 
signal was given by Joshua, and on the 
Israelites raising their loud war-cry, the 
walls fell down, doubtless burying multi- 
tudes of the inhabitants in the ruins, while 
the besiegers, rushing in, consigned every 
thing animate and inanimate to indiscrimi- 
nate destruction. (Deu. 20. 16, 17.) Jewish 
wr ters mention it as an immemorial tradi- 
tion, that the city fell on the Sabbath. It 
should be remembered that the Canaanites 
were incorrigible idolators, addicted to the 
most horrible vices, and that the righte- 
ous judgment of God might sweep them away 
by the sword, as well as by famine or pesti- 
lence. There was mercy mingled with judg- 
ment in employing the sword as the instru- 
ment of punishing the guilty Canaanites, 
for while it w;s directed against one place, 
time was afforded for others to repent. 

22-25. Rahab is Saved. 22, 23. Joshua 
srdd, Go into the harlot's house— it is evident 
that the town walls were not demolished 
universally, at least all at once, for Rahab's 
house was allowed to stand until her re- 
latives were rescued according to promise, 
were left without the camp of Israel— a tem- 
porary exclusion, in order that they might be 
cleansed from the defilement of their native 
idolatries, and gradually trained for admis- 
sion into the society of God's people. 24. 
Burned the city and all therein— except the 
silver, gold, and other metals, which, as they 
would not burn, were added to the treasury 
of the sanctuary. 25. Rahab dwelleth in Israel 
unto this day— a proof that this book was 
written not long after the events related. 

26, 27. The Rebuilder of Jericho 
Cursed. 26. Joshua adjured them at that 
time— i.e., imposed upon his countrymen a 
solemn oath, binding on themselves as well 
as their posterity, that they would never re- 
build that city. Its destruction was designed 
by God to be a permanent memorial of His 
abhorrence of idolatry, and its attendant 
vices. Cursed be the man that riseth up— i.e., 
makes the daring attempt to build, he shall 
lay the foundation in his first-born, &c. — shall 
become childless— the first beginning being 
marked by the death of his eldest son, and 
h.-s only surviving child dying at the time 
of its completion. This curse was accom- 
plished 550 years after its denunciation (See 
on 1 Ki. 16. 34.). 

CHAPTER VH. 

Ver. 1. Achat's Trespass. 1. The chil- 
dren of Israel committed a trespass in the ac- 
cursed thing— There was one transgressor, 
| against the cherem, or ban, on Jericho, and | 
his transgression brought the guilt and dis-l 
grace of sin upon the whole nation. Achan, j 
called afterwards Achar (trouble ) (1 Chr. j 
2. 7. . Zabdi, or Zimri (1 Chr. 2. 6.). Zerah, l 
or Zarah, son of Judah and Tamar (Gen. 38. i 
30. 1. His genealogy is idven probably to show ! 
that from a parentage so infamous the de- j 
scendants would not be carefully trained in ; 
the fear of God. 

2-26. The Israelites Smitten at Ai. ! 
2. Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai — 
164 



after the sacking of Jericho, the next step 
was to penetrate into the hills above. Ac- 
cordingly, spies went up the mountain- 
pass to view the country. The precise site 
of Ai or Hai is indicated with sufficient 
clearness (Gen. 12. 8; 13. 3,), and has Veen 
recently discovered in an isolated Tell, 
called by the natives Tell-el-hajar, "the 
Mount of Stones," at two miles, or thirty- 
five minutes' distance, east-south-east, from 
Bethel. [Van de Velde.] Bethaven— 
(" house of vanity,") a name afterwards given 
derisively (Hos. 4. 15; 5. 8; 10. 6;) on account 
of its idolatries to Bethel, "house of God." 
But here referred to another place, about 
six miles east of Bethel, and three north of 
Ai. 3. Let not all the people go up, for thev are 
but *ew— As the population of Ai amoui t^d 
to 1200 (ch. 8. 25,) it was a considerable town; 
though in the hasty and distant reconnoitre 
made by the spies, it probably appeared 
small in comparison of Jericho, and this may 
have been the reason of their proposing so 
small a detachment to capture it. 4, 5. They 
fled before the men of Ai— An unexpected re~ 
sistance, and the loss of thirtv-six of their 
number, diffused a panic, which ended in an 
ignominious rout. Chased them .... even 
unto Shebarim— i.e., unto the "breakings" 
or "fissures" at the opening of the passes, 
and smote them in the going down— i.e., the 
declivity or slope of the deep rugged adjoin- 
ing wady. wherefore the hearts of the people 
melted.— It is evident that the troops en- 
gaged were a tumultuary, undisciplined 
band, no better skilled in military affairs 
than the Bedouin Arabs, who bee me dis- 
heartened and flee on the loss often or fifteen 
men. But the consternation of the Israeli tes 
arose from another cause— the evident dis- 
pleasure of God who withheld that aid 
on which they had confidently reckoned. 
6 9. Joshua rent his clothes and fell . . . before 
the ark, he and the elders— it is evident, from 
those tokens of humiliation and sorrow, that 
a solemn fast w r as observed on this occasion. 
The language of Joshua's prayer is thought by 
many to savour of human infirmity, and 
to be wanting in that reverence and submis- 
sion he owed to God. But, although appar- 
ently breathing a spirit of bold remonstrance 
and complaint, it was in reality the effusion 
of a deeply humbled and afflicted mind, ex- 

Eressing his belief that God could not, after 
aving sm miraculously brought His people 
over Jordan into the promised land, intend 
to destroy them, to expose them to the in- 
sults of their triumphant enemies, and 
bring reproach upon his own name for incon- 
stancy or unkindness to His peop e, or in- 
ability to resist their enemies. Unable to 
understand the cause of the present calamity 
he owned the hand of God. 10-15. the Lord 
said, Get thee up— The answer of the divine 
oracle was to this effect:— the crisis is owing 
not to unfaithfulness in Me, but sin in the 
people. The conditions of the covenant 
have been violated by the reservation of 
spoil from the doomed city, wickedness, 
emphatically called folly, has been commit- 
ted in Israel, iPs. 14. 1,) and dissimulation, 
with other aggravations of the crime, con- 
tinues to be practised. The people are 
liable to destruc ion equally with the 
accursed nations of Canaan (Dent. 7. 26.). 
Means must, without delay, be taken to 
discover and punish the perpetrator of 



Fraud of the Gibeonites. 



JOSHUA, X. 



Joshua rescueth Gibeon. 



thy servants. And Joshua said unto them, 
Who are ye ? and from whence come 
ye? 

9 And they said unto him, * From a very 
far country thy servants are come because 
of the name of the Lord thy God: for we 
have c heard the fame of him, and all that 
he did in Egvpt, 

10 And m all that he did to the two kings 
of the Amorites, that were beyond Jordan, 
to Sihon king of Heshbon, and to Og king 
of Bashan, which was at Ashtaroth. 

11 Wherefore our elders and all the in- 
habitants of our country spake to us, say- 
ing, Take victuals 2 with you for the 
journey, and go to meet them, and say 
unto them, We are your servants: there- 
fore now make ye a league with us. 

12 This our bread we took hot for our 
provision out of our houses on the day we 
came forth to go unto you ; but now, 
behold, it is dry. and it is mouldy: 

13 And these bottles of wine which we 
filled were new; and, behold, they be rent: 
and these our garments and our shoes are 
become old by reason of the very long 
journey. 

14 And 3 the men took of their victuals, 
and n asked not counsel at the mouth of 
the Lord. 

15 And Joshua ° made peace with them, 
and made a league with them, to let them 
live: and the princes of the congregation 
sware mito them. 

16 11 And it came to pass, at the end of 
three days after they had made a league 
with them, that they heard that they were 
their neighbours, and that they dwelt 
among them. 

17 And the children of Israel journeyed, 
and came unto then cities on the third day. 
Now their cities were p Gibeon, and Che- 
phirah, and Beeroth, and Kiriath-jearim. 

18 And the children of Israel smote them 
not, q because the princes of the congrega- 
tion had sworn unto them by the Lord 
God of Israel. And all the congregation 
murmured against the princes. 

19 But all the princes said unto all the 
congregation, We have sworn unto them 
by the Lord God of Israel: now therefore 
we may not touch them. 

20 This we will do to them ; we will even 
let them live, lest r wrath be upon us, be- 
cause of the oath which we sware unto 
them. 

21 And the princes said unto them, Let 
them live; but let them be • hewers of 
wood and drawers of water unto all the 
congregation; as the princes had promised 
them. 

22 H And Joshua called for them, and he 
spake unto them, saying^Wherefore have 
ye beguiled us, saying. We are very far 
from you; when ye dwell among us? 

23 Now therefore ye are t cursed : and 
there shall * none of you be freed from being 
bondmen, and hewers of wood and drawers 
of water for the house of my God. 

21 And they answered Joshua, and said, 
Because it was certainly told thy servants, 
how that the Lord thy God u commanded 
his servant Moses to give you all the land, 
and to destroy all the inhabitants of the 
land from beiore you, therefore v we were 
sore afraid of our lives because of you, and 
have done this thing. 

25 And now, behold, we are w in thine 
165 



B. C. 1451. 



CHAP. 9. 
k Deu. 20.15. 

1 Ex. 15. 14. 
Josh. 2. 10. 

m Num. 21. 
24,33. 

2 in your 
hand. 

3 Or, they 
received 
the men 
by reason 
of their 
victuals. 

»Nu.27.21. 
Judg. 1. 1. 
1 Sam. 22. 
10. 

1 Sam. 23. 
10, 11. 

1 Sa. 30. 8. 

2 Sa. 2. 1. 
2 Sam. 5. 
19. 

Is. 30.1,2. 
o 2 Sa. 21. 2. 
P eh. 18. 25. 

Ezra 2. 25. 
q Ps. 15. 4. 
r 2 Sa. 21. 1. 

Ezek. 17. 

13, 15, 18. 

19. 

Zech. 6. 

3,4. 

Mai. 3. 5. 
8Dou.29.ll. 
t Gen. 9. 25. 

4 not be cut 
off from 
you. 

"Ex. 23.32. 

Deut. 7. 

1,2. 
V Ex. 15. 14. 
w Gen. 16. 6. 

5 gave, or, 
delivered 
to be. 

1 Chr. 9. 2. 

Ezra 8. 20. 

x Deu. 12. 5. 



CHAP. 10. 

a ch 6. 21. 

b ch. 8. 22. 

c ch. 9. 15. 

d Ex. 15. 14, 
15, 16. 
Deut. 11. 
25. 

1 cities of 
the king- 
dom. 

e Gen. 23. 2. 
Nu. 13. 22. 

f ch. 9. 15. 

9 ch. 9. 2. 

h ch. 5. 10. 

i ch. 8. 1. 

j ch. 11. 6. 
Judg. 4. 14. 

k ch. 1. 5. 

I Judg. 4. 15. 

1 Sa. 7. 10, 
12. 

Pa. 18. 14. 
Is. 28. 21. 

2 Chr. 14. 
12. 

«*ch.l6.3,5. 
n ch. 15. 35. 
o Ps. 18. 13, 

14. 

Ps. 77. 17. 

Is. 28. 2. 

Is. 30. 30. 

Rev. 16.21. 



hand: as it seemeth good and right unto 
thee to do unto us, do. 

26 And so did he unto them, and delivered 
them out of the hand of the children of 
Israel, that they slew them not. 

27 And Joshua 5 made them that day 
hewers of wood and drawers of water for 
the congregation, and for the altar of the 
Lord, even unto this day, * in the place 
which he should choose. 

CHAPTER X. 

1 Five kings war against Gibeon.' 6 Joshua res- 
cues it. 10 God fights against them with hail- 
stones. 12 The sun and moon stand still at the 
word of Joshua. 26 The five kings hanged. 'JS 
Seven more kings Conquered. 40 Joshua's re- 
turn. 

MOW it came to pass, when Adoni-zedek 
x king of Jerusalem had heard how 
Joshua had taken Ai, and had utterly de- 
stroyed it; a as he had done to Jericho and 
her king, so he had done to b Ai and 
her king; and c how the inhabitants of 
Gibeon had made peace with Israel, and 
were among them ; 

2 That they d feared greatly, because 
Gibeon was a great city, as one of the 
1 royal cities, and because it was greater 
than Ai, and all the men thereof were 
mighty. 

3 Wherefore Adoni-zedek king of Jerusa- 
lem sent unto Hoham king of e Hebron, 
and unto Piram king of Jarmuth, and unto 
Japhia king of Lachish, and unto Debir 
king of Eglon, saying, 

4 Come up unto me, and help me, that we 
mav smite Gibeon: /for it hath made peace 
with J oshua and with the children of Israel. 

5 Therefore the five kings of the Amorites, 
the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, 
the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, 
the king of Eglon, g gathered themselves 
together, and went up, they and all their 
hosts, and encamped before Gibeon, and 
made war against it. 

6 1F And the men of Gibeon sent unto 
Joshua h to th6 camp to Gilgal, saying, 
Slack not thy hand from thy servants; 
come up to us quickly, and save us, and 
help us: for all the kings of the Amorites 
that dwell in the mountains are gathered 
together against us. 

7 So Joshua ascended from Gilgal, he, 
and i all the people of war with him, and 
all the mighty men of valour. 

8 H And the Lord said unto Joshua, / Fear 
them not: for I have delivered them into 
thine hand; * there shall not a man of them 
stand before thee. 

9 Joshua therefore came unto them sud- 
denly, and went up from Gilgal all night. 

10 And the Lord l discomfited them be- 
fore Israel, and slew them with a great 
slaughter at Gibeon, and chased them along 
the way that goeth up m to Beth-horou, 
and smote them to "Azekah, and unto 
Makkedah. 

11 And it came to pass, as they fled from 
before Israel, and were in the going down 
to Beth-horon, ° that the Lord cast down 
great stones from heaven upon them unto 
Azekah, and they died : they were more 
which died with hailstones than they 
whom the children of Israel slew with the 
sword. 

12 11 Then spake Joshua to the Lord in 
the day when the Lord delivered up the 
Amorites before the children of Israel, and 



Achan is Put to Death. 



this trespass, that Israel may be released 
irom the ban, an i things be restored to 
their former state of prosperity. 16-18. So 
Joshua rose early, and brougnt Israel by tribes 
— i. e., before the tabernacle. The lot 
being appealed to (Fro. 16. S3.), he pro- 
ceeded in the enquiry from heads of tribes to 



JOSHUA, VI 11. God JSncourageth Joshua. 

victory; and thus the case of Ai affords a 
striking example of God's disciplinary go- 
vernment, in which chastisements for sin are 
often made, to pave the way for a bestow- 
ment oi those temporal benefits, which, on 
account of sin, have been withdrawn, or 
withheld for a time. Joshua, who had 



heads of families, and from heaas of house- been greatly dispirited, was encouraged by 
holds in succession to one family and to i a special communication promising him 
particular persons in that family, until the j (see ch. 1. 6; Deu. 31. 6-8.) success in the next 
criminal was found to be Achan, who, on attempt, which, however, was to be con- 
Joshua's admonition, confessed the fact of , ducted ou different principles, take ali tlu 



having secreted for his own use, in the floor 
of his tent, spoil both in garments and 
money. How dreadful must have been 
his feelings when he saw the slow but cer- 
tain process of discovery (Num. 32. 23.). 
19. Joshua said, My son, give glory to God 



people of war with thee, and arise, go up to Ai— 
The number of fighting men amounted to 
600,000, and the whole force was ordered on 
this occasion, partly because the spies, in 
their self-confidence, had said that a few were 
sufficient to attack the place (ch. 7. 3.), partly 



form of adjuration to tell the truth. 20. A j to dispel any misgivings which the memory 
goodly Babylonish garment— lit., a mantle of j of the late disaster might have created, and 
Shinar. The plain of Shinarwas in early i partly that the circumstance of the first spell 
times celebrated for its gorgeous robes, which ; obtained in Canaan being shared amongst 
were of brilliant and various colours, gene- j all, might operate both as a reward for obe- 
rally arranged in figured patterns, probably | dience in refraining from the booty oi Jeri- 
resemblmg those of modern Turkey carpets, j cho, and as an incentive to future exei tions. 
and the colours were either interwoven in the i (Deu. 6. 10.) The rest of the people, including 
loom or embroidered with the needle. 200 ; the women and children, remained in the 
shekels of silver— equivalent to £22 10s. ster- camp at Gilgal. Being in the plains of Jeri- 
ling, according to the old Mosaic shekel, or cho, it was an ascent to Ai, which was on a 
the half of that sum, reckoning by the com- 1 hill. I have given into thy hand .... lay an 
mon shekel. A wedge of gold— lit., an ingot j ambush for the city— God assured him of its 
or bar m the shape of a tongue. 22, 23. capture, but allowed him to follow his own 
J oshua sent messengers, and they ran unto the I tactics in obtaining the possession. 3-28. So 
tent —Irom impatient eagerness not only I Joshua . . . chose out thirty thousand men of 
to te»t the truth of the story, but to clear | valour— Joshua despatched 30,000 men un- 
Israel from the imputation of guilt. Hav- j der covert of night, to station themselves 
mg discovei ed the stolen articles, they laid at the place appointed for the ambuscade, 
th 'in out before the Lord, "as a token of j Out of this number a detachment of 5000 
their be onging to Him" on account of the were sent forward to conceal themselves 



ban. 24-26. Joshua and all Israel with him, 
took Achan— himself with his children and 
all his property, cattle 
were brought into one 



in the immediate precincts of the town, in 
order to seize the first opportunity of throw- 
well as moveables, | ing themselves into it. 4. behind the city 
of the long broad —is rendered {v. 9,) " on the west of Ai." be- 



rayines that open into the Ghor, and after j tween Beth-el and Ai— Beth-el, though lying 



being stoned to death (JS 7 um. 15. 30-35,), his quite near, in the direction of west by north 
corpse, with all belonging to him, was con- j cannot be seen from Tell- el-h ajar; two rocky 
sumed to ashes by fire. " All Israel" were ' 
present, not only as spectators, but active 
agents, as many as possible, in inflicting 
the punishment— thus testifying their ab- 
horrence of the sacrilege, and their in- 
tense solicitude to regain the divine fa- 
vour. As the divine law expressly forbade 



heights rise between both places, in the wady 
El-Murogede? just as the laying of an amb sh 
to the west of Ai would require. [Van.de 
Velde,.Rob.] 10. Joshua numbered the people 
—i.e., the detachment of liers-in-wait; he did 
this, to be furnished with clear evidence 
afterwards, that the work had been done 
the children to be put to death for their ] without any loss of men, whereby the peo- 
fathers' sins (Deut. 24. 16,), the conveyance of J pie's confidence in God would be strength- 
Achan's '* sons and daughters " to the place j ened, and encouragement given them to pro- 
of execution might be only as spectators, | secute the war of invasion with vigour, he 
that they might take warning by the parental land the elders of Israel — the chief magis- 
fate; or, if they shared his punishment (ch. trates and rulers, whose presence and official 
22. 20.), they had probably been accomplices authority were necessary to ensure that the 
in his crime, and, indeed, he could scarcely cattle and spoil of the city might be equally 
have dug a hole within his tent without his divided betwixt the combatants and the rest 



family being privy to it. They raised over him 
a great heap of stones— It is customary to raise 
cairns over the graves of criminals or infam- 
ous persons in the East still, called, The 
Valley of Achor ^trouble ) unto this day— So 
painful an episode would give notoriety to 
the spot, and it is more than once noticed 
by the sacred writers of a later age (Is. 65. 10; 
Hos. 2. 15.). 

CHAPTER VIII. 
Ver. 1-28. God Encotjrageth Joshua. 



of the people (Nu. 31. 27.)— a military rule in 
Israel, that would have been very liable to 
be infringed, if an excited soldiery, eager for 
booty, had been left to their own will. 11-14. 
There was a valley [lit., the valley,) between 
them and Ai. Joshua went that night into the 
midst of the valley— The deep and steep-sided 
glen to the north of Tell-el-hajar, into which 
one looks down from the Tell, fully agrees 
with this account. [Vande Velde.] Joshua 
himself took up his position on the north side 



1. The Lord said unto Joshua, Fear not— By ' of "the ravine"— the deep chasm of the waciy 
the execution of justice on Achan, the j El-Murogede, "that night" — means, while 
Divine wrath was averted, the Israelites ■ it was dark, probably alter midnight, or very 
were re-assured, defeat was succeeded by , early in the morning. (Jo. 20. 1.) The king 
165 



Sundry kings and cities 



JOSHUA, XI. 



conquered by Joshua. 



he said in the sight of Israel, * Sun, 2 stand 
thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, 
in the valley of? Ajalon! 

13 And the sun stood still, and the moon 
stayed, until the people had avenged them- 
selves upon their enemies. r Is not this 
written m the book of 3 Jasher? So the 
sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and 
hasted not to go down about a whole 
day. 

14 And there was 8 no day like that before 
it or after it, that the Lord hearkened 
unto the voice of a man: for * the Lord 
fought for Israel. 

15 11 And Joshua returned, and all Israel 
with him, unto the camp to Gilgal. 

16 But these five kings fled, and hid them- 
selves in a cave at Makkedah. 

17 And it was told Joshua, saying, The 
five kings are found hid in a cave at Mak- 
kedah. 

18 And Joshua said, Roll great stones 
upon the mouth of the cave, and set men 
by it for to keep them: 

19 And stay ye not, but pursue after your 
enemies, and 4 smite the hindmost of 
them; suffer them not to enter into their 
cities: for the Lord your God hath deli- 
vered them into your hand. 

20 And it came to pass, when Joshua and 
the children of Israel had made an end of 
slaying them with a very great slaughter, 
till they were consumed, that the rest 
which remained of them entered into fenced 
cities. 

21 And all the people returned to the camp 
to Joshua at Makkedah in peace: "none 
moved his tongue against any of the chil- 
dren of Israel. 

22 Then said Joshua, Open the mouth of 
the cave, and bring out those five kings 
unto me out of the cave. 

23 And they did so, and brought forth 
those five kings unto him out of the cave, 
the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, 
the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, 
and the king of Eglon. 

24 And it came to pass, when they brought 
out those kings unto Joshua, that Joshua 
called for ail the men of Israel, and said 
unto the captains of the men of Avar which 
went with him, Come near, v put your feet 
upon the necks of these kings. And they 
came near, and put their feet upon the 
necks of them. 

25 And Joshua said unto them, "Tear 
not, nor be dismayed; be strong, and of 
good courage: for x thus shall the Lord 
do to all your enemies against whom ye 
fight. 

26 And afterward Joshua smote them, 
and slew them, and hanged them on five 
trees: and they J'were hanging upon the 
trees until the evening. 

27 And it came to pass at the time of the 
going down of the sun, that Joshua com- 
manded, and they z took them down oil" the 
trees, and cast them into the cave wherein 
they had been hid, and laid great stones in 
the cave's mouth, which remain until this 
very day. 

28 Ti And that day Joshua took Mak- 
kedah, and smote it with the edge of the 
sword, and the king thereof he utterly 
destroyed, them, and all the souls that were 
therein; he let none remain: and he did to 
the king of Makkedah a as he did unto the 
king of Jericho. 

166 



B. C. 1451. 



CHAP. 10. 

p Is. 28. 21. 
Hab. 3. 11. 

2 be silent. 
q Judg. 12. 

12. 
r 2 Sam. 1. 
18. 

3 Or, the 
upright? 

8 Is. 38. 8. 

* Deu. 1. 30. 

4 cut off 
the tail. 

«• Ex. 11. 7. 
v Psalm 107. 

40. 

Ps. 110. 5. 

Psalm 149. 

8,9. 

Is. 26. 5, 6. 

Alal. 4. 3. 
V) Deut. 31. 
6,8. 
ch. 1. 9. 

* Deu. 3. 21. 
Deu. 7. 19. 

V ch 8. 29. 
Psalm 149. 
7-9. 
z Deut. 21. 
23. 
ch. 8. 29. 

ch. 6. 21. 
6 ch. 15. 42. 

ch. 21. 13. 

2 Kin. 8. 

22. 

2 Ki. 19. 8. 
c 2 Kin. 14. 

19. 

Micah 1. 

lo. 
d ch. 16. 3, 

10. 

Judges 1. 

29. 

1 Kings 9. 

16, 17. 

1 Chr.20.4. 
5 pulled 

down. 
Job 19.10. 

2 Cor. 4. 9. 
e Nu. 13. 22. 

ch. 14. 13. 

ch. 15. 13. 

Judg. 1. 

10. 

2 Sam. 5. 

1,4. 
/ ch. 15. 15. 
g ch. 15. 

21-63. 
h Deut. 20. 

16, 17. 
i Num. 13. 

17,26. 

Nu. 32. 8. 
j Gen. 10. 19. 

Deut. 2. 

23. 

Judg. 16. 1. 

Amos 1. 6. 

Zeph. 2. 4. 

Zech. 9. 5. 

Acts 8. 26. 
k ch. 11. 16. 

1 Ps. 44. 2. 
Ps. 80. 8. 
Is. 43. 4. 



CHAP. 11. 

a Judg. 4. 2. 

Ps. 2. 1,2. 

Ps. 83.1-18. 

b ch. 10. 3. 

ch. 19. 15. 



29 Then Joshua passed from Makkedah, 
and all Israel with him, unto b Libnah, and 
fought against Libnah: 

30 And the Lord delivered it also, and 
the king thereof, into the hand of Israel; 
and he smote it with the edge of the sword, 
and all the souls that were therein: lie 
let none remain in it; but did unto the 
king thereof as he did unto the king of 
Jericho. 

31 11 And Joshua passed from Libnah, 
and all Israel with him, unto c Lachish, 
and encamped against it, and fought 
against it: 

32 And the Lord delivered Lachish into 
the hand of Israel, which took it on the 
second day, and smote it with the edge of 
the sword, and all the souls that were 
therein, according to all that he had done 
to Libnah. 

33 1T Then Horam king of d Gezer came 
up to help Lachish - t and Joshua smote him 
and his people, until he had left him none 
remaining. 

34 IF And from Lachish Joshua passed 
unto Eglon, and all Israel with him ; and 
they encamped against it, and fought 
against it: 

35 And they took it on that day, and smote 
it with the edge of the sword ; and all the 
souls that were therein he utterly 5 de- 
stroyed that day, according to all that he 
had done to Lachish. 

36 And Joshua went up from Eglon, and 
all Israel with him, unto e Hebron; and 
they fought against it: 

37 And they took it, and smote it with the 
edge of the sword, and the king thereof, 
and all the cities thereof, and all the souls 
that ivere therein ; he left none remaining, 
according to all that he had done to Eglon, 
but destroyed it utterly, and all the souls 
that were therein. 

38 % And Joshua returned, and all Israel 
with him, to/I)ebir. and fought against it: 

39 And he took it, and the king thereof, 
and all the cities thereof; and they smote 
them with the edge of the sword, and 
utterly destroyed all the souls that were 
therein; he left none remaining: as he had 
done to Hebron, so he did to Debir, and to 
the king thereof; as he had done also to 
Libnah, and to her king. 

40 If So Joshua smote g all the country of 
the hills, and of the south, and of the vale, 
and of the springs, and all their kings: he 
left none remaining, but utterly destroyed 
all that breathed, as the Lord God of 
Israel h commanded. 

41 And Joshua smote them from • Kadesh- 
barnea even unto i Gaza, * and all the 
country of Goshen, even unto Gibeon. 

42 And l all these kings and then- land 
did Joshua take at one time, because the 
Lord God of Israel fought for Israel. 

43 And Joshua returned, and all Israel 
with him, unto the camp to Gilgal. 

CHAPTER XL 
1 Divers kings overcome at the waters of Merom. 
10 Hazor is taken and burnt. 21 The Anakims 
cut off. 23 The land subdued. 
A ND it came to pass, when ° Jabin king of 
-"- Hazor had heard those things, that he 
sent b to Jobab king of Madon, and to the 
king of Shimron, and to the king of 
Achshaph, 

2 And to the kings that were on the north 
of the mountains, and of the plains south 



Ai Taken and Burnt. 



JOSHUA, VIH. 



Joshua Builds an Altar. 



of Ai, in the early dawn, rouses his slumber- : ancient, and particularly Oriental wars, the 
ingsubjec\s, and makes a hasty sally with all; chiefs, when taken prisoners, we e usually 
his people who were capable of bearing \ executed. The lsrae ites were obliged, by the 
arms, once more to surprise and annihilate j divine law, to put them to death. The execu- 
them. at a time appointed — either an hour tion of the king of Ai would tend to facilitate 
concocted between the king and peopie of the conquest of the land, by striking terror 
Ai, and those of Beth-el, who were confeder- 1 into the other chiefs, and making it appear a 



ates in this enterprise, or perhaps they had 
fixed on the same time of day, as they had 
fought successfully against Israel on the 
former occasion, deeming it a lucky hour— 
(Ju. 20. 38.) but he wist not that there were 
liers in ambush. It is evident that this 
king and his subjects were little experi- 
enced in war, otherwise they would have 
sent out scouts to reconnoitre the neigh- 
bourhood; at all events, would not have 
left their town wholly unprotected and 
open. Perhaps an ambuscade may have 
been a war stratagem hitherto unknown in 
that country, and amongst that people. 15- 
17. Joshua and all Israel made as if they were 
beaten before them— the pretended flight in the 
direction of the wilderness— i. e., south-east, 
into the Ghor,the desert valley of the Jordan, 
decoyed all the inhabitants of Ai out of the 
city, while the people of Beth-el hastened to 
participate in the expected victory. It is sup- 
posed by some, from "the city," and not 
cities," being spoken of, that the effective 
force or Beth-el had been concentrated in Ai, 
as the two places were closely contiguous, and 
Ai the larger of the two. See on ch. 12. 16.) 
It may be remarked, however, that the 
words, " or Beth-el," are not in the Sept., and 
are rejected by some eminent scholars, as an 
interpolation not found in the most ancient 
MSS. 18-25. Joshua stretched out the spear 
—the uplifted spear had probably a flag, or 
streamer on it, to render it the more con- 
spicuous from the height where he stood. 
At the sight of this understood signal, the 
ambush nearest the city, informed by their 
scouts, made a sudden rush, and took pos- 
session of the city, telegraphing to their 
brethren, by raising a smoke from the 
walls. Upon seeing this, the main body, 
who had been feigning a flight, turned round 
at the head of the pass upon their pursuers, 
while the 25,000 issuing from their ambus- 
cade, fell upon their rear. The Aites sur- 
prised, looked back, and found their situa- 
tion now desperate. 23. the king of Ai they 
took alive— to be reserved for a more igno- 
minious death, as a greater criminal in God's 



judicial process, in which they were inflicting 
the vengeance of God upon his enemies. 
take his carcase down, . . . and raise thereon a 
great heap of stones— It was taken down at 
sunset, according to the Divine command 
(Deu. 21. 23.), and cast into a Pit dug " at the 
entering of the gate," because that was the 
most public place. An immense cairn was 
raised over his grave— an ancient usage, still 
existing in the East, whereby is marked the 
sepulchre of persons whose memory is in- 
famous. 

30, 31. Joshua Builds an Altar. 30, 
31. Then Joshua built an altar ... in mount 
Ebal— (See on Deu. 27. 1, 2.). This spot was 
little short of twenty miles from Ai. The 
march through a hostile country, and the 
unmolested performance of the religious 
ceremonial observed at this mountain, 
would be greatly facilitated, through the 
blessing of God, by the disastrous fall of Ai. 
The solemn duty was to be attended to at 
the first convenient opportunity after the 
entrance into Canaan (Deu. 27. 2.;; and with 
this viewJoshua seems to have conducted the 
people through the mountainous region that 
intervened, though no details of the journey 
have been recorded. Ebal was on the north, 
opposite to Gerizim, which was on the 
south side of the town Sichem. (Nablous.) 
built an altar of whole stones — according 
to the instructions given to Moses. (Ex. 
20, 25; Deu. 27. 5.) over which no man 
hath lifted up any iron— i. e., iron tool. The 
reason of this was, that every altar of 
the true God ought properly to have been 
built of earth (Ex. 20. 24.); and if it was con- 
structed of stone, rough unhewn stones were 
to be employed, that it might retain both 
the appearance and nature of earth, since 
every bloody sacrifice was connected with 
sin and death, by which man, the creature 
of earth, is brought to earth again. [Keil.] 
they offered thereon burnt offerings . . . and 
sacrificed peace offerings— This had been done 
when the covenant was established (Ex. 24. 
5.); and by the observance of these rites (Deu. 
27. 6.), the covenant was solemnly renewed 



sighr than his subjects. In the mingled j— the people were reconciled to God by 
attack from before and behind, the whole the burnt offering, whilst, by this feast 
men of Ai were massacred, all the Israelites ; accompanying the peace, or thank offering, 
returned unto Ai, and smote it with the edge of a happy communion with God was enjoyed 
the sword— the women, children, and old by all the families in Israel. 32. he wrote 

there upon the stones a copy of the law— (S 
on Deu. 27. 2-8.); i. e.. the Blessings and curs 



persons left behind, amounting, in all, to 
12,000 people. Joshua drew n ot his hand back- 
Perhaps, from the long continuance of the of the law 
posture, it might have been a means ap- 
pointed by God, to animate the people, and 



ee 

curses 

Some think that the stones which 

contained this inscription, were the stones 

of the altar; but this verse seems rather to 



kept up in the same devout spirit as Moses i indicate that a number of stone pillars were 
had shewn, in lifting up his hands, until the J erected alongside of the altar, and on which, 
work of slaughter had been completed— the after they were plastered, this duplicate of 
ban executed. (See on Ex.17. 11, 12.) 28. : the law was inscribed. 33. all Israel ... stood 
Joshua burnt Ai, and made it an heapfor ever— j on this side the arkandon that side— One-half of 
" for ever" often signifies a long time. (Gen. 6. 1 Israel was ranged on Gerizim, and the other 
3.) One of the remarkable things, with regard half on Ebal— along the sides and base of 
to the TeJi we have identified with Ai is its each, before the priests and Levites— in full 
name; the Tell, of the heap of stones; a name view of them. 34. afterward he read the law— 
which to this day remains. [Vande Velde.] caused the priests or Levites to read it. 
29. The King Hanged. 29. The king of (Deu. 27. 14.) Persons are often said in 
Ai he hanged on a tret— & e., gibLetted. In Scripture to do that, which they only corn- 
ice » 






JOSHUA. XII. 



gohuf iMtao, 



of e Chinneroth. and in the valley, and in 

i of Dor or. 
3 And to the Canaan: sua and 

on the west, and I .ud the 

- .rizzite. an 1 
in the mountains, • ai 
under/ Hermon y in the land of Mizpeh. 

hem, uracil ven as 

-nore in 
multitude, with horses and char! : 
many. 

. when all these kings wetn- 
te and | '/..'.. 
at the waters of Merom, to fight against 
brad. 

6 S And the Lord said unto Joshua, Be 

. .id because of them; for to-morrow, 
vfl] I m up all 

c '...■ :. riore Israel: thou shall »houeh then- 
horses, and burn then : . ts with fire. 

7 9 Joshua came, and all the people of 

bim, again ':y the waters 

of Mevani wMhferiy; and they fell upon 
them 

8 And the Lord delivered them into the 
hand of Israel, who smite them, an d 
them unto 2 great Z: 1 a, and unto 
photh-maim, and unto tfa 

lrd; and they smote theni, until they 
Aem none remair::.. 

9 And Joshua did unto them as the Lord 
bade him: he houghed their horses, and 
burnt their chariots with fire. 

10 % And Joshua at that time turned back, 
and took H aa le king thereof 
with the sword: for Hazor beioretime was 
the head of all those kingdoms. 

11 A: .d they smote all the souls tfa 
therein with the edge of the sword, utterly 

not * any left 
to breathe: and he burnt Haz wit! 

12 And all the cities of those kin - 
all the kings of them, did Joshua fai 
smote i hem with the edge of the sword, and 
he utterly lestroyed them, >as Moses the 

3J> commanded. 

13 But as for the cities that stood still 

them, save Hazor only; that did Joshua 
bum. 

I* And aD the spoil of ies, and 

he children of Israel took for a 

prey onto ti rry man they 

smote with the edge of the sword, until 

Leftthey 

manded Moses bis 
servant, so ' did Moses command Joshua, 
and* 1 * so did Joshua; 6 he left nothing 
undone of all that the Lord commanded 



CHAP. 11. 
e Nq. 34. 11. 
it Iff. 11 

IEjL.4. 
11. 

'- ■'-- - r . 
/eh. 13. 11. 
g Gen 31.49. 

'-. ■ - :-.-.- 

Jwi*. 7. 12, 
IS*: 13 5. 

: .:= - -i 

i fsa = 4. 
a Or, 




IBS J oshua took all that land, "the hills. 

and all the south country, ° and all the land 

md the valley, and the plain, 

and the mountain of Israel, and the valley 

- ime ; 

::om " the mount Halak. that 
goeth up to Seir, even unto Baal-gad in 
the vallev of Lebanon, under mount Her- 
man: ana * all their kinsrs he took, and 
amote them, and slew them. 
18 8 Joshua made war a long time with all 
those kings. 
lit There was not a city that made peace 
with the children of Isra- 
I n the inhabitants of Gibeon: all otter 

u.=j im I attic 

107 



" ok i I I. 

i Dm •:. 3 . 

z-.u n 4. 

1 S*.2.2&. 
16. 

y.~. a :?. 
*m :. 

tsu axia 

- *. lb. 13, 
14. 

Mm. 13. 22. 

Deo. 1. 28. 
» 1 Sm. 17. 4. 
'■* ::. 1; 4:. 
* Sn. 34. 2. 
y Xo. 95. 53. 
« eh. 14. 15. 

ci. :: 44. 

eh. 22. 4. 

:i.. S; I. 
EC :~b. 



CHAP. 12. 
« Su. 2L 34. 

: I'ru. : 5 3. 

« Ba a ::. 
: :-. :. :•:. 

I Da I aaam 
: Or the 

;r ._- 

hiiL 
« No. 2L 35. 
/De«.3-ll. 
tf eh. 13.11. 
h Deu. 3. 14. 
i Got 14 E. 

y rh. io. 40. 
i z^ a a 

Jeh.6.2. 

••■• .: :. if' 

•;_ ... a. 



20 For * it was of the Lord to harden their 
hearts. should come a£ 
Israel in battle, that he might d 

:hev might have "no fa- 
vour, but that he might ^i, ' aa 

21 f And at that time came Joshua, and 
cut off M the Anakims from the mountains, 
n :rn II;'::.n. from Debir. from Anab, and 
from all the mountains of Judah, and from 
all the mountains of Israel: Joshua de- 

i them utterly with their cities. 

.. - . re was none of the Anakhns left in 
the land of the children of Israel: onlv in 
Gaza, in • Gath, ■ and in AshdixL there 
remained. 

25 Sc Joshua took the whole land, * ac- 
cording to all that the Lord said unto 
Moses; and Joshua gave it for an inherit- 
ance unto Israel * according to their divi- 
sions by their tribes. A:. _ :i: .— - . a 
from war. 



: .__-:•:. :: Irr-.r.sr:. :e. ;,:.! 
teir land on the other side 

. :. ; ;.:n: . ::. ._:H. ::...„ ....i 

r Amorites, who dw e l« 
and ruled from Aroer, which 
>ank of the river Arnon, and 
:I.lle :: :ne r.v T r. : t nl :.• :a 
BTCffl mil ^bbok, 

which, is the bor . children of 

Ammon: 

3 And c from the plain to the sea of Chin- 
neroth on the east, and unto the sea 01 the 
plain, even the sal: he east. d the 
way to Beth-jeshimoth; and from i the 
south, under 2 Ashdoth-pisgah: 

4 And • the coast of Og fang of Bashan, 
which was of / the remnant of the giants, 
that dwelt at Ashtaroth and at Edrei, 

reigned in mount Hermon, * and in 

Saleah, and in all Bashan, * unto the border 

nites. and the Maachathites, 

and half Gilead, the border of Sihon king 

-.:'. :n. 

d did Moses the servant of the Lord 

and the children of Israel smite 

:::•:•'::;::-■::: ::::;!■: ..-.-.v- i: vr 

into the Keubenites, and the 

.- . ites, and the half tribe of Manasseh. 

7 f And these are the kings of the country 

which Joshua and the children of Israel 

smote on this side Jordan on the west, from 

I ...'.I-- : :: in :_e v-C-v .: LziL^:^ i-v-a 

unto the mount Halak. that goeth up • to 

Sear; ~nich Joshua gave unto the tribes 

■ possession according I . 
nrisi 

3 In the mountains, and in the valleys, 
and in the plains, and in the sprin. 

Iderness, and in the south country ; 
the*Hi:r: t *nd the Ca- 

naanites. the Pcrizzites, the Hivites, and 
:::- ,"t':-:-::-. s: 

• king of Jericho, one ; ■• the fang 
of Ai, which is beside Beth-el, one; 

10 The " king of Jerusalem, one; the king 
of Hebron, one : 

11 The king 01 Jarmuth, one ; the king of 
L-v^-:-, one; 



Tli e Kings Comb in c a gainst Israel. J OSHTJA, IX. 



Craft of the Gibeonites. 



mand to be done. 35. There was not a word 
. . . which Joshua read not— It appears that a 
much larger portion of the law was read on 
this occasion, than the brief summary in- 
scribed on the stones; and this must have 
been the essence of the law as contained 
in Deuteronomy. (Deu. 4. 44; 6. 9; 27. 8.) 
It was not written on the stones, but 
on the plaster. The immediate design of 
this rehearsal was attained by the perform- 
ance of the act itself; it only related to pos- 
terity, in so far as the record of the event 
would be handed down in the Book or 
Joshua, or the documents which form the 
ground- work of it. [Hew] Tims faith- 
fully did Joshua execute the instructions 
given by Moses. How awfully solemn must 
have been the assemblage and the occasion. 
The eye and the ear of the people being both 
addressed, it was calculated to leave an in- 
delible impression; and with spirits elevated 
by their brilliant victories in the land of 
promise, memory would often revert to the 
striking scene on mounts Ebal and Gerizim, 
and in the vale of Sychar. 

CHAPTER IX. 

Ver. 1-29. The Kings combine against 
Israel. 1. all the kings which were on this 
side— i.e., the western side of Jordan— in the 
hills, the valleys, and all the coasts of the 
great sea— This threefold distinction marks 
out very clearly a large portion of Canaan. 
The first designates the hill country, which 
belonged afterwards to the tribes of Judah 
and Ephraim: the second, all the low country 
from Carmel to Gaza; and the third, the 
shores of the Mediterranean, from the Isth- 
mus of Tyre to the plain of Joppa. As for 
the tribes mentioned, see on ch. 3. 10. hesrd 
[thereof) — that is, of the sacking of Jericho 
and Ai, as well as the rapid advance of the 
Israelites into the interior of the country. 
2. they gathered themselves together to figat, 
with one accord— although divided by separate 
interests, and often at war with each other, 
a sense of common danger prompted them 
to suspend their mutual animosities, that 
by their united forces they might prevent 
the land from falling into the hands of foreign 
masters. 

3-15. The Gibeonites Obtain a League 
by Craft. 3-15. when the inhabitants of 
Gibeon heard— this town, as its name imports, 
was situated on a rocky eminence, about six 
miles north-west from Jerusalem, where the 
modern village of El- Jib now stands; it was 
the capital of the Hivites, and a large impor- 
tant city (ch. 10, 2.). It seems to have formed, 
in union, with a few other towns in the 
neighbourhood, a free independent state [v. 
17,), and to have enjoyed a republican govern- 
ment (v. 11.). they did work wilily— they acted 
with dexterous policy, seeking the means Oi 
self-preservation, not by force, which, they 
were convinced, would be unavailing, but 
by artful diplomacy, took old sacks upon their 
asses— Travellers in the East transport their 
luggage < n beasts of burden; the poorer sort 
stow all their necessaries, food, clothes, 
utensils together, in a woollen or hair-cloth 
sack, laid across the shoulders of the beast 
they ride up. n. Wine bottles, old. rent, and 
bound up— Goat-skins, which are better adap- 
ted tor carrying liquor.-of any kind, fresh and 
good, than either earthenware, which is 
porous, or metallic vessels, which a e soon 
heated by the sun. These skin -bottles are 
107 



liable to be rent when old and much used; 
and there are various ways of mending them, 
by inserting a new piece of leather, or by 
gathering together the edges of the rent and 
sewing them in the form of a purse, or by 
putting in a round flat splinter of wood into 
the hole, old shoes clouted— Those who have 
but one ass or mule for themselves and 
baggage, frequently dismount, and w r alk— a 
circumstance which may account for the 
worn shoes of the pretended travellers, 
bread dry and mouldy — This must have 
been that commonly used by travellers— a 
sort of biscuit made in the form of large 
rings, about an inch thick, and four or five 
inches in diameter. N ot being so well baked 
as our biscuits, it becomes hard and mouldy 
from the moisture left in the dough. It is 
usually soaked in water previous to being 
used. 6-14. they went to Joshua unto the camp at 
Gilgal— Arrived at the Israelitish head-quar- 
ters, the strangers obtained an interview 
with Joshua and the elders, to whom they 
opened their business, peradventure ye 
dwell among us— The answer of the Israel- 
ites implied that they had no discretion, that 
their orders were imperative, and that if the 
strangers belonged to.any of the native tribes, 
the idea of an alliance with them was unlaw- 
ful , sin ce God had forbidden it [Ex. 23. 32 ; 34. 12 ; 
Deut. 7. 2.]. 9. from a very far country ... be- 
cause of the name of the Lord thy God— They pre- 
tended to be actuated by religious motives in 
seeking to be allied with his people. But their 
studied address is worthy of notice inappeal- 
ing to instances of God's miraculous doings 
at a distance, while they pass by those done in 
Canaan, as if the report of these had not yet 
reached their ears. 14, 15. the men took their 
victuals— the mouldy appearance of their 
bread was, after examination, accepted as 
guaranteeing the truth of the story, and in 
this precipitate conclusion, the Israelites 
were guilty of excessive credulity and culpa- 
ble negligence, in not asking by the high 
priest's Urim and Thummim the mind of 
God, before entering into the alliance. It is 
not clear, however, that had they applied for 
divine direction they would have been for- 
bidden to spare and connect themselves with 
any of the Canaanite tribes who renounced 
idolatry and embraced and worshipped the 
true God. At least, no fault was found with 
them for making a covenant with the Gibe- 
onites; while, on the other hand, the viola- 
tion of it was severely punished (2 Sam. 21. 
l;and ch. 11. 19, 20.). 16, 17. at the end of three 
days, they heard that they were neigh oours— 
This information was obtained in their fur- 
ther progress through the country; lor as v. 
17 should be rendered, " when the children 
of Israel journeyed they came to their cities." 
Gibeon was about eighteen or twenty miles 
irom Gilgal. Ckcphirah ich.18. 26; Ezra, 2. 25; 
IS eh. 7. 29.). Beeroth (2 Sam. 4. 2,), now El 
Berich, about twenty minutes' distance from 
El Jib Gibeon.). Kirjath-jearim, " the city 
of forests," now Kuryet-el-Enab. [RobJ. 
18-2/. the children of Israel smote them not 
—The moral character of the Gibeonites' 
stratagem was bad. The princes of the 
congregation did not vindicate either the 
expediency or the lawfulness of the con- 
nexion they had formed, but they felt 
the solemn obligations of their oath; and. 
although the popular clamour was loud 
against them, caused either by disappoint- 



Inheritances of several 



CHAP. 12. 
o 1 Kin. 4. 

10. 
3 Or, Sharon, 

Is. 33. 9. 
P ch. 11. 1. 

ch. 19. 15. 
? ch. 19. 37. 
»" Gen. 11 

1,2. 

Is. 9. 1. 



12 The king of Eglon, one ; the king of j b. c. 1451. 
Gezer, one; 

13 The king of Debir, one; the king of 
G'eder, one; 

14 The king of Hormah, one; the king of 
Arad, one; 

15 The king of Libnah, one; the king of 
Adullam, one; 

16 The king of Makkedah, one ; the king of 
Beth-el, one; 

17 The king of Tappuah, one ; °the king of 
Hepher, one; 

18 The king of Aphek, one; the king of 
3 Lasharon, one; 

1!) The king or Madon, one; the king of 
Hazor, one; 

20 The king of p Shimron-meron, one; the 
king of Achshaph, one ; 

21 The king of Taanach, one ; the king of 
Megiddo, one; 

22 The q king of Kedesh, one; the king of 
Jokneam or (Jarmel, one; 

23 The long of Dor in the coast of Dor, 
one; the king of **the nations of Gilgal, 
one; 

21 The king of Tirzah, one: all the kings 
thirty and one. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

2 Bounds of the land not yet conquered, 15 The 
two tribes and half, and tribe of Levi, excepted. 
22 Balaam slain. 



"KTOW Joshua a was old and stricken in 
•^ years; and the Lord said unto him, 
Thou art old and stricken in years, and 
there remaineth yet very much land l to be 
possessed. 

2 This b is the land that yet remaineth: 
all e the borders of the Philistines, and 
all d Geshuri, 

3 From e Sihor, which is before Egypt, 
even unto the borders of Ekron northward, 
ivhich is counted to the Canaanite: /five 
lords of the Philistines; the Gazathites, 
and the Ashdothites, the Eshkalonites, the 
Gittites, and the Ekronites; also 9 the 
Avites: 

4 From the south, all the land of the Ca- 
naanites, and 2 Mearah that is beside the 
Sidonians, h unto Aphek, to the borders of 
the » Amorites: 

5 And the land of i the Giblites, and all 
Lebanon, toward the sun-rising, k from 
Baal-gad under mount Hermon unto the 
entering into Hamath: 

6 All the inhabitants of the hill country 
from Lebanon unto l Misrephoth-maim, 
and all the Sidonians, them m will I drive 
out from before the children of Israel: only 
divide n thou it by lot unto the Israelites 
for an inheritance, as 1 have commanded 
thee. 

7 Now therefore divide this land for an in- 
heritance unto the nine tribes, and the half 
tribe of Manasseh; 

8 With whom the Reubenites and the 
Gadites have received their inheritance, 
which ° Moses gave them, beyond Jordan 
eastward, even as Moses the servant of the 
Lord gave them; 

9 From Aroer, that is upon the bank of 
the river Arnon, and the city that is in the 
midst of the river, p and all the plain of 
Medeba unto Dibon ; j / Gen. 33. 17. 

10 And all the cities of Sihon king of the x v Ki - 7 - *?• 
Amorites, which reigned in Heshbon, unto £ jj„ 30 41 
the border of the children of Ammon; 1 ckr 2.23' I 

11 And « Gilead, and the border of the I * ch. 12.' 4. ' I Edrei 

168 



CHAP. 13. 

ch. 14. 10. 
ch. 23. 1. 

1 to possess 
it. 
Deu. 31. 3, 

b Ju.lg. 3. 1. 
c Joel 3. 4. 
d 2 Sa. 3. 3. 
2 Sam. 13. 
37. 
e Jer. 2. 18. 
/ 1 Sa. 6. 4, 
16. 
Zeph. 2. 5. 

Deu. 2. 23. 

2 Or, the 
cavo. 

h ch. 19. 30. 
i Judg. 1. 34. 
j 1 Kin. 5. 

18. 

Ps. 83. 7. 

Ezek. 27. 9. 
k ch. 12. 7. 

1 ch. 11. 8. 
in ch. 23. 13. 

Judg.2.21. 

^ch.14.1,2. 

»Nu. 32. 33. 

Deu. 3. 12. 

ch. 22. 4. 
pNu 21.30. 
q ch. 12. 5. 
r Deu. 3. 11. 
8 Nu. 21. 24. 
t Nu. 18. 20. 

Deu. 10. 9. 

ch. 14. 3, 4. 
u ch. 12. 2. 
v Nu. 21. 28. 

3 Or, the 
high place* 
of Baal, 
and house 
of Bual- 
moon. 
Nu. 32. 38. 

WNu.21.23. 

* Nu. 32. 37. 

4 Or, springs 
of Pisgah, 
or, the 
hill. 
Deu. 3.17. 

V Deu. 3. 10. 

* Nu. 21. 24. 
a Nu. 31. 8. 
6 Nu. 22. 6. 

5 Or, diviner, 
c Nu. 32. 35. 
d Nu. 21. 26, 



JOSHUA, XIII. of the trihes of Israel. 

Geshurites and Maachathites, and all 
mount Hermon, and all Bashan unto Sal- 
cah ; 

12 AH the kingdom of Oj? in Bashan, 
which reigned in Ashtaroth and hi Edrei. 
who remained of r the remnant of the 
giants: 8 for these did Moses smite, and 
cast them out. 

13 Nevertheless the children of Israel 
expelled not the Geshurites, nor the 
Maachathites; but the Geshurites and the 
Maachathites dwell among the Israelites 
until this day. 

14 Only * unto the tribe of Levi he gave 
none inheritance ; the sacrifices of the Loud 
God of Israel made by fire are their inher- 
itance, as he said unto them. 

15 IF And Moses gave unto the tribe of the 
children of Reuben inheritance according 
to their families. 

16 And their coast was u from Aroer, that 
is on the bank of the river Arnon, v and 
the city that is in the midst of the river, 
and all the plain by Medeba ; 

17 Heshbon, and all her cities that are 
in the plain; Dibon, and 3 Bamoth-baal, 
and Beth-baal-meon, 

18 And w Jahaza, and Kedemoth, and 
Mephaath, 

19 And x Kirjathaim, and Sibmah, and 
Zareth-shahar in the mount of the valley, 

20 And Beth-peor, and * A shdoth- pisgah, 
and Beth-jeshimoth, 

21 And y all the eities of the plain, and all 
the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites, 
which reigned in Heshbon, z whom Moses 
smote a with the princes of Midian, Evi, 
and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, 
which were dukes of Sihon, dwelling in the 
country. 

22 IF Balaam b also the son of Beor, the 
5 soothsayer, did the children of Israel slay 
with the sword among them that were slain 
by them. 

23 And the border of the children of Reu- 
ben was Jordan, and the border thereof. 
This was the inheritance of the children of 
Reuben after their families, the cities and 
the villages thereof. 

24 1F And Moses gave inheritance unto the 
tribe of Gad, even unto the children of 
Gad according to their families: 

25 And c their coast was Jazer, and all the 
cities of Gilead, <* and half the land of the 
children of Ammon, unto Aroer that is 
before e Rabbah; 

26 And from Heshbon unto Ramath- 
mizpeh, and Betonim ; and from Mahanaim 
unto the border of Debir; 

27 And in the valley, Beth-aram, and 
Beth-nimrah, / and Succoth, and Zaphon, 
the rest of tne kingdom of Sihon king of 
Heshbon, Jordan and his border, even unto 
the edge ° of the sea of Chinnereth on the 
other side Jordan eastward. 

28 This is the inheritance of the children 
of Gad after their families, the cities, and 
their villages. 

29 1F And Moses gave inheritance unto the 
half tribe of Manasseh: and this was the 
possession of the half tribe of the children 
of Manasseh by their families. 

30 And their coast was from Mahanaim, 
all Bashan, all the kingdom of Og king of 
Bashan, and h all the towns of J ah, which 
are in Bashan, threescore cities: 

31 And half Gilead, and » Ashtaroth, and 
cities of the kingdom of Og in 



with 

Deu. 2. 19. 
Judg. 11. 
13. 
e 2 Sa. 11. 1. 
2 Sam. 12. 



Five Kings War against Gibeon. 



JOSHUA, X. 



God Fights Against them. 



nient at losing the spoils of Gibeon, or by dis- 
pleasure at the apparent breach of the divine 
commandment, they determined to adhere 
to their pledge; "because they had sworn by 
the Lord God of Israel." The Israelit- 
ish princes acted conscientiously; they felt 
themselves bound by their solemn promise, 
but to prevent the disastrous consequences 
of their imprudent haste, they resolved to 
degrade the Gibeonites to a servile condition 
as a means of preventing their people from 
being ensnared into idolatry, and thus acted 
up, as they thought, to the true spirit and end 
of the law. hewers of wood and drawers of 
water— The menials who performed the low- 
est offices and drudgery in the sanctuary; 
whence they were called Nethinims (1 (Jhr. 
9. si: Ezra, 2. 43; 8. 20.); i.e., given, appropri- 
ated. Their chastisement thus brought them 
into the possession of great religious privi- 
leges. (Ps. 84. 10.) 

CHAPTEE X. 

Ver. 1-5. Five Kings War Against 
Gibeon. 1. Adoni-zedek— "lord of righteous- 
ness,"— nearly synonymous with Melchize- 
dec, " king of righteousness." These names 
were common titles of the Jebusite kings. 
Jemsalem— The original name, "Salem" 
(Gen. 14. 18; Ps. 76. 2,) was superseded by 
that here given, which signifies "a peace- 
ful possession," or, " a vision of peace," in 
allusion, as some think, to the strikingly 
symbolic scene (Gen. 22. 14,) represented 
on the mount, whereon that city was af- 
terwards built, inhabitants of Gibeon . . . 
were amongst them— i.e., the Israelites- 
had made an alliance with that people, and 
acknowledging their supremacy, were living 
on terms of friendly intercourse with them. 
2. they feared greatly— The dread inspired by 
the rapid conquests of the Israelites, had 
been immensely increased by the fact of a 
state so populous and so strong as Gibe- 
on having found it expedient to submit to 
the power and the terms of the invaders, 
as one of the royal cities— although itself 
a republic (ch. 9. 3.), it was large and well 
fortified, like those places in which the 
chiefs of the country usually established 
their residence. 3. wherefore Adcni-zedek 
sent, saying, Come up unto me, and help me— A 
combined attack was meditated on Gibeon, 
with a view not only to punish its people for 
their desertion of the native cause, but by 
its overthrow to interpose a barrier to 
the farther inroads of the Israelites. This 
confederacy among the mountaineers of 
Southern Palestine was formed and headed 
by the king of Jerusalem, because his terri- 
tory was most exposed to danger, Gibeon 
being only six miles distant, and because he 
evidently possessed some degree of pre-emi- 
nence over his royal neighbours. 5. the five 
kihgs of the Amorites— The settlement of this 
powertul and warlike tribe lay within the 
confines of Moab; but having also acquired 
extensive possessions on the south-west of 
the Jordan, their name, as the ruling power, 
seems to have been given to the region gene- 
rally (2 Sam. 21. 2,), although Hebron was in- 
habited by Hittites or Hivites (ch. 11. 19, , 
and Jerusalem by Jebusites (ch. 15. 63.). 

6-9. Joshua Rescues it. 6-8. the men of 
Gibeon sent unto Joshua— Their appeal was 
urgent, and their claim to protection irre- 
sistible, on the ground, not only of kindness 
and sympathy, but of justice. In attacking 
168 



the Canaanites, Joshua had received fromGod 
a general assurance of success (ch. 1. 5. . But 
the intelligence of so formidable a combina- 
tion among the native princes seems to have 
depressed his mind with the anxious and dis- 
piriting idea, that it was a chastisement for 
the hasty and inconsiderate alliance entered 
into with the Gibeonites. It was evidently 
to be a struggle for life and death not only 
to Gibeon, but to the Israelites. And in 
this view the divine communication that 
was made to him was seasonable and ani- 
mating. He seems to have asked the coun- 
sel of God, and received an answer, before 
setting out on the expedition. 9. Jcshua 
therefore came upon them suddenly— This is 
explained in the following clause, where he 
is described as having accomplished, by a 
forced march of picked men, in one night, a 
distance of twenty-six miles, which, accord- 
ing to the slow pace of Eastern armies and 
caravans, had formerly been a three days' 
journey (ch. 9. IT.). 

10, n. Gor> Fights Against them with 
Hailstones. 10, 11. The Lord discomfited 
them— H eb., terrified, confounded the Amor- 
ite allies, probably by a fearful storm of light- 
ning and thunder. So the word is usually em- 
ployed il Sam. 7. 10; Ps. 18. 13; 144.6. . and slew 
them with a great slaughter at Gibeon— This 
refers to the attack of the Israelites upon 
the besiegers. It is evident that there had 
been much hard fighting around the heights 
of Gibeon, for the clay was far spent ere the 
enemy took to flight, chased them along the 
way that goeth up to Eeth-horon— i. e., the 
House of Caves, of which there are still traces 
existing. There were two contiguous vil- 
lages of that name, upper and nether. 
Upper Beth-horon was nearest Gibeon— 
about ten miles distant, and approached by a 
gradual ascent through a long and precipitous 
ravine. This was the first stage of the flight. 
The fugitives had crossed the high ridge 
of Upper Beth-horon, and were in full 
flight down the descent to Beth-horon the 
Nether. The road between the two places is 
so rocky and rugged, that there is a path 
made by means of steps cut in the rock, 
[lion.] Down this pass Joshua continued his 
victorious rout. Here it was that the Lord 
interposed, assisting his people by means of 
a storm, which, having been probably ga- 
thering all day, burst with such irresistible 
fury, that "they were more which died 
with hailstones, than they whom the chil- 
dren of Israel slew with the sword." I he 
oriental hail storm is a terrific agent; the 
hai 7 st:)nes are masses of ice, large as wal- 
nms, and sometimes as two fists; their pro- 
diiiiou^ size, and the violence with which 
they lull, make them always very injurious 
to property, and often fatal to life. The 
miraculous feature of this tempest, which 
fell on the Amorite army, was the entire pre- 
servation of the Israelites from its destruc- 
tive ravages. 

12-15. The Sun and Moon Stand Still 
at the Word or Joshua. 12-15. Then 
spaks Joshua to the Lord . . . Sun, stand still, 
and thou. Moon— The inspired author here 
breaks off t he thread of his history of this 
miraculous vic.ory, to introduce a quotation 
from an ancient poem, in which the mighty 
acts of that day were commemorated. The 
passage, which is parenthetical, contains a 
i oetical description of the victory which was 



C«leb obtain eth ITebrOiu 



josnuA, XIY, XV 



The lot of Judah. 



Bashan, were pertaining unto the children i 
of Machir the son of Manasseh, even to the ' 
one half of the children of Machir by their 
families. 

32 These are the countries which Moses 
did distribute for inheritance in the plains 
of Moab, on the other side Jordan, by 
Jericho, eastward. 

33 But ^ unto the tribe of Levi Moses gave 
not any inheritance: * the Lord God of 
Israel was their inheritance, as he said 
unto them. 

CHAPTER XIV. 
1 The nine tribes and an half to have their inherit- 
ance by lot. 6 Caleb by privilege requireth and 
obtaineth Hebron. 

XD these are the countries which the 
children of Israel inherited in the land 
of Canaan, a which Eleazar the priest, and 
Joshua the son of Xun, and the heads of 
the fathers of the tribes of the chili iron of 
Israel, distributed for inheritance to them. 
2 By Mot was their inheritance, as the 
Lord commanded by the hand of Moses, 



CHAP. 13. 
j ch. 18. 7. 
* Nu. 18. 20. 

Deu 10. 9. 

Deut. 18. 

1.2. 

£zek.44. 

28. 



CHAP. 14. 
a Nu. 34. 17. 
b Nu. 33. 54. 

Nu. 34. 13. 

Ps. 16. 6. 

Pro. 16 33. 

AXD these are the countries which the Pro. is. is. 
z^Viil *-J t-^i-* s\-£ Tot*o/^1 i»»V»rt'M*-A/1 ?v» i-V*rt InYt/^ ! C ch, 13. 8. 

d Gen. 48. 5. 
1 Chr. 5. 
1.2. 
e Nu. 35. 2. 
ch. 21. 2. 
/Nu. 32. 12. 
ch. 15. 17. 

for the nine tribes, and for the half tribe."' | *■■ J *- ■**• 

3 For c Moses had given the inheritance ! h suvs as 
of two tribes and an half tribe on the other \ i n u . 14 24' 
side Jordan: but unto the Levites he gave j Deu. 1. 36.' 
none inheritance among them. I j ch 1. 3. 

4 For d the children of Joseph were two * Nu - ls -~ 
tribes, Manas3eh and Eplvraiin: therefore l 
they gave no part, unto the Levites in the 
land, save cities to dwell in, with their 
suburbs for their cattle and for their sub- 
stance. 

5 As e the Lord commanded Moses, so 
the children of Israel did, and they divided \ j\\ . 4 A 
the land. L eh V fi 

6 V Then the children of Judah came unto r cn . 10.' 37. 
Joshua in Gilgal: and Caleb the son ofj ch. 21. 11. 
Jephunneh the/Kenezite said unto him, I Judg. 1.20, 
Thou knowest g the thinj that the Lord ! * Cnr - 6 - 
said unto Moses the man of God con- ' a ^ en „, „ 
cerning me and thee h in Kadesh-barnea. ' 

7 Forty years old teas I when Moses the 
sen-ant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh- 
barnea to espy out the land; and I brought 
him word again as it was in mine heart. 

Xevertheless my brethren that went up 



1 walked. 
*» Deu. 34. 7. 
n Deu. 31.2. 
Ps. 18. 32. 

Ps. 60. 12. 

Ro. 8. 31. 



ch. 15. 13. 
t ch. 11. 23. 



CHAP. 15. 

a Nu. 34. 3. 
K 6 Nu. 33. 36, 

with me made the heart of the people melt: l tongue, 
but I wholly » followed the Lord my God. 2 ° r - the 
3 And Moses sware on that day, saving, 
Surely i the land * whereon thy feet hcive 
trodden shall be thine inheritance, and thy 
children's for ever, because thou hast 
wholly followed the Lord my God. 

10 And now, behold, the Lord hath kept 
me alive, l as he said, these forty and { Fui'ier's 
five years, even since the Lord spake this f 0U nt*in. 
word unto Moses, while the children of 2 s*m. 17, 
Israel * wandered in the wilderness : and W. 
now, lo, I am this day fourscore and five 
years old. 

11 As m yet I am as strong this day as 7 
was in the day that Moses sent me: as my 
strength was then, even so is my strength 
now, for war, both n to go out, and to 
comein. 

12 Xow therefore give me this mountain, 
whereof the Lord spake in that dav ; for 
thouheardest in that day how the Anakims 
w> re there, and that the cities xcere great 
and fenced: ° if so be the Lord will be with yi Chr.13.6 
me, then * I shall be able to drive them * Jud5.1s.12 
out, as the Lord said. l ? e £■ ~; x ? 

13 And Joshua > blessed him, r and gave m "h 19 43 
unto Caleb the son of Jephunneh Hebron n >,-,','. 34'. 6. 
for an inheritance. i • ch. 14. 13. 

169 



going up 

to Acrab- 

bim. 
c Nu. 34. 5. 
d Gen. 15.18. 

1 Ki. 8. 65. 
« ch. 18. 17. 



1 Ki. 1. 9. 
Is. 7. 3. 

9 ch. 18. 16. 

2 Kin. 23. 
10. 
Jer.19.2,6. 

h ch. 18. 28. 

Judg.1.21. 
t ch. 18. 16. 
4 Or, 

Rephaim. 

2 Sam. 5. 

18. 



14 Hebron therefore became the inher- 
itance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the 
Kenezite unto this day, because that he 
wholly followed the Lord God of Israel 

15 And 8 the name of Hebron before was 
Kirjath-arba; which Arba was a great man 
among the Anakims. t And the land had 
rest troru war. 

CHAPTER XV. 

I Borders of the lot of Judah. 13 Caleb's portion 
and conquest. l*o Utiiniel, for kU valour, hath 
Achsah to wife. 2 1 Cities of Judah. 63 J he 
Jebusites not conquered. 

'THIS then was the lot of the tribe of the 
children of J udah by their families ; "e ven 
to the border of Edom the & wilderness of 
Zin southward was the uttermost part of 
the south coast. 

2 And their south border was from the 
shore of the salt sea, from the 1 bay that 
looketh southward: 

3 And it went out to the south side to 
2 Maaleh-aerabbim, and passed along to Zin, 
and ascended up on the south side unto 
Kadesh-barnea, and passed along to Hez- 
ron, and went up to Adar, and fetched a 
compass to Karkaa: 

4 Ivom thence it passed c toward Azmon, 
and went out unto d the river of Kg\pt; 
and the goings out of that coast were at 
the sea: this shall be your south coast. 

5 And the east border was the salt sea, 
even unto the end of Jordan: and their 
border in the north quarter was from the 
bay of the sea at the uttermost piirt of 
Jordan: 

6 And the border went up to Beth-hosla, 
and passed along by the north of Beth- 
arabah; and the border went up e to the 
stone of Bohan the son of Reuben: 

7 And the border went up toward Debir 
from / the valley of Acbor. and so north- 
ward, looking toward Gilgal, that is before 
the going up to Adummihi, w Inch is on the 
south side of the river: and the border 
passed toward the waters of En-sheine&h, 
and the goings out thereof were at * En- 
rogel: 

8 And the border went up 9 by the valley 
of the son of lluinom unto the south side 
of the h Jebusite; the same is Jerusalem: 
and the border went up to the top of the 
mountain that litth before the valley of 
llinnom westward, which is at the end » of 
the vallev of 4 the giants northward: 

9 And the border was drawn from the top 
of the hill unto the fountain of the water 
of Xephtoah. and went out to the cities of 
mount Ephron; and the border was drawn 
to; Baalah. which is k Kirjath-jearim: 

10 And the border compassed from Baalah 
westward unto mount Sen-, and passed 
along unto the side of mount Jearim, which 
is Chesalon, on the north side, and went 
down to Beth-shemesh, and passed on to 
1 Timnah: 

II And the border went out unto the side 
of Ekron m northward: and the border was 
drawn to Shicron, and passed along to 
mount Baalah, and went out unto Jabneel; 
and the goings out of the border were at 
the sea. 

12 And the west border icas n to the great 
sea, and the coast thereof. This is the 
coast of the children of J udah round about 
according to their families. 

13 r And ° unto Caleb the son of Jephun- 
neh he gave a part among the children of 



The Five Kings Hanged. 



JOSHUA, XI. 



Divers Kings Overcome. 



miraculously gained by the help of God, and 
forms an extract from " the book of Jasher," 
i.e., " the upright"— an anthology, or collec- 
tion of national sorfgs, in honour of renown- 
ed and eminently pious heroes. The lan- 
guage of a poem is not to be literally inter- 
preted, and therefore, when the sun and 
moon are personified, addressed as intelli- 
gent beings, and represented as standing 
still, the explanation is, that the light of 
the sun and moon was supernaturally pro- 
longed by the same laws of refraction and 
reflection that ordinarily cause the sun to 
appear above the horizon, when he is in 
reality below it. [Keil. Bush.] Gibeon 
(a hill,) was now at the back of the Israel- 
ites, and the height would soon have inter- 
cepted the rays of the setting sun. The val- 
ley of Ajalon istags,) was before them, and so 
near, that it was sometimes called " the val- 
ley of Gibeon." (Is. 28. 21.) It would seem, 
from v. 14, that the command of Joshua was 
in readty a prayer to God for the perform- 
ance of this miracle; and that, although the 
prayers of eminently good men like Moses 
often prevailed with God, never was there 
on any other occasion so astonishing a dis- 
play of divine power made in behalf of 
his people, as in answer to the prayer of 
Joshua. Ver. 15 is the end of the quotation 
from Jasher; and it is necessary to notice 
this, as the fact described in it is recorded in 
due course, and the same words, by the sa- 
cred historian, v. 43. 

16-27. The Five Kings Hanged. 16-27. 
these five kings hid themselves in a cave 
lEeb., the cave,) at Makkedah— The pursuit 
was continued, without interruption, to 
Makkedah, at the foot of the western moun- 
tains, where Joshua seems to have halted 
with the main body of his troops, while a 
detachment was sent forward to scour the 
country in pursuit of the remaining strag- 
glers, a few of whom succeeded in reaching 
the neighbouring cities. The last act, pro- 
bably t^ e next day, was the disposal of the 
prisoners, among whom the five kings were 
consigned to the infamous doom of being 
slam (Deu. 20. 16, IT,), and then their corpses 
suspended on five trees till the evening. 24. 
put your feet upon the necks of these kings— not 
as a barbarous insult, but a symbolical ac- 
tion, expressive of a complete victory (Deu. 
33. 29; Ps. 110. 5; Mai. 4, 3.). 

28-42. Seven more Kings Conquered. 
28-42. that day Joshua took Makkedah— In 
this and the following verses is described 
the rapid succession of victory and exter- 
mination which swept the whole of Southern 
Palestine into the hands of Israel. "All 
those kings and their land did Joshua take 
at one time, because the Lord God of Israel 
fought for Israel. And Joshua returned, 
and all Israel with him, to the camp at 
Gilgal." 

CHAPTEE XI. 

Ver. 1-9. Divers Kings Overcome at 
the Waters or Merom. 1-9. And it came 
to pass, when Jabin . . . had heard those things 
—The scene of the sacred narrative is here 
shifted to the north of Canaan, where a still 
more extensive confederacy was formed 
among the ruling powers, to oppose the fur- 
ther progress ot the Israelites. Jabin (" the 
Intelligent,"), which seems to have been a 
hereditary title (Ju. 4. 2.), took the lead, from 
Hazor being the capital of the northern 
109 



region (v. 10.). It was situated on the 
borders of lake Merom. The other cities 
mentioned must have been in the vicinity, 
though their exact position is unknown. 
2. the kings on the mountains— the antiii- 
banus district, the plains south of Chinner- 
oth— the northern part of the Arabah, or 
valley of the Jordan, the valley— the low 
and level country, including the plain of 
Sharon, borders of Dor on the west— the hi h- 
lands of Dor, reaching to the town of Dor, 
on the Mediterranean coast, below Mount 
Carmel. 3. the Canaanite on the e ist and on 
the west— a particular branch of the Canaan- 
itish population who occupied the western 
bank of the Jordan as far northward as the 
sea of Galilee, and also the coasts of the 
Mediterannean Sea. under Hermon— now Je- 
bel-es-sheikh was the northern boundary of 
Canaan on the east of the Jordan, land of 
Mizpeh— now Cole-Syria. 4, 5. they went out 
as the sand upon the sea-shore in multitude— 
The chiefs of these several tribes were sum- 
moned by Jabin, being all probably tribu- 
tary to the kingdom of Hazor; and their 
combined forces, according to Josephus, 
amounted to 300,000 infantry, 10,000 cavalry, 
and 20,000 war-chariots, with horses and cha- 
riots very many— The war-chariots were pro- 
bably like those of Egypt, made of wood, but 
nailed and tipped with iron. These appear 
for the first time in the Canaanite war, to 
aid this last determined struggle against the 
invaders; and " it was the use of these which 
seems to have fixed the place of rendezvous 
by the lake Merom (now Huleh,), along 
whose level shores they could have full play 
for their force." A host so formidable in 
numbers, as well as in military equipments, 
was sure to alarm and dispirit the Israelites. 
Joshua, therefore, was favoured with a re- 
newal of the divine promise of victory v. 6.), 
and thus encouraged, he, in the full confi- 
dence of faith, set out to face the enemy, to- 
morrow about this time— As it was impossible 
to have marched fromGilgal to Merom in one 
day, we must suppose Joshua already mov- 
ing northward, and within a day's distance 
of the Canaanite camp, when the Lord gave 
him this assurance of success. "With char- 
acteristic energy he made a sudden advance, 
probably during the night, and "on the 
morrow fell" upon them like a thunderbolt, 
when scattered along the rising grounds 
(Sept.,), before they had time to rally on the 
plain. In the sudden panic " the Lord de- 
livered them into the hand of Israel, who 
smote them, and chased them." The rout 
was complete, some went westward over the 
mountains, above the gorge of the Leontes, 
to Sidon and Misrephoth-Maim glass-smelt- 
ing houses,), in its neighbourhood, and 
others eastward to the plain of Mizpeh. 
they left none remaining— of those whom they 
overtook. All those who fell into their hands 
alive were slain. 9. Joshua did as the Lord 
[v. 6,) bade him — Houghing the horses is 
done by cutting the sinews and arteries of 
their hinder legs, so that they not only be- 
come hopelessly lame, but bleed to death. 
The reasons for this special command were, 
that the Lord designed to lead the Israelites 
to trust in Him, not in military resources 
(Ps. 20. 7,) ; to shew that in the land of promise 
there was no use of horses ; and, finally, to d is- 
courage their travelling, as they were to be 
an agricultural not a trading people. 11 he 



IV eBhi r?J-.:-i-A. 



JOSHUA, XVI. 



£ - , ■■ " -' . * A ' " " ~ ' " " , 



CHAP. 15. 
5 0r.Kir- 



Judah, according to the commandment of 
sd to Joshua, even h the cit y of Arba 
the lather of Anak, whi . - e bron. 

I Caleb dr. 

?::'.? :: A1.A1. - ^: : -_^:. ..... A___ -_. „.i: 

T..L-. ..:. :^r .„„... .: a_ ..-:. 

.nd r he went up : the inhab- 

itants of I>ebir: and the name of Dcbir J£v£"Sl 
beiore teas Kirjatk-serher. 

- 
jath-sepher, and taketh ::. to him will I 
A hsah my daughter to wife. 
ad ■ Othniel the * son of Xenez, the 
Jeb, took it: and he gi 
Achsah his daughter to wife. 
18 And * it came to pass, as she came 
tmto him, that she moved him to ask of 
her father a field: and • she lighted off her 
ass; and Caleb said unto her,\N hat wouldest 
thou* 
I.- '•'• i: • ;.i?~er;i. GAe me : . .. .:.. 

for thou hast given me a south land; give 
me A;i 511A...-5 .:: ~-^:~r, ArA de ±.-.~i 
her :_r 'iii-~ sm~As.*5. ami :_r m:mr 






eh. V.: 38. 

i :._- : i 

t Xb-32. 12. 
eh. 14. 6. 

■- ;_:.• 1 It 



- '• .:::■■- ime ■ ' 'm :- ; e 

the children of Judah according to their 
JAmiies, 

21 1 And the uttermost cities of the tribe 
of the children of Judah toward the coast 
of Edom southward were ° Kabzeel, * and 
E Ar. and Jagor, 

:~. al.'.a: ..A. _ m. ::. "A ;;_:. A:".:.:A\ 

-■: Al 1 A7.-:-_ ..:... Am.: - . i.m. T~ - .-. , 
24 Ziph, and * Telem, and Bealoth., 

.1 Hazor, Hadattah, and Kerioth, 
amd Hesron, which is Hazor. 

26 A mam 3 and Shema, and Moladah, 

27 And H *7-*T - fr*Atiiih i andHeshmon, and 
Beth-palet, 

28 And Hazar-shuaL and Beer-sheba, and 
Em ::m..m 

29 Baalah. and Tim, and Azem, 

m_ Z"- Ad. c.:: '_--_. mid Et- 



-' :_ lr ±1 

i a :: : 5 

«eb.l2.1». 
/ eh. 10. 10. 
Vita. 11 

"Or,«. 
\S ■. :li: h 
b-ILS, 



31 And * Ziklag, and MaAnammh, and 

>..m....-..dm 

32 And Lebaoth. and Shilhim, <mH Ain, 
and * Bimmon: all the cities are twenty 
and nine, with their villages: 

i in the valleyT^Eshtaol, and Zo- 
rrah, and AfiHirali. 

■:-- .■.-...'. d:m..-.: _ En-gaanHaaiTajBanfc, 

and Enam, 

a' - Imm^ and ■ a -• '."' mi S: :od.d ami 
Ankah. 

3d And ' Sharahn, and Adithaim, and 
Gederah, ? and Gederothaim ; fourteen 
cities with their villages: 

37 Zenan, and Haaash ah, and IGgdal- 
gad, 

And Dilean, and * Hfiapeh, « and Jok- 



'■:■. . l\ ;dAd. ii: :; -;:'.:. m. mi l.'.:l 
M And Gaboon, awl L ai n im\ and A-A.- 

li*h, 

41 And Gederoth, Betfj-dagoiu ami >Ai- 
ftjak, and Kakkedm =i?>rL. ciue« -::- 

ad Jiphtah. and Ashnah and Feaib, 
44 And Keilah, and Achzib. and Alareshah; 

l::.t .i-.irs -*-/.- '....- v_...; : . : 

son. with her towns and her villages: 
±_ i :.■:.. Zarir. .->: •;_: . :_t — .,. ^._;_^; 
lay 8 near m Ashdod, with their villages; 

-" .-.:_ . 1 ::_ ..-:.: ..- .... ...-; 

Gaza with her towns and her Tillages, unto 
1311 



XL 

■ Bm 

S-12. 
6 

v- 11. 

* 
I Be*. El 

2L 
» 1 Sa. 15. 4. 

r. : 5.i £:.-:. 



:- 15 J:. 

• :- I.e. 

«iSi.£i. 1. 

: t. ii. 12. 

|fan :f 

• eh. 13. 3. 

1 5^. 6. 
1,6. 
- C-i--. 15. 
18. 

• Xn. 34. 6. 
P A. 10. 4L 

;- 11. If. 

f efa.14.lS. 

j.A i.i:. 

r :i 1;. 14 

! : 5*=^ a. 
». 

rJ-.i^ 1. 5 

SB. 



CHJlP. 16. 



- :- 1: IB. 

j.ir. :.:■:. 
• : C-. i.e. 
; : c-. ;. 

1 5Lr. 5. 

la. 
deh.lT.11. 
s :_ I-. 13 
'•i Ci.- ;. 5 
#eh.l7.T. 
* 1 Chr. 7. 

38. 
i eh. 17. ». 



i Ga ^ & 



the " river of Egvpt. and * the great sea, 
and the border V. t 

i in the mountains, Shamir, *"d 

.nd Socoh, i 

-.• A'_l I ..l__, ..l. : . A_ '..:"_ -5.".: ji:A, 
which is Debbr, 

51 And p Goshen, and Holon, and 

d cities wkh their villages: 

52 Arab, and Dumah, and Kshg*«_ 

53 And 9 Janum, and Beth-tappuah, and 

A; ilri^l. 

nd Humtah, and * Eirjath-arba, 
which is Hebron, and Zior ; nin^. cities with 

:L-ir vZA-^s: 

55 Maon, Carmel, and Ziph, and Juttah, 

56 And JezreeL and J okdeam, and Zanoah, 

in, Gibeah, and Timnah; ten cities 
vr.'.'z. :Zrir vA^n;: 

nr.andGedor, 
59 And Maarath, and Beth-anoth, and 
Eltekon- six cities with their villages: 
n r Kirjath-baaL which is Kirjath-jearim, 



60 



and Eabbah ■ two cities with their villages: 
61 In the wilderness, Rffth -atr^b^h.liiddin, 

dan, and the dty of Salt, and 
• En-gedi: si h then- villages. 

63 ¥ As for the Jebusites. the inhabitants 
of Jerusalem, * the children of Judah could 
not drive them out: *■ but the Jebusites 
dwell with the children of Judah at Jeru- 
s^den "-" ' i : A: diy. 

CHAPTER XYL 
1 The amend harden of the ems of Joeeph 6 
The borders of the mheritamot of Ephrvmx. 10 

i ■-. '. - :• ,.:::... -. ■-..: 

A KD the lot of the children of Joseph 
-'^ i fell from Jordan by J ericho. unto the 
water of Jericho on the east^ to the wilder- 

i;;; '_j.-_ i_r:d u": ir:~ Jri:.d: . :dr . i_d- 

. aa:1 :.:d : ..: :. :". A::-:: - : 
.u.1: ".".:— :d A":, ._.. '.--. '.._--.-: : .' - 

3 And goeth down westward to the coast 
of Japhleti, * unto the coast of Beth-horon 
the nether, and to e Gezer: and the goings 
out thereof are at the sea. 

4 So «* the children of Joseph, Mana&seh 
and Ephraim. took their inheritance. 

5 f And the border of the children of 
Ephraim according to their families waa 
-'..s: c"":i :~t : :: Ar ::' :drir A-LrA:.-.L,e 

:_ :d- T.-: -:ii ••""..; .i:,i .:_- :. ■' -". - 

Beth-horon the upper; 

6 And the border went out toward the 
sea to ^Michmethah on the north side; and 
the border went about eastward unto 
Taanath-shiloh, and passed by it on the 
east to Janohah; 

? And it went down from Janohah to 
Ataroth, * and to Maarath, and came to 
JzA_.d:. iiA: "-"-i: i: ..: J-:r ". .:.. _ 

8 The border went out from Tappuah 
westward unto the » river Eanah; ana the 
=:" "_: ; :v.: :...-:- .: "" -.:- :-.'. ' „- :7 _. ... - 
u the inheritance of the tribe of the chil- 
dren of Ephraim by their iWmilipin 

9 And the separate cities for the children 
.: r.: A-.. in .A ■- ..::.::.: :ic i.i.:in.r .i 
the children of Manasseh, all the cities 
v. .;d ".i-.i '■ A.^-fs. 

10 And i they drave not out the Canaan. 
ites that dwelt in Gezer; but the Canaan- 

:: T ; i.— vd . :.. : :..- '.:.-. d" .. . . ."...::-; u_:. : 3 

day, and serve 'rader tribute 



Bounas of the Land 



JOSHUA, xn, XIII. 



Not yet Conquered. 



burntHazor with fire— calmly and deliberately, 
doubtless, according to divine direction. 13. 
as for the cities that stood still in their strength 
— lit, "on their heaps." It was a Phoeni- 
cian custom to build cities on heights, na- 
tural or artificial. [Heng-.] 16. So Joshua took 
all the land— Here follows a general view of 
the conquest. The division of the country 
there into five parts; viz., the hills, the land 
of Goshen, i.e., a pastoral land near Gibeon 
(ch. 10. 41,); the valley, the plains, themoun- 
tains of Israel, i.e., Carmel, rests upon a di- 
versity of .geographical positions, which is 
characteristic of the region. 17. from the 
mount Halak {Heb„ the smooth mountain,) 
that goeth up to Seir— an irregular line of 
white naked hills, about eighty feet high, and 
seven or eight geographical miles in length, 
that cross the whole Ghor, eight miles 
south of the Dead Sea, probably " the ascent 
of Akrabbim." [Rob.] unto Baal-gad in the 
valley of Lebanon— the city or temple of the 
God of Destiny, in Baalbec. 23. Joshua took 
the whole land— The battle of the lake of 
Merom was to the north what the battle 
of Beth-horon was to the south; more briefly 
told, but less complete in its consequences; 
but still the decisive conflict by which the 
whole northern region of Canaan fell into 
the hands of Israel. [Stanley.] 
CHAPTER XH. 
Ver. 1-6. The Two Kings whose Coun- 
tries Moses Took and Disposed of. 1. 
Now these are the kings of the land on the 
other side Jordan— This chapter contains a re- 
capitulation of the conquests made in the 
promised land, with the additional mention 
of some places not formerly noticed in the 
sacred history. The river Arnon on the 
south, and Mount Hermon on the north, 
were the respective boundaries of the land 
acquired by the Israelites beyond Jordan 
(see on Num. 21. 21; Deu. 2. 36; 3. 6-16.). 

7-24. The One-and-Thirty Kings on 
the west side of jordan, which joshua 
Smote. 7. Baal-gad even unto Halak— see on 
ch. 11. l7. A list of thirty-one chief towns is 
here given, and, as the whole land contained 
a superficial extent of only fifteen miles in 
length, by fifty in breadth, it is evident 
that these capital . cities belonged to petty 
and insignificant kingdoms. With a few 
exceptions, they were not the scenes of any 
important events recorded in the sacred his- 
tory, and therefore do not require a particu- 
lar notice. 

CHAPTER XIH. 
Ver. 1-33. Bounds of the Land not yet 
Conquered. 1. Now Joshua was old and 
stricken in years— He was probably above a 
hundred years old; for the conquest and sur- 
vey of the land occupied about seven years, 
the partition one; and he died at the age of 
110 years (ch. 24. 29.). The distribution, as well 
as the conquest of the land, was included in 
the mission of Joshua; and his advanced age 
supplied a special reason for entering on the 
immediate discharge of that duty— viz., of 
allocating Canaan amongst the tribes of 
Israel, not only the parts already won, but 
those also which were still to be conquered. 
2 6. This is the land that yet remaineth— i.e., 
to be acquired. This section forms a paren- 
thesis, in which the historian briefly notices 
the districts yet unsubdued— viz., first, the 
whole country of the Philistines— a narrow 
tract stretching about sixty miles along the 

iro 



Mediterranean coast, and that of the Geshur- 
ites to the south of it (lSam. 27.8.). Both 
included that portion of the country " from 
Sihor which is before Egypt," a small brook 
near El-Arish, which on the east was the 
southern boundary of Canaan, " to Ekron," 
the most northerly of the five chief lordships 
or principalities of the Philistines, also the 
Avites: from (on) the south— The two clauses 
are thus connected in the Sept., and many 
other versions. On being driven out (Deu. 
2. 23,), they established themselves in the 
south of Philistia. The second division of 
the unconquered country comprised all the 
land and Mearah (the cave) that is beside the 
Sidonians— a mountainous region of Upper 
Galilee, remarkable for its caves and fast- 
nesses, eastward unto Aphek (now Afka) in 
Lebanon, to the borders of the Ammonites— a 
portion of the north-eastern territory that 
had belonged to Og. The third district that 
remained unsubdued was, 5. all the land of 
the Giblites— their capital was Gebal or Byl- 
bos [Gr.) on the Mediterranean, forty miles 
north of Sidon. all Lebanon towards the sun- 
rising— i.e., Antilibanus; the eastern ridge, 
which has its proper termination in Her- 
mon. entering in of Hamath — the valley ol 
Baalbec. 6, 7. all the inhabitants of the hill 
country from Lebanon unto Misrephoth-m aim 
—(see on ch. 11. 8J, that is, "all the Sidon- 
ians and Phoenicians." them will I drive 
out— The fulfilment of this promise was 
conditional. In the event of the Israelites 
proving unfaithful or disobedient, they 
would not subdue the districts now speci- 
fied, and, in point of fact, the Israelites 
never possessed them, though the inhabitants 
were subjected to the power of David and 
Solomon, only divide thou it by lot— The 
parenthetic section being closed, the his- 
torian here resumes the main subject of this 
chapter — the order of God to Joshua to 
make an immediate allotment of the land. 
The method of distribution by lot was, 
in all respects, the best that could have 
been adopted, as it prevented all ground 
of discontent, as well as charges of arbi- 
trary or partial conduct on the part of the 
leaders; and its being announced in the 
life of Moses (Num. 33. 54.), as the system ac- 
cording to which the allocations to each 
tribe should be made, was intended to lead 
the people to the acknowledgment of God 
as the proprietor of the land, and having 
the entire right to its disposal. Moreover, a 
solemn appeal to the lot showed it to be the 
dictate, not of human, but divine wisdom. 
It was used, however, only in determining 
the part of the country where a tribe was to 
be settled— the extent of the settlement 
was to be decided on a different principle 
(Num. 26. 54,) and what proves the overrul- 
ing control of God, each tribe received the 
possession predicted by Jacob (Gen. 49,) and 
by Moses (Deu. 33.). 8. with whom— Heb. 
"him," The antecedent is evidently !to 
Manasseh, not, however, the half tribe 

i*ust mentioned, but the other half; for the 
ristorian, led, as it were, by the sound of the 
word, breaks off to describe the possessions 
beyond Jordan already assigned to Eeuben, 
Gad, and the half of Manasseh (see on Num. 
32; Deu. 3. 8-17.). It may be proper to re- 
mark that it was wise to put these boun- 
daries on record, as, in case of any misunder- 
standing or dispute arising about the exact 



Inheritance of Manasseh. 



JOSHUA, XVII, XVIII. The tabernacle set up at Shiloh. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

I Lot of Manasseh: '! his coast. 12 Canaanites 
not driven out. 14 The children of Joseph sue 
for another lot. 

WHERE was also a lot for the tribe of 
-*- Manasseh; for he ivas the a first-born 
of Joseph : to wit, for b Machir, the first- 
born ot Manasseh, the father of Gilead: 
because he was a man of war, therefore he 
had c Gilead and Bashan. 

2 There was also a lot for d the rest of the 
children of Manasseh by their families ; 
for e the children of l Abiezer, and for the 
children of Helek, and for the children of 
Asriel, and for the children of Shechem, 
and / for the children of Hepher, and for 
the children of Shemida: these were the 
male children of Manasseh the son of Jo- 
seph by their families. 

3 IT But 9 Zelophehad, the son of Hepher, I h N u u - ^- n 2 - 
the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the \ J*- "■ J- 
Bon of Manasseh, had no sons, but daugh- 
ters: c\nd these are the names of his daugh- 
ters, Mahlah, and Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, 
and Tirzah. 

4 And they came near before h Eleazar 
the priest, and before Joshua the son of 
Nun, and before the princes, saying, • The 
Lord commanded Moses to give us an in- 
heritance among our brethren. Therefore, 
according to the 2 commandment of the 
Lord, he gave them an inheritance among 
the brethren of their father. 

5 And there fell ten portions to Manasseh, 
besides the land of Gilead and Bashan, 
which were on the other side Jordan* 

6 Because the daughters of Manasseh had 
an inheritance among his sons: and 3 the 
rest of Manasseh's sons had the land of 
Gilead. 

7 IT And the coast of Manasseh was from 
Asher to Michmethah, that lieth before 
Shechem; and the border went along on 
the right hand unto the inhabitants of 
En-tappuah. 

8 Now Manasseh had the land of 3 Tap- 
puah: but * Tappuah on the border of 
Manasseh belonged to the children of 
Ephraim; 

9 And the coast descended l unto the 
* river Kanah, southward of the river: 
these m cities of Ephraim are among the 
cities of Manasseh: the coast of Manasseh 
also was on the north side of the river, and 
the outgoings of it were at the sea: 

10 Southward it was Ephraim's, and 
northward it was Manasseh's, and the sea 
is his border; and they met together in 
Asher on the north, and in Issachar on the 
east. 

II And n Manasseh had in Issachar and in 
Asher, ° Beth-shean and her towns, and 
Ibleam and her towns, and the inhabitants 
of Dor and her towns, and the inhabitants 
of En-dor and her towns, and the inhabit- 
ants of Taanach and her towns, and the 
inhabitants of Megiddo and her towns, 
even three countries. 

12 Yet p the children of Manasseh could 
not drive out the inhabitants of those cities ; 
but the Canaanites would dwell in that 
land. 

13 Yet it came to pass, when the children 
of Israel were waxen strong, that they put 
the Canaanites to q tribute ; but & did not 
utterly drive them out. 

14 11 And r the children of Joseph spake 
unto Joshua, saying, Why hast thou given 

171 



CHAP. 17. 
a Gen. 41.51. 

Gen. 46.20. 

Gen. 48.18. 
b Gen. 50. 23. 

Nu. 26. 29. 

Nu. 32. 39, 

40. 

1 Chr. 7. 

14. 
c Deu. 3. 15. 
d Num. 26. 

29-32. 
e 1 Chr. 7. 

18. 
1 Nu. 26. 30, 

Jezer. 
/ Nu. 26. 32. 
• 27. 1, 



2 mouth. 
j Nu. 26. 29. 

Nu. 32. 39, 
41. 

3 Or, city of 
apples. 

k ch. 16. 8. 
I ch. 16. 8. 

4 Or, brook 
of reeds. 

™> ch. 16. 9. 
n 1 Chr. 7. 

29. 
o 1 Sam. 31. 

10. 

lKin.4. 

12. 
p Judg. 1.27, 

28. 
q ch. 16. 10. 

5 driving they 
drove them 
not out. 

r ch. 16. 4. 
8 Gen. 48. 22. 
t Gen. 48. 19. 

Nu. 26. 34, 

37. 

6 Rephaim. 
Gen. 14. 5. 
Gen. 15.20. 

U Judg. 1.19. 

Judg. 4. 3. 
V ch. 19. 18. 

1 Kin. 4. 

12. 
w Deu. 20.1. 



CHAP. 18. 

ch. 19. 51. 
ch. 21. 2. 
ch. 22. 9. 
Jer. 7. 12. 

b Judg.18.31. 
1 Sam 1. 3, 
24. 

1 Where it 
remained 
till taken 
by the 
Philistines 
at the 
death of 
Eli. 

e Judg. 18. 9. 
d ch. 15. 1. 
e ch. 16. 1, 4. 
/ ch. 14. 2. 
g ch. 13. 33. 
h Nu. 18. 20. 

Deu. 10. 9. 

Deu. 18.1. 

Ezek. 44. 

28. 
i ch. 13. 8. 
/Pro. 16.33. 



me but 8 one lot and one portion to inherit, 
seeing I am * a great people, forasmuch as 
the Lord hath blessed me hitherto? 

15 And Joshua answered them, If thou be 
a great people, then get thee up to the 
wood country, and cut down for thyse'f 
there in the land of the Perizzites and of 
the « giants, if mount Ephraim be too nar- 
row for thee. 

16 And the children of Joseph said. The 
hill is not enough for us: and all the 
Canaanites that dwell in the land of the 
valley have u chariots of iron, both they 
who are of Beth-shean and her towns, and 
they who are v of the valley of Jezreel. 

17 And Joshua spake unto the house of 
Joseph, even to Ephraim and to Manasseh, 
saying, Thou art a great people, and hast 
great power: thou shalt not have one lot 
only: 

18 But the mountain shall be thine ; for it 
is a wood, and thou shalt cut it down: and 
the outgoings of it shall be thine: for thou 
shalt drive out the Canaanites, w though 
they have iron chariots, and though they 
be strong. 

CHAPTER XVin. 

1 The tabernacle is set up at Shiloh. 2 The re- 
mainder of the land is described, 10 and divided 
by lot. 11 The lot and border of Benjamin. 21 
Their cities. 

A ND the whole congregation of the chil- 
■* r dren of Israel assembled together a at 
Shiloh, and b set up the tabernacle of the 
congregation i there. And the land was 
subdued before them. 

2 And there remained among the children 
of Israel seven tribes, which had not yet 
received their inheritance. 

3 And Joshua said unto the children of 
Israel, c How long are ye slack to go to 
possess the land, which the Lord God of 
your fathers hath given you? 

4 Give out from among you three men for 
each tribe: and I will send them, and they 
shall rise and go through the land, and de- 
scribe it according to the inheritance of 
them ; and they shall come again to 
me. 

5 And they shall divide it into seven parts: 
Judah d shall abide in their coast on the 
south, and e the house of J oseph shall abide 
in their coasts on the north. 

6 Ye shall therefore describe the land into 
seven parts, and bring the description 
hither to me, / that I may cast lots for you 
here before the Lord our God. 

7 But 9 the Levites have no part among 
you; for the priesthood of h the Lord is 
their inheritance: * and Gad, and Reuben, 
and half the tribe of Manasseh, have re- 
ceived their inheritance beyond Jordan on 
the east, which Moses the servant of the 
Lord gave them. 

8 1T And the men arose, and went away: 
and Joshua charged them that went to de- 
scribe the land, saying, Go and walk through 
the land, and describe it, and come again 
to me, that I may here cast lots for you 
before the Lord in Shiloh. 

9 And the men went and passed through 
the land, and described it by cities into 
seven parts in a book, and came again to 
Joshua to the host at Shiloh. 

10 And Joshua cast i lots for them in 
Shiloh before the Lord: and there Joshua 
divided the lanu unto the children of Israel 
according to their divisions. 



Caleb Obtaineth Hebron. 



JOSHUA, XIV, XV. 



Borders of the Lot of Judah. 



limits of each district or property, an ap- 
peal could always be made to this autho- 
ritative document, and a full knowJedge 
as well as grateful sense obtained of 
what they had received from God (Ps. 
16. 5, 6.). 

CHAPTER XIV. 
Ver. 1-5. The Nine Tribes and a-half 

TO HAVE THEIR INHERITANCE BY LOT. 

1. These are the countries which the children 
of Israel inherited in the land of Canaan— This 
chapter forms the introduction to an account 
of the allocation of the land west of Jordan, 
or Canaan proper, to the nine tribes and a- 
half. It was also made by lot in presence of 
a select number of superintendants, ap- 
pointed according to divine directions given 
to Moses (see on Num. 34. 16-29.). In every 
thing pertaining to civil government, and 
even the division of the land, Joshua was 
the acknowledged chief. But in a matter to 
be determined by lot, a solemn appeal was 
made to God, and hence Eleazar, as high 
priest, is named before Joshua. 4. The chil- 
dren of Joseph were two tribes— As two and a- 
half tribes were settled on the east of Jor- 
dan, and the Levites had no inheritance as- 
signed them in land, there would have been 
only eight tribes and a-half to provide for. 
But Ephraim and Manasseh, the two sons of 
Joseph, had been constituted two tribes 
(Gen. 48. 5,), and although Levi was ex- 
cluded, the original number of the tribes of 
Israel was still preserved. 5. the children of 
Israel divided the land— i.e., they made the 
preliminary arrangements for the work. A 
considerable time was requisite for the sur- 
vey and measurement. 
6-15. Caleb by privilege requireth and 
obtaineth Hebron. 6-11. then the children 
of Judahcame to Joshua in Gilgal; and Caleb said 
—This incident is recorded here, because it 
occurred while the preparations were being 
made for casting the lots, which, it appears, 
were begun in Gilgal. The claim of Caleb 
to the mountains of Hebron as his personal 
and family possessions, was founded on a 
solemn promise of Moses, forty-five years 
before (Num. 14. 24; Deu. 1. 36,), to give him 
that land on account of his fidelity. Being 
one of the nominees appointed to preside 
over the division of the country, he might 
have been charged with using his powers as 
a commissioner to his own advantage, had 
he urged his request in private; and there- 
fore he took some of his brethren along with 
him as witness of the justice and propriety 
of his conduct. 12. give me this mountain— 
this highland region, for thou heardest in that 
day how the Anakims were there— The report 
of the spies who tried to kindle the flame of 
sedition and discontent, related chiefly to 
the people and condition of this mountain 
district, and hence it was promised as the 
reward of Caleb's truth, piety, and faithful- 
ness. 13, 14. Joshua blessed him, and gave 
Hebron— Joshua, who was fully cognizant of 
the whole circumstances, not only admitted 
the claim, but in a public and earnest man- 
ner prayed for the divine blessing to succour 
the efforts of Caleb in driving out the idola- 
trous occupiers. 15. Kirjath-Arba— i.e., the 
city of Arba— a warrior among the native 
race remarkable for strength and stature, 
the land had rest from war— Most of the kings 
having been slain and the natives dispirited, 
there was no general or systematic attempts 

in 



to resist the progress and settlement of the 
Israelites. 

CHAPTEE XV. 

Ver. 1-12. Borders of the Lot of 
Judah. 1. This then was the lot of the tribe 
of Judah— In what manner the lot was drawn 
on this occasion the sacred historian does 
not say; but it is probable that the method 
adopted was similar to that described in 
ch. 18. Though the general survey of the 
country had not been completed, some rough 
draught or delineation of the first conquered 
part must have been made, and satisfactory 
evidence obtained, that it was large enough 
to furnish three cantons, before all the tribes 
cast lots for them; and they fell to Judah, 
Ephraim, and the half-tribe of Manasseh. 
The lot of Judah came first, in token of the 
pre-eminence of that tribe over all the 
others; and its destined superiority thus re- 
ceived the visible sanction of God. The ter- 
ritory assigned to it as a possession, was 
large and extensive, being bounded on the 
south by the wilderness of Zin, and the 
southern extremity of the Salt Sea Num. 34. 
3-5 J ; on the east, by that sea, extending to 
the point where it receives the waters of the 
Jordan; on the north, by aline drawn nearly 
parallel to Jerusalem, across the country, 
from the northern extremity of the Salt Sea 
to the southern limits of the Philistine ter- 
ritory, and to the Mediterannean; and on 
the west this sea was its boundary, as far as 
Sihor (Wady El-Arish.). 2. the bay-He&„ the 
" tongue." It pushes its waters out in this 
form to a great distance. [Rob.] 3. Maaleh- 
acrabbim— Heb., the ascent of Scorpions; a 
pass in the "bald mountain" (see on ch. 11, 
17,), probably much infested by these venem- 
ous reptiles. 5. the end— i.e., the mouth of 
the Jordan. 6. Beth-hogla— now Ain Hadjla, 
a fine spring of clear and sweet water, at the 
northern extremity of the Dead Sea, about 
two miles from the Jordan. [Rob.] Beth- 
arabah— the house, or place of solitude, in 
the desert of Judah {v. 61.). stone of Bohan 
the son of Reuben— the sepulchral monument 
of a Reubenite leader, who had been distin- 
guished for his bravery, and had fallen in 
the Canaanite war. 7. Achor— (see on ch. 7. 
26.). Adummim— a rising ground in the wil- 
derness of Jericho, on the south of the little 
brook that flowed near Jericho (ch. 16. 1.). 
En-shemesh— the fountain of the sun; " either 
the present well of the apostle, below Be- 
thany, on the road to Jericho, or the foun- 
tain near to St. Saba." [Rob.] Enrogel— the 
fuller's fountain, on the south-east of Jeru- 
salem, below the spot where the valley of 
Jehoshaphat and Hinnom unite. 

13-15. Caleb's Portion and Conquest. 
13. unto Caleb he gave a part— (see on ch. 14. 
6-15.). 14. Drove out from thence the three sons 
of Anak— rather three chiefs of the Anakim 
race. This exploit is recorded to the honour 
of Caleb, as the success of it was the reward 
of his trust in God. 15. Debir— oracle. Its 
former name, Kirjath-sepher, signifies " city 
of the book," being, probably, a place where 
public registers were kept. 

16-20. Othniel, for his Valour, hath 
Achsah to Wife. 16-20. He that smiteth 
—This offer was made as an incentive to 
youthful bravery (see on 1 Sam. 17. 25,); and 
the prize was won by Othniel, Caleb's younger 
brother (Ju. 1. 13; 3. 9.). This was the occa- 
sion of drawing out the latent energies f 



Inheritance of Benjamin. 



JOSHUA, XIX, 



Lots of the several tribes. 



11 f And the lot of the trihe of the chil- 
dren of Benjamin came up according to 
their families: and the coast of their lot 
came forth between the children oi Judah 
and the children of Joseph. 

12 And * their border on the north side 
was from Jordan; and the border went up 
to the side of Jericho on the north side, 
and went up through the mountains west- 
ward; and the goings out thereof were at 
the wilderness of Beth-aven. 

13 And the border went over from thence 
toward Luz, to the side of Luz i which m 
Beth-el, southward; and the border de- 
scended to Ataroth-adar, near the hill that 
litth on the south side m of the nether 
Beth-horon. 

14 And the border was drawn thence, and 
compassed the corner of 2 the sea south- 
ward from the hill that lieth before Beth- 
horon southward ; and the goings out 
thereof were at n Kirjath-baal, which is 
Kirjath-jearim, a city of the children of 
Judah: this was the west quarter. 

15 And the south quarter was from the 
end of Kirjath-jearim, and the border went 
out on the west, and went out to ° the well 
of waters of Sephtoah: 

16 And the border came down to the end 
of the mountain that lieth before p the 
valley of the son of Hinnom, and which is 
in the valley of 3 the giants on the north, 
and descended to the valley of Hinnom, to 
the side of Jebusi on the south, and de- 
scended to * En-rogel, 

17 And was drawn from the north, and 
went forth to En-shemesh, and went forth 
toward Geliloth, which is over against the 
going up of Adummim, and descended to 
the « stone of Bohan the son of Reuben, 

18 And passed along toward the side over 
against o Arabah northward, and went 
down unto Arabah ; 

19 And the border passed along to the 
side of Beth-hoglah northward: and the 
outgoings of the border were at the north 
6 bay of the salt sea at the south end of 
Jordan: this was the south coast. 

20 And Jordan was the border of it on the 
east side. This was the inheritance of the 
children of Benjamin, by the coasts there- 
of round about, according to their families. 

21 Now the cities of the tribe of the chil- 
dren of Benjamin according to their fami- 
lies were r Jericho, and 8 Beth-hoglah, and 
the valley of Keziz, 

22 And Beth-arabah, and Zemaraim, and 
Beth-el. , „ , . 

23 And Avim, and Parah, and Ophrah, 

24 And Chephar-hciammonai, and Ophni, 
and t Gaba ; twelve cities with their -villages : 

25 Gibeon, and Hainan, and Beeroth, 

26 And Mizpeh, and Chephirah, and 
Mozah, 

27 And Rekem, and Irpeel, and Taralah, 

28 And u Zelah, Eleph, and v Jebusi, 
which is Jerusalem, Gibeath, and Kirjath; 
fourteen cities with their villages. This is 
the inheritance of the children of Benja- 
min w according to their families. 

CHAPTER XIX. 
1 The tot of Simeon, 10 of Zebulun, 17 of Tssaehar, 
24 Of Asher, 32 of Naphtali, 40 and of Van. 49 
The children of Israel give an inheritance to 
Joshua. 

A XD the second lot came forth to Simeon, 

•**- even for the tribe of the children of 

Simeon according to their families: and 

172 



B. C. 1444. 



CHAP. 18. 
k ch. 16. 1. 

1 Gen. 26. 19. 
Judg. 1. 23. 

m ch. 16. 3. 

2 The pool of 
Gibeon. 
2 Sam. 2. 
13. 
Jer. 41. 12. 

n ch. 9. 17. 

1 Chr. 13.6. 
o ch. 15. 9. 
P ch. 15. 8. 

3 Or, Ee- 
phaim. 

4 Fuller's 
fountain, 
ch. 15. 7. 

2 Sam. 17. 
17. 

1 Ki. 1. 9. 
Is. 7. 3. 

q ch. 15. 6. 

5 Or, the 
plain. 
ch. 15. 6. 

6 tongue. 
r ch. 2. 1. 
« ch 15. 6. 
t Judg. 19. 

12-16. 
Is. 10. 29. 
Ezra 2. 26. 

« 2 Sam. 21. 
14. 

v ch. 15. 8. 
Which 
belonged 
partly to 
Benjamin, 
and partly 
to Judah. 

w Xu. 26. 38, 
1 Chr. 7. 6 
Acts 17.26, 



CHAP. 19. 

a Gen. 49. 7. 

b 1 Chr. 4. 
23. 

c Gen. 21. 14, 
31. 

Gen. 26.33. 
ch. 15. 28. 

dNeh.11.26. 

e 1 Chr. 4. 
29,30. 

/Gen. 49. 13. 
Ex. 23. 31. 
Nu. 34.6,7. 
The Medi- 
terranean. 

g ch. 12. 22. 

I Or, which 
is drawn. 

h ch. 21. 34, 

35. 

Judg. 1.30. 

i ch. 11. 1. 

ch. 12. 20. 

j Acts 17. 26. 

k ch. 15. 16. 

1 Ki. 21. 1. 

I I Sa. 28. 4. 

2 Kin. 4. 8. 
*»ch. 21. 29, 

Jarmuth. 
n ?s. 89. 12. 

1 Sa. 10. 3. 
o 1 Chr. 6. 

75, 

Hukok. 
P 1 Kin. la 

19. 

Jer. 46. 18. 
q 1 Kin. 9. 

13. 



their inheritance was a within the inherit- 
ance of the children of Judah. 

2 And o they had in their inheritance 
c Beer-sheba, and Sheba, and * Moladah, 

3 And Hazar-shual, and Balah, and Azem, 

4 And e Eltolad, and Bethul, and Hormah, 

5 And Ziklag, and Beth-marcaboth, and 
Hazar-susah, 

6 And Beth-lebaoth, and Sharuhen ; thir- 
teen cities and their villages: 

7 Ain, Remmon, and Ether, and Ashan; 
four cities and their villages: 

8 And all the villages that were round 
about these cities to Baalath-beer.Ramath 
of the south. This is the inheritance of 
the tribe of the children of Simeon accord- 
ing to their families. 

9 Out of the portion of the children of 
Judah was the inheritance of the children 
of Simeon: for the part of the children of 
Judah was too much for them: therefore 
the children of Simeon had their inherit- 
ance within the inheritance of them. 

10 1T And the third lot came up for the 
children of Zebulun according to their 
families : and the border of their inherit- 
ance was unto Sarid: 

11 And their border went up toward/ the 
sea, and Maralah, and reached to Dab- 
basheth, and reached to the river that is 
before g Jokneam; 

12 And turned from Sarid eastward toward 
the sun-rising unto the border of Cliisloth- 
tabor, and then goeth out to Daberath, and 
goeth up to Japhia, 

13 And from thence passeth on along on 
the east to Gittah-hepner, to Ittah-kaziu, 
and goeth out to Remmon - l methoar, to 
Xeah; 

14 And the border compasseth it on the 
north side to Hannathon: and the outgoings 
thereof are in the valley of Jiphthah-el: 

15 And h Kattath, and Nahallal, and 
» Shimron ; and Idalah, and Beth-lehem: 
twelve cities with then- villages. 

16 This is i the inheritance of the children 
of Zebulun according to their families, 
these cities with then- villages. 

17 IT And the fourth lot came out to Issa- 
char, for the children of Issachar according 
to their families. 

18 And their border was toward * Jezreel, 
and Chesulloth, and l Shunem, 

19 And Haphraim, and Shihon, and Ana- 
harath, 

20 And Rabbith, and Kishion, and Abez, 

21 And m Remeth, and En-gannim, and 
En-haddah, and Beth-pazzez; 

22 And the coast reacheth to n Tabor, and 
Shahazimah, and Beth-shemesh; and the 
outgoings of their border were at Jordan; 
sixteen cities with their villages. 

23 This is the inheritance of the tribe of 
the children of Issachar according to their 
families, the cities and their villages. 

24 ft And the fifth lot came out for the 
tribe of the children of Asher according to 
their families. 

25 And their border was ° Helkath, and 
Hali, and Beten, and Achshaph, 

26 And Alammelech, and Amad, and Mi> 
sheal ; and reacheth to p Carmel westward, 
and to Shihor-libnath; 

27 And tumeth toward the sun-rising to 
Beth-dagon, and reacheth to Zebulun, and 
to the valley of Jiphthah-el toward the 
north side of Beth-emek, and NeieL and 
goeth out to * Cabul on the left hand, 



Cities of Judah. 



JOSHUA, XVI, XVII. 



Lot of Manasseh. 



him who was destined to be the first judge in 
Israel. 18. as she came unto him— i.e., when 
about to remove from her father's to her 
husband's house. She suddenly alighted 
from her travelling equipage— a mark of re- 
spect to her father, and a sign of making 
some request. She had urged Othniel to 
broach the matter, but he not wishing to do 
what appeared like evincing a grasping dis- 
position, she resolved herself to speak out, 
and taking the advantage of the parting 
scene, when a parent's heart was likely to be 
tender, begged that, as her marriage portion 
consisted of a field which, having a southern 
exposure, was comparatively an arid and 
barren waste, he would add the adjoining 
one, which abounded in excellent springs. 
The request being reasonable, was granted; 
and the story conveys this important lesson 
in religion, that if earthly parents are ready 
to bestow on their children that which is 
good, much more will our heavenly Father 
give every necessary blessing to them who 
ask him. 

21-63. Cities of Judah. 21-33. the utter- 
most cities— There is given a list of cities 
within the tribal territory of Judah,arranged 
in four divisons, corresponding to the dis- 
tricts of which it consisted— the cities in the 
southern part (21-32,)— those in the lowlands 
(33-47,), and those in the high lands (48-60,)— 
those in the desert (61, 62.). The best idea of 
the relative situation of these cities will be 
got from looking at the map. 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Ver. 1-4. The General Borders of the 
Sons of Joseph. 1. The lot of the children of 
Joseph fell— Heb. % went forth, referring either 
to the lot as drawn out of the urn, or to the 
tract of land thereby assigned. The first four 
verses describe the territory allotted to the 
family of Joseph, in the rich domains of cen- 
tral Palestine. It was drawn in one lot, that 
the brethren might be contiguously situated; 
but it was afterwards divided. The southern 
boundary only is described here, that on 
the north being irregular and less defined 
(ch. 17. 10, 11,), is not mentioned, mount 
Beth-el— the ridge south of Beth-el. water of 
Jericho (2 Ki. 2. 19,)— at the point of its junc- 
tion with the Jordan. Having described 
the position of Joseph's family generally, the 
historian proceeds to define the territory; 
first, of Ephraim. 

6-9. The Borders of the Inheritance 
of Ephraim. 5-9. the border of their inher- 
itance was Ataroth-adar— Ataroth adar (now 
Atara), four miles south of Jetta [Rob.], is 
fixed on as a centre, through which a line is 
drawn from upperBeth-horontoMichmethah, 
shewing the western limit of their actual pos- 
sessions. The tract beyond that line to the sea 
was still unconqnered. 6, 7. Michmethah on the 
north side— The northern boundary is traced 
from this point eastward to the Jordan. 8. 
from Tappuah westward unto the river Kanah— 
it is retraced from east to west, to describe 
the prospective and intended boundary, 
which was to reach to the sea. Kanah 
(reedy,) flows into the Mediterannean. 9. 
separate cities were among the inheritance of 
Manasseh— (ch. 17. 9,), because it was found 
that the tract allotted to Ephraim was too 
small in proportion to its population and 
power. 10. Drove not out the Canaanites . . . 
serve under tribute— This is the first mention 
of the fatal policy of the Israelites, in ne- 
172 



glecting the divine command (Deu. 20. 16,) to 
exterminate the idolators. 

CHAPTER XVII. 

Ver. 1-6. Lot of Manasseh. 1. There 
was also a lot for the tribe of Manasseh— 
Ephraim was mentioned, as the more nume- 
rous and powerful branch of the family of 
Joseph (Gen. 48. 19, 20,) ; but Manasseh still 
retained the right of primogeniture, and had 
a separate inheritance assigned. Machir-— 
his descendants, the father of Gilead— though 
he had a son of that name (Nu. 26. 29; 27. I,), 
yet, as is evident from the use of the H eb. ar- 
ticle, reference is made, not to the person, but 
the province of Gilead. Father here means 
lord or possessor of Gilead; and this view is 
confirmed by the fact, that it was not Machir, 
but his descendants, who subdued Gilead 
andBashan (Nu. 32. 41; Deu. 3. 13-15,). These 
Machirites had their portion on the east 
side of Jordan. The western portion of land, 
allotted to the tribe of Manasseh, was di- 
vided into ten portions, because the male 
descendants who had sons, consisted of five 
families, to which, consequently , five shares 
were given; and the sixth family, viz., the 
posterity of Hepher, being all females, the 
five daughters of Zelophehad were, on ap- 
plication to the valuators, endowed each with 
an inheritance in land (see on JSTu. 27. 1.). 

7-11. This Coast. 7-11. the coast of Man- 
asseh was from Asher to Michmethah— the 
southern boundary is here traced from the 
east. Asher (now Yasir,), the starting point, 
was a town fifteen Roman miles east of 
Sichem, and anciently a place of import- 
ance. 9. the coast descended unto the river 
Kanah, southward of the river— The line which 
separated the possessions of the two brothers 
from each other ran to the south of the 
stream, and thus the river was in the terri- 
tory of Manasseh; but the cities which were 
upon the river, though all were within the 
limits of Manasseh's possessions, were as- 
signed partly to Ephraim, and partly to 
Manasseh; those on the south side being 
given to the former: those upon the 
north to the latter. [Keil.1 It appears 
(v. 10,) that Manasseh was still further in- 
terlaced with other neighbouring tribes. 
Beth-shean and her towns— Gr., Scythopolis 
(now Beisan,), in the valley of the Jordan, 
towards the east end of the plain of Jezreel. 
"Beth-shean" means "house of rest;" so called 
from its being the halting-place for caravans 
travelling between Syria or Midian, and 
Egypt, and the great station for the com- 
merce between these countries for many cen- 
turies. Ibleam and her towns— in the neigh- 
bourhood of Megiddo (2 Ki. 9. 27.). the 
inhabitants of Dor and her towns— (now Tan- 
toura), anciently a strong fortress: a wall of 
wild precipitous rock defended the shore 
fortifications against attack from the land 
side. En-dor and her towns— situated on a 
rocky eminence, four Roman miles south of 
Tabor, three countries — districts or pro- 
vinces. It is computed that Manasseh pos- 
sessed in Asher and Issachar portions of 
ground to the extent of more than 200 square 
miles. Taanach and Megiddo— These were 
near to each other, and they are generally 
mentioned in Scripture together. They were 
both royal and strongly fortified places (see 
on Ju. l. 27.). 

12, 13. Canaanites Not Driven Out. 
12, 13. Manasseh could not drive out the in- 



Lots of Vie several tribes. 



JOSHUA, XX, XXI. 



The six cities of refuge. 



28 And Hebron, and Rehob, and Ham- 
mon, and r Kanah, * even unto great 
Zidon; 

29 And then tbe coast tnrneth to Ramah. 
and to the strong city i Tyre ; and the coast 
turneth to Hosah ; and the outgoings there- 
of are at the sea from the coast to <Achzib: 

30 Urnmah also, and Aphek, and Rehob: 
twentv and two cities with their -villages. 

31 This is the inheritance of the tribe of 
the children of Asher according to their 
families, these cities with their villages. 

32 r The sixth lot came out to tbe children 
of Naphtali, even for the children ol Naph- 
tali according to their families. 

33 And their coast was from Heleph, from 
Allon to Zaanannim, and Adami, Nekeb, 
and Jabneel, unto Lakum; and the out- 
goings thereof were at Jordan: 

34 And then u the coast turneth westward 
to Aznoth-tabor, and eroeth out from thence 
to Hukkok, and reachech to Zebulun on 
the south side, and reacheth to Asher on 
the west side, and to Judah upon Jordan 
toward the sun-rising. 

35 And the fenced cities are Ziddim, Zer, 
and v Hammath, Rakkath, and w Chinne- 
reth, 

36 And Adamah, and Ramah, and Hazor, 

37 And Kedesh, and Edrei. and En-hazor. 

38 And Iron, and Migdal-el, Horem, and 
Beth-anath, and Beth-shemesh; nineteen 
cities with their villages. 

39 This is the inheritance of the tribe of 
the children of Naphtali according to their 
families, the cities and their villages. 

40 fi And the seventh lot came out for the 
tribe of the children of Dan according to 
their families. 

41 And the coast of their inheritance was 
x Zorah, and Eshtaol, and Ir-shemesh, 

42 And v Shaalabbin, and Ajalon, and 
Jethlah. 

43 And Elon, and Thimnathah, and Ekron, 

44 And Eltekeh, and Gibbethon, and 
Baalath, 

45 And Jehud, and Bene-berak, and Gath- 
rimmon, 

46 And Me-jarkon, and Rakkon, with the 
border 2 before 3 Japho. 

47 And s the coast of the children of Dan 
went out too little for them: therefore the 
children of Dan went up to fight against 
Leshem, and took it, and a smote it with 
the edge of the sword, and possessed it, 
and dwelt therein, and called Leshem, 
& Dan, after the name of Dan their 
father. 

48 This e is the inheritance of the tribe of 
the children of Dan according to their 
families, these cities with their villages. 

49 If "When they had made an end of di- 
viding the land for inheritance by their 
coasts, the children of Israel gave an in- 
heritance to Joshua the son of Nun among 
them: 

50 According to the word of the Lord, 
they gave him the city which he asked, 
even « Timnath-serah e m mount Ephraim: 
and he built the city, and dwelt therein. 

51 These fare the inheritances, which 
Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of' 
Nun, and the heads of the fathers of the 
tribes of the children of Israel, divided for 
an inheritance by lot 9 in Shiloh before the 
Lord, at the door of the tabernacle of the 
congregation. So they made an end of 
dividing the country. 

X73 



CHAP. 19. 

r John 2. 1, 

Cana. 
» ch. 11. 8. 

Judg. 1. 31. 

1 Teor, that 
is, The 
rock. 

2 Sam. 5. 

11. 
t Gen. 38. 6. 

Judg. 1. 31. 

Mic. 1. 14. 
« Dcut. 33. 

23. 

V Gen. 10.18. 
Nu. 13. 21. 
IKin. 8. 
65. 

WDeu.3. 17. 

Mark 6. 53. 

* Judg. 13 2. 

V Judg. 1.35. 

2 Or, over 
against. 

3 Or, Joppa, 
Ezra 3. 7. 
2Chr. 2. 
16. 

Jonah 1. 3. 
Acts 9. 36. 

B Judg. 18. 1. 
a Gen. 49. 17. 
6 Judg. 18. 

29. 
a Nu. 26. 54. 

Acts 17.26. 
d ch. 24. 30. 
e 1 Chr. 7. 

24. 
/ Nu. 34. 17, 

ch. 14. 1. 
g ch. 18. 1, 

10. 



CHAP. 20. 
a Ex. 21. 13. 

Nu. 35. 6, 

11, 14. 

Deut. 19. 

2,9. 
6 Deut. 21. 

19. 

Ruth 4.1,2. 

Job 5. 4. 

Jer. 38. 7. 

1 gather. 
Ps. 26. 9. 

c Nu. 35. 12. 

d Num. 35. 

12,25. 

2 sancti- 
fied. 

e ch. 21. 32. 

1 Chr. 6. 
76. 

/ch. 21. 21. 

2 Chr. 10.1. 
9 eh. 14. 15. 

ch. 21. 11, 

13. 
h Luke 1. 39. 
i Deu. 4. 43. 

ch. 21. 36. 

IChr. 6. 

78. 
j ch. 21. 38. 

1 Ki. 22. 3. 
k ch. 21. 27. 
I Nu. 35. 15. 



CHAP. 21. 

a ch. 14. 1. 

ch. 17. 4. 

6 eh. 18. 1. 
o Nu. 35. 2. 
d ch. 24. 33. 



CHAPTER XX. 

1 The Lord commands, 7 and the Israelites ap 
point by name, six cities of refuge. 

THE Lord also spake unto Joshua, 
saving, 

2 Speak to the children of Israel, saving, 
Appoint a out for you cities of refuge, 
whereof I spake unto you by the hand or 
Moses: 

3 That the slayer that killeth any person 
unawares and unwittingly may flee thither: 
and they shall be your refuge from the 
avenger of blood. 

4 And when he that doth flee unto one of 
those cities shall stand at the entering of 
the b gate of the city, and shall declare his 
cause in the ears of the elders of that city, 
they shall 1 take him into the city unto 
them, and give him a place, that he may 
dwell among them. 

5 And c if the avenger of blood pursue 
after him, then they snail not deliver the 
slayer up into his hand; because he smote 
his neighbour unwittingly, and hated him 
not beforetime. 

6 And he shall dwell in that city, d until 
he stand before the congregation for judg- 
ment, and until the death of the high 
priest that shall be in those days: then 
shall the slayer return, and come unto his 
own city, and unto his own house, unto the 
city from whence he fled. 

7 II" And they 2 appointed e Kedesh in 
Galilee in mount Naphtali, and/ Shechem 
in mount Ephraim, and o Kirjath-arba, 
which is Hebron, in h the mountain of 
Judah. 

8 And on the other side Jordan by Jericho 
eastward, they assigned » Bezer in the wil- 
derness upon the plain out of the tribe of 
Reuben, and i Ramoth in Gilead out of the 
tribe of Gad. and * Golan in Bashan out of 
the tribe of Manasseh. 

9 These l were the cities appointed for all 
the children of Israel, and for the stranger 
that so.iourneth among them, that whoso- 
ever killeth any person at unawares might 
flee thither, and not die by the hand of the 
avenger of blood, until he stood before the 
congregation. 

CHAPTER XXL 

1 Eight and forty cities oiven by lot ortt of the 
other tribes unto the Levites. 9 The cities of the 
priests. 43 Qcd gave them rest. 

THEN came near the heads of the fathers 
- 1 - of the Levites unto a Eleazar the priest, 
and unto Joshua the son of Nun, and unto 
the heads of the fathers of the tribes of the 
children of Israel ; 

2 And they spake unto them at & Shiloh in 
the land of Canaan, saying, c The Lord 
commanded by the hand of Moses to give 
us cities to dwell in, with the suburbs 
thereof for our cattle. 

3 And the children of Israel gave unto the 
Levites out of their inheritance, at the 
commandment of the Lord, these cities 
and their suburbs. 

4 And the lot came out for the families 
of the Kohathites : and the children of 
Aaron the priest, which were of the Le- 
vites, d had dv lot out of the tribe of Judah, 
and out of the tribe of Simeon, and out of 
the tribe of Benjamin, thirteen cities. 

5 And the rest of the children of Kohath 
had by lot out of the families of the tribe 



The Tabernacle set up at Shiloh. JOSHUA, XVIII, XIX. 



The Lot of Simeon, 



habitants of those cities— indolence, a love of 
ease; perhaps a mistaken humanity, arising 
f i om a disregard or forgetfulness of the divine 
command, a decreasing principle of faith and 
zeal in the service of God, were the causes 
of their failure. 

14-18. The Children of Joseph Sue for 
Another Lot. 14-18. The children of Joseph 
spake unto Joshua — The two tribes join in 
laying a complaint before the leader, as to 
the narrow boundaries of their allotment, 
and its insufficiency to be the residence of 
tribes so vastly increased. But Joshua's 
answer was full of wisdom as well as patriot- 
ism. Knowing their character, he treated 
them accordingly.and sarcastically turned all 
their arguments against themselves. Thus he 
rebuked their unbelief and cowardice. Mount 
Ep ara im— called so here by anticipation. 
The Gilboa range between Beth-shean and 
tue plain of Jezreel is meant, anciently co- 
vered with an extensive forest, iron chari- 
ots —unusually strengthened with that metal, 
and perhaps armed with projecting scythes. 
CHAPTER XVIII. 

Ver. 1. The Tabernacle set up at 
Shiloh. 1. the whole congregation assem- 
bled together at Shiloh— The main body of the 
Israelites had been diminished by the separa- 
tion of the three tribes, Judah, Ephraim, and 
Manasseh into their respective allotments, 
and the country having been in a great mea- 
sure subdued, the camp was removed to 
Shiloh — now Seilun. It was twenty or 
twenty-five miles north of Jerusalem, twelve 
north of Bethel, and ten south of Shechem, 
and embosomed in a rugged and romantic 
glen. This sequestered spot in the heart of the 
country might have been recommended by 
the dictates of convenience; there the allot- 
ment of the territory could be most conveni- 
ently made, north, south, east, and west, to 
the different tribes. But "the tabernacle of 
the congregation was also set up there," and 
its removal therefore must have been made 
or sanctioned by divine intimation (Deu. 12. 
11.). It remained in Shiloh for more than 
300 years 1 Sam. 4. 1-11.). 

2-9. The Remainder of the Land De- 
scribed. 2. there remained seven tribes which 
had not yet received their inheritance— The se- 
lection of Shiloh for the seat of worship, 
together with the consequent removal of the 
camp thither, had necessarily interrupted 
the casting of lots, which was commenced by 
fixing localities for the tribes of Judah and 
Joseph. Various causes led to a long delay 
in resuming it. The satisfaction of the people 
with their change to so pleasant and fertile 
a district, their preference of a nomad life, 
a love of ease, and reluctance to renew the 
war, seem to have made them indifferent to 
the possession of a settled inheritance. But 
Joshua was too much alive to the duty laid 
on him by the Lord to let matters continue 
in that state; and accordingly, since a general 
conquest of the land had been made, he re- 
solved to proceed immediately with the lot, 
believing that when each tribe should re- 
ceive its inheritance, a new motive would 
arise to lead them to exert themselves in se- 
curing the full possession. 3. how long are 
ye slack to go to possess the land— This reproof 
conveys an impression that the seven tribes 
were dilatory to a criminal extent. 4-9. give 
out from among you three men for each tribe— 
Though the lot determined the part of the 
173 



country where each tribe was to be located, 
it could not determine the extent of territory 
which might be required; and the dissatis- 
faction of the children of Joseph with the 
alleged smallness of their possession, gave 
reason to fear that complaints might arise 
from other quarters, unless precautions were 
taken to make a proper distribution of the 
land. For this purpose a commission was 
given to twenty-one persons — three chosen 
from each of the seven tribes which had not 
yet received their inheritance, to make an 
accurate survey of the country. ' ' They went 
and passed through the land and described 
it by cities in seven parts in a/ book" (v. 9): 
dividing the land according to its value, and 
the worth of the cities which it contained, 
into seven equal portions. This was no 
light task to undertake. It required learning 
and intelligence which they or their instruc- 
tors had, in all probability, brought with 
them out of Egypt. Accordingly, J osephus 
says that the survey was performed by men 
expert in geometry. And, in fact, the cir- 
cumstantial account which is given of the 
boundaries of each tribe and its situation, 
well proves it to have been the work of no 
mean or incompetent hands. 

10. Divided by Lot. 10. Joshua cast lots 
for them in Shiloh before the Lord— before the 
tabernacle, where the divine presence was 
manifested, and which associated with the 
lot the idea of divine sanction. 11. the lot of 
Benjamin came up— It has been supposed that 
here were two urns or vessels, from which 
the lots were drawn; one containing the 
names of the tribes; the other containing 
those of the seven portions; and that the two 
were drawn out simultaneously, between 
the children of Judah and the children of Joseph 
—Thus the prophecy of Moses respecting the 
inheritance of Benjamin was remarkably 
accomplished (see on Deu. 33. 12.). 
CHAPTER XIX. 

Ver. 1-9. The Lot of Simeon. 1. the 
second lot came forth to Simeon— The next lot 
that was drawn at Shiloh, giving the tribe of 
Simeon his inheritance within the terri- 
tory, which had been assigned to that of 
Judah. The knowledge of Canaan possessed 
by the Israelites, when the division of the 
land commenced, was but very general, 
being derived from the rapid sweep they had 
made over it during the course of conquest; 
and it was on the ground of that rough sur- 
vey alone, that the distribution proceeded, 
by which Judah received an inheritance. 
Time showed that this territory was too larjre 
(v. 9,), either for their numbers, however 
great, to occupy, and their arms to defend, 
or too large in proportion to the allotments of 
the other tribes. Justice therefore required, 
what kind and brotherly feeling readily dic- 
tated, a modification of their possession, and 
a part of it was appropriated to Simeon. By 
thus establishing it within the original do- 
main of another tribe, the prophecy of Jacob 
in regard to Simeon was fulfilled (Gen. 49. 7 S ); 
for from its boundaries being not traced, 
there is reason to conclude that its people 
were divided and dispersed among those of 
Judah; and though one group of its cities 
named 2-6,) give the idea of a compact dis- 
trict, as it is usually represented by map- 
makers, the other group (7, 8.) were situated, 
two in the south, and two elsewhere, with 
tracts of the country around them. 



The cities of the Levites. 



JOSHUA, XXII. 



The cities of the Levites. 



of Ephraim, and out of the tribe of Dan, 
and out of the half tribe of Manasseh, ten 
cities. 

6 And the children of Gershon had by 
lot out of the families of the tribe of Issa- 
char, and out of the tribe of Asher, and 
out of the tribe of Naphtali, and out of the 
half tribe of Manasseh in Bashan, thirteen 

7 The children of Merari by their families 
had out of the tribe of Reuben, and out of 
the tribe of Gad, and out of the tribe of 
Zebulun, twelve cities. 

8 And e the children of Israel gave by lot 
onto the Levites these cities with their 
suburbs, / as the Lord commanded by the 
hand of Moses. 

9 1f And they gave out of the tribe of the 
children of Judah, and out of the tribe of 
the children of Simeon, these cities which 
are here l mentioned by name, 

10 Which the children of Aaron, being of 
the families of the Kohathites. who were of 
the children of Levi, had: for theirs was the 
first lot. 

11 And 9 they gave them 2 the city of 
Arba the father of h Anak, which city is 
Hebron, * in the hill country of Judah, 
with the suburbs thereof round about 
it. 

12 But f the fields of the city, and the vil- 
lages thereof, gave they to Caleb the son of 
Jephunneh for his possession. 

13 Thus * they gave to the children of 
Aaron the priest * Hebron with her sub- 
urbs, to be a city of refuge for the slayer, 
and m Libnah with her suburbs, 

14 And n J attir with her suburbs, ° and 
Eshtemoa with her suburbs, 

15 And p Holon with her suburbs, « and 
Debir with her suburbs, 

16 And r Ain with her suburbs, e and Jut- 
tah with her suburbs, and t Beth-shemesh 
with her suburbs ; nine cities out of those 
two tribes. 

17 And out of the tribe of Benjamin, 
Gibeon u with her suburbs, v Geba with 
her suburbs, 

18 Anathoth with her suburbs, and w Al- 
mon with her suburbs ; four cities. 

19 All the cities of the children of Aaron, 
the priests, were thirteen cities with their 
suburbs. 

20 IF And x the families of the children of 
Kohath, the Levites which remained of 
the children of Kohath, even they had 
the cities of their lot out of the tribe of 
Ephraim. 

21 For they gave them v Shechem with her 
suburbs in mount Ephraim, to be a city of 
refuge for the slayer; and Gezerwith ner 
suburbs, 

22 And Kibzaim with her suburbs, and 
Beth-horon with her suburbs ; four cities. 

23 And out of the tribe of Dan, Eltekeh 
with her suburbs, Gibbethon with her 
suburbs, 

24 Aijalon with her suburbs, Gath-rimmon 
with her suburbs; four cities. 

25 And out of the half tribe of Manasseh, 
Taanach with her suburbs, and Gath-rim- 
mon with her suburbs; two cities. 

26 All the cities were ten with their 
suburbs for the families of the children of 
Kohath that remained. 

27 H And z unto the children of Gershon, 
of the families of the Levites, out of the 
other half tribe of Manasseh, they gave 

174 



B. C. 1444. 



CHAP. 21. 
e Gen. 49. 7. 
Pro. 16. 33. 
/Nu. 35.2. 

1 called. 

9 1 Chr. 6. 
55. 

2 Or, Kir- 
jath-arba, 
Gen. 23. 2. 

h ch. 15. 13. 
i Lu. 1. 39. 
j ch. 14. 14. 
k 1 Chr. 6. 
57. 

1 ch. 15. 54. 
w* ch. 15. 42. 
n ch. 15. 48. 
o ch. 15. 50. 
P 1 Chr. 6. 

58, 

Hilen. 
9 ch. 15. 49. 
r 1 Chr. 6. 

59, 

Ashan. 

8 ch. 15. 55. 
t ch. 15. 10. 
n ch. 18. 25. 
v ch. 18. 24, 

Gaba. 
w 1 Chr. 6. 

60, 

Alemevh. 
* 1 Chr. 6. 

66. 
V ch. 20. 7. 

2 1 Chr. 6. 
71. 

a ch. 20. 8. 
Deu. 4. 43. 

3 Or, Ash- 
taroth. 

b ch. 20. 7. 
c 1 Ch. 6. 77. 
d ch. 20. 8. 
e Deu. 4. 43. 

1 Ki. 4. 13. 
/Gen. 32. 1. 

2 Sam. 2. 8. 
2 Sam. 17. 
27. 

9 Gen. 49. 7. 
Nu. 35. 7. 
Deu. 33.10. 

4 That is, 
608 yards 
broad for 
barns, gar- 
dens, etc., 
and 1216 
more for 
fields and 
vineyards. 

h Gen. 13. 

15. 

Gen. 15. 

18. 

Gen. 26. 3. 

Gen. 28. 4, 

13. 
i ch. 11. 23. 

ch. 22. 4. 
j Deu. 7. 24. 
k ch. 23. 14. 

Ex. 3. 7, 8. 

Exod. 23. 

23-31. 

1 Kings 8. 

66. 

Is. 49.7,8, 

15, 16. 



CHAP. 22. 
a Nu. 32. 20. 
Deu. 3. 18. 
b ch. 1. 16, 
17. 



Golan ° in Bashan with her suburbs, to be 
a city of refuge for the slayer; and 3 Beesh- 
terah with her suburbs ; two cities. 

28 And out of the tribe of Issachar, 
Kishon with her suburbs, Dabareh with 
her suburbs, 

29 Jarmuth with her suburbs, En-gannim 
with her suburbs ; four cities. 

30 And out of the tribe of Asher, Mishal 
with her suburbs, Abdon with her suburbs, 

31 Helkath with her suburbs, and Kehob 
with her suburbs ; four cities. 

32 And out ot the tribe of Naphtali, 
Kedesh 6 in Galilee with her suburbs, to be 
a city of refuge for the slayer; and Hamoth- 
dor with her suburbs, and Kartan with her 
suburbs ; three cities. 

33 All the cities of the Gershonites ac- 
cording to their families were thirteen 
cities with their suburbs. 

34 IT And c unto the families of the 
children of Merari, the rest of the Levites, 
out of the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam 
with her suburbs, and Kartah with her 
suburbs, 

35 Dimnah with her suburbs, Nahalal 
with her suburbs ; four cities. 

36 And out of the tribe of Reuben, d Bezer 
with her suburbs, and Jahazah with her 
suburbs, 

37 Kedemoth with her suburbs, and Me- 
phaath with her suburbs ; four cities. 

38 And out of the tribe of Gad, e Ramoth 
in Gilead with her suburbs, to be a city of 
refuge for the slayer ; and / Mahanaim 
with her suburbs, 

39 Heshbon with her suburbs, Jazer with 
her suburbs ; four cities in all. 

40 So all the cities for the children of 
Merari, by their families, which w T ere re- 
maining of the families of the Levites, 
were by their lot twelve cities. 

41 All g the cities of the Levites within 
the possession of the children of Israel 
were forty and eight cities with their 
suburbs. 

42 These cities were every one with 4 their 
suburbs round about them: thus were all 
these cities. 

43 1F And the Lokd gave unto Israel h all 
the land which he sware to give unto their 
fathers; and they possessed it, and dwelt 
therein. 

44 And * the Lokd gave them rest round 
about, according to all that he sware unto 
their fathers: and i there stood not a man 
of all their enemies before them ; the 
Lord delivered all their enemies into their 
hand. 

45 There * failed not ought of any good 
thing which the Lord had spoken unto the 
house of Israel; all came to pass. 

CHAPTER XXII. 

1 Joshua dismisses the two tribes and half with a 
blessing: 10 they build the altar of testimony in 
their journey : 11 contention thereupon. 30 The 
deputies satisfied. 

THEN Joshua called the Reubenites, and 
-*• the Gadites, and the half tribe of Man- 



2 And said unto them, Ye have kept ° all 
that Moses the servant of the Lord com- 
manded you, *> and have obeyed my voice 
in all that I commanded you: 

3 Ye have not left your brethren these 
many days unto this day, but have kept 
the charge of the commandment of the 
Lord your God. 



The Lot of Issachar, etc. 



JOSHUA, XX. 



Cities of Refuge Appointed. 



10-16. Of Zebulun. 10-14. the third lot 
came up for the children of Zebulun— The boun- 
daries of the possession assigned to them 
extended from the Lake of Cinneroth (Sea of 
Galilee) on the east, to the Mediterannean on 
the west; for although they do not seem at 
first to have touched on the western shore— a 
part of Manasseh running north into Asher— 
(ch. IV. 10), they afterwards did, according 
to the prediction of Moses (Deu. 33. 19.). 
The extent from south to north cannot be 
very exactly traced; the sites of many of the 
places through which the boundary line is 
drawn being unknown. Some of the cities 
were of note. 

17-23. Of Issachar. 17-20. the fourth lot 
came out to Issachar— Instead of describing 
the boundaries of this tribe, the inspired his- 
torian gives a list of its principal cities. 
These cities are all in the eastern part of the 
plain of Esdraelon. 

24-31. Of Asher. 24-31. the fifth lot came 
out for the tribe of the children of Asher— The 
western boundary is traced from north to 
south through the cities mentioned; the site 
of which, however, is unknown, to Carmel and 
Shihor-libnath— i. e. y the black or muddy 
river; probably the Nahr Belka, below Dor 
(Tantoura,) • for that town belonged to Asher 
(ch. 17. 10.). Thence the boundary line turned 
eastward to Beth-dagon, a town at the junc- 
tion of Zebulun and Naphtali, and ran 
northwards as far as Cabul, with other 
towns, amongst which is mentioned {v. 28,) 
*' great Zidon," so called on account of its 
being even then the flourishing metropolis 
of the Phoenicians. Though included in the 
inheritance of Asher, this town was never 
possessed by them (Ju. 1. 31.). 29. and then the 
coast turnethto Ramah— now El-Hamra, which 
stood where the Leontes (Litany,) ends its 
southern course and flows westward, and tc 
the strong city Tyre— the original city appears 
to have stood on the main land, and was weL 
fortified. From Tyre the boundary ran to 
flosah,an inland town; and then passing the 
unconquered district of Achzib (Ju. 1. 31,), 
terminated at the sea-coast. 

32-39. Of Naphtali. 32-39. the sixth lot 
came out to the children of Naphtali— Although 
the cities mentioned have not been dis- 
covered, it is evident, fromZaanannim, which 
is by Kedesh, i.e., on the north-west of Lake 
Merom (Ju. 4. 11,), that the boundary de- 
scribed {v. 34,) ran from the south-west to- 
wards the north-east, up to the sources of 
the Jordan. Aznoth-tabor— on the east of 
Tabor towards the Jordan, for the border 
ran thence to Hukkok, touching upon that 
of Zebulun; and as the territory of Zebulun 
did not extend as far as the Jordan, Aznoth- 
tabor and Hukkok must have been border 
towns on the line which separated Napthali 
from Issachar. to Judah upon Jordan toward 
the sun-rising— The sixty cities, Havoth- 
jair, which were on the eastern side of the 
Jordan, opposite Naphtali, were reckoned as 
belonging to Judah, because Jair, their pos- 
sessor, was a descendant of Judah il Ohr. 2. 
4-22.) [Keil.] 

40-48. Of Dan. 40-46. the seventh lot came 
out :or the tribe of Dan— It lay on the west of 
Benjamin, and consisted of portions surren- 
dered by Judah and Ephraim. Its boundar- 
ies are not stated, as they were easily dis- 
tinguishable from the relative position of 
Dan to the three adjoining tribes. 47. the 
174 



children of Dan went out to fight— The DaniUa 
finding their inheritance too small, medi- 
tated enlarging its boundaries by the sword\ 
and having conquered Leshem (Laish,), 
planted a colony there, calling the new set- 
tlement by the name of Dan (see on Judg. 
18.). 

49-51. The Children of Israel Give an 
Inheritance to Joshua. 49-51. they gave 
him the city which he asked — Itwas most proper 
that the great leader should receive an in- 
heritance suited to his dignity, and as a re- 
ward for his public services. But the gift 
was not left to the spontaneous feelings of a 
grateful people. It was conferred, " accord- 
ing to the word of the Lord"— probably an 
unrecorded promise, similar to what had 
been made to Caleb (ch. 14. 9.). Timnath- 
serah— or Heres, on mount Gaash (Ju. 2. 9.). 
Joshua founded it, and was afterwards buri- 
ed there (ch. 24. 30.). 51. These are the inherit- 
ances—This verse is the formal close of the 
section which narrates the history of the 
land distribution; and to stan p it with due 
importance, the names of the commissioners 
are repeated, as well as the spot where so 
memorable a transaction took place. 
CHAPTEE XX. 
Ver. 1-6. The Lorjj Commands the 
Cities of Befuge. 1. the Lord spake unto 
Joshua, Appoint out for you cities of refuge— (see 
Nu. 35. 9-^8; Deu. 19. 1-13.1. The command 
here recorded was given on their going to 
occupy their allotted settlements. The sanc- 
tuaries were not temples or altars, as in other 
countries, but inhabited cities; and the design 
was not to screen criminals, but only to afford 
the homicide protection from the vengeance 
of the deceased's relatives, until it should 
have been ascertained whether the death had 
resulted from accident and momentary pas- 
sion, or from premeditated malice. The in- 
stitution of the cities of refuge, together 
with the rules prescribed for the guidance of 
those who sought an asylum within their 
walls, was an important provision, tending 
to secure the ends of justice as well as of 
mercy. 4. he that doth flee . . shall stand at the 
entering of the gate of the city— It was the place 
of public resort; and on arriving there he re- 
lated his tale of distress to the elders, who 
were bound to give him shelter and the 
means of support, until the local authorities 
[v. 6,) having carefully investigated the case, 
should have pronounced the decision. If 
found guilty, the man- slayer was surrendered * 
to the bl od-avenger: if extenuating circum- 
stances appeared, he was to remain in the 
city of refuge, where he would be safe from 
the vindictive feelings of his pursuers; but 
he forfeited the privilege of immunity the 
moment he ventured beyond the walls, until 
the death of the high priest— his death secured 
the complete deliverance of the man-slayer 
from his sin, only because he had been 
anointed with the holy oil (Nu. 35. 25,), the 
symbol of the Holy Ghost; and thus the death 
of the earthly High priest became a type of 
that of the heavenly OneS'Heb. 9. 14. 15.). 

7-9. The Israelites Appoint by Name 
the Cities of Befuge. 7-9. they appointed 
cities— There were six ; three on the west, and 
three on the east of Jordan. In the first in- 
stance, they were a provision of the criminal 
law of the Hebrews, necessary in the circum- 
stances of that people (see on Nu. 35. 9-15; 
Deu. 19.); and at the same time they were 



The tico tribes and half return, 



josiiua, xxn. 



and buUd an altar of tes&monf. 



4 And now the Lord your God hath 
given rest nnto your brethren, as he pro- 
mised them: therefore now return ye, and 
get you unto your tents, and unto the land 
of your possession, c which Moses the ser- 
vant of the Lord gave you on the other 
side Jordan. 

5 But d take diligent heed to do the com- 
mandment and the law. which Moses the 
servant of the Lord charged you, e to love 
the Lord your God. and to walk in all his 
ways, and to keep his commandments, and 
to cleave unto him, and to serve him with 
all vour heart, and with all your soul. 

6 So Joshua /blessed them, and sent them 
away: and thev went unto then tents. 

7 r Now to the one half of the tribe of 
Manasseh Moses had given possession in 
Bashan; 9 but unto the other half thereof 
gave Joshua among their brethren on this 
side Jordan westward. And when Joshua 
sent them away also unto their tents, then 
he blessed them, 

8 And he spake unto them, saying. Return 
with much riches unto your tents, and 
with very much cattle, with silver, and 
with gold, and with brass, and with iron, 
and with very much raiment : h divide the 
spoil of your enemies with your brethren. 

9 And the children of Reuben, and the 
children of Gad, and the half tribe of 
Manasseh, returned, and departed from the 
children of Israel out of Shiloh, which is 
in the land of Canaan, to go unto ' the 
country of Gilead. to the land of their 

; ;:>n. whereof they were possessed, 
according to the word ot the Lord by the 
hand of Moses. 

10 tf And when they came unto the 
borders of Jordan, that are in the land of 
Canaan, the children of Reuben, and the 
children of Gad. and the half tribe of 
Manasseh, built there an altar by Jordan, 
a great altar to see to. 

11 f And the children of Israel J heard 
eay, Behold, the children of Reuben, and 
the children of Gad. and the half tribe of 
Manasseh, have built an altar over against 
the land of Canaan, in the borders of 
J ordan, at the passage of the children of 
Israel. 

12 And when the children of Israel heard 
of it, k the whole congregation of the 
children of Israel gathered themselves 
together at Shiloh, to go up to war against 
them. 

13 And the children of Israel l sent unto 
the children of Reuben, and to the children 
of Gad. and to the half tribe of Manasseh, 
into the land of Gilead, m Phinehas the 
son of Eleazar the priest, 

14 And with him ten princes, of each 
1 chief house a prince throughout all the 
tribes of Israel ; and n each one was an 
head of the house of their fathers among 
the thousands of Israel. I 

15 And they came unto the children of 
Reuben, and to the children of Gad. and z Gen - 31 - 48 
to the half tribe of Manasseh, unto the S h - 24 - 1 7 - 
land of Gilead, and they spake with them, j i 2 
Baying, _ I y j^ eu 12 5 

lti Thus saith the whole congregation of ( 6,11,12, 
the Lord, What trespass is this that ve 
have committed against the God of Israel, 
to turn away this day from following the 
Lord, in that ye have builded you an 
altar, "that ye might rebel this day against 
the Lord? 

175 



B. C. 1444. 



CHAP. 22. 

c Nu. 32. 33. 

Deu. 29. 8. 

ch. 13. 3. 

d Deut. 6. 6, 

17. 

Deut. 11. 

22. 

2 Kin. 10. 

31. 

Ps. 119. 4. 

Mat. 22.36. 

Bo. 13. 10. 

1 Tim. 1.5. 
e Deu. 10. 12. 

1 John 5. 3. 

2 John 6. 
f Gen. 47. 7. 

Ex. 39. 43. 

ch. 14. 13. 

2 Sam. 6. 

18. 

Lu. 24. 50. 

9 ch. 17. 5. 

h tin. 31. 27. 

1 Sam. 30. 

14. 

i Nu. 32. 1, 

26. 29. 
j Lev. 17. 8. 

Deu. 13. 12. 

Judrr .2- .'.12. 
k Juds. a».i. 
I Deu.T3. 14. 

Judg. 20.12. 

m Ex. 6. 25. 

Nu. 25. 7. 

1 bouse of 
the father. 

» Nu. 1. 4. 
o Lev. 17. 

8,9. 

Deut. 12. 

13. 14. 

1 Sa. 15. 23. 
P Nu. 25. 3,4. 

Deu. 4. 3. 
q Nu. 15. 22. 
r ch. 18. 1. 
« ch. 7. 1, 5. 
t Pro. 15. 1. 

Pro. 18. 13. 

Pro. 24. 26. 

Pro. 25. 12. 
W Deut. 10. 

17. 
f lKin.8. 

39. 

Job 10. 7. 

Job 23. 10. 

Ps. 44. 21. 

Psalm 139. 

1,2. 

Jer. 12. 3. 

2 Cor. 11. 
11, 31. 

w Deut. 18. 
19. 

1 Sam. 20. 
16. 

Pb. 7. 3, 5. 
Ps. 10. 13, 
14. 

2 To-mor- 
row. 



17, 18, 26, 

27. 
z Deut. 12. 

13,14. 
3 it was good 

in their 

eyes. 



\~ Is the iniquity -P of Peor too little for 
us, from which we are not cleansed until 
this day, although there was a plague hi 
the congregation' of the Lord, 

13 But that ye must turn away this day 
from following the Lord? and it will be, 
seeing ye rebel to-day against the Lord, 
that to-morrow « he will be wroth with the 
whole congregation of Israel. 

19 Notwithstanding, if the land of your 
possession be unclean, then pass ye over 
unto the land of the possession of the Lord, 
wherein r the Lord s tabernacle dwelleth, 

: and take possession among us ; but rebel 
inst the Lord, nor rebel against us, 
in building you an altar besides the altar of 
1 the Lord our God. 

20 Did e not Achan the son of Zerah com- 
mit a trespass in the accursed thing, and 
wrath fell on all the congregation of Israel ? 
and that man perished not alone in his 
iniquity. 

21 f Then * the children of Reuben, and 
the children of Gad, and the half tribe of 
Manasseh. answered and said unto the 
heads of the thousands of Israel. 

22 The Lord u God of gods, the Lord 
God of gods, he v knoweth. and Israel ha 
shall know; if it be in rebellion, or if in 
trangression against the Lord, (save us not 
this day.) 

23 That we have built us an altar to turn 
from following the Lord, or if to otter 
thereon burnt ottering or meat offering, or 
if to otter peace offerings thereon, let the 
Lord himself "' require it; 

24 And if we have not rather done it for 
fear of th is tiling, saying, 2 In time to come 
your children might speak unto our chil- 
dren, saying, What have ye to do with the 
Lord God of Israel? 

25 For the Lord hath made Jordan a 
border between us and you, ye children of 
Reuben and children of Gad; ye have no 
pait in the Lord : so shall your children 
make our children cease from fearing the 
Lord. 

26 Therefore we said, Let us now prepare 
to build us an altar, not for burnt ottering, 
nor for sacririce: 

27 But that it may be x a witness between 
us and you. and our generations after us, 
that we might v do the sendee of the Lord 
before him with our burnt offerings, and 
with our sacrifices, and with our peace 
offerings ; that your children may not say 
to our children in time to come, Ye have 
no part hi the Lord. 

28 Therefore said we, that it shall be, 
when they should so say to us or to our 
generations in time to come, that we may 
say again, Behold the pattern of the altar 
of the Lord, which our fathers made, not 
for burnt offerings, nor for sacrifices ; but it 
is a witness between us and you. 

29 God forbid that we should rebel against 
the Lord, and turn this day from following 
the Lord, z to build an altar for burnt offer- 
ings, for meat offerings, or for sacrifices, 
besides the altar of the Lord our God that 
is before his tabernacle. 

30 r And when Phinehas the priest, and 
the princes of the congregation, and heads 
of the thousands of Israel which ?<■•_ re with 
him, heard the words that the chihiren of 
Reuben, and the children of Gad, and the 
children of Manasseh spake, 3 it pleased 
them. 



The Cities ofthe Priests. JOSHUA^ 

designed also typically to point out the sin- 
ner's way to Christ (Heb. 6. 18.). 
CHAPTER XXI. 

Ver. 1-8. Eight and Forty Cities given 
by Lot out of the other Tribes unto 
the Levites. 1. Then came near the heads ot 
the fathers of the Levites— the most venerable 
and distinguished members of the three 
Levitical families who, on behalf of their 
tribe, applied for the special provision 
that had been promised them to be now 
awarded (see on Num. 35. 1-5.). Their in- 
heritance lay within the territory of every 
tribe. It was assigned in the same place 
and manner, and by the same commis- 
sioners as the other allotments; and while 
the people, knowing the important duties 
they were to perform, are described (v. 3,) 
as readily conceding this "peculiar" to 
them: it had most probably been specified 
and reserved for their use, while the distri- 
bution of the land was in progress. 4-8. the 
lot came out for the families of the Kohathites— 
The Levites were divided into Kohathites, 
Gershonites, and Merarites, Among the for- 
mer the family of Aaron were exclusively 
appointed to the priesthood, and all the rest 
were ranked in the common order of Levites. 
The first lot was drawn by the Kohathites; 
and the first of their's again by the priests, to 
whom thirteen cities were granted, and ten 
to the rest of the Kohathites (v. 5,) ; thirteen 
to the Gershonites {v. 6,), and twelve to the 
Merarites (v. 7.). 

9-42. The Cities op the Priests. 9-40. 
they gave these cities which are mentioned by 
name— It was overruled by the unerring pro- 
vidence of the divine lawgiver, that the cities 
of the priests lay within the territories of J u- 
dah and Benjamin; and this was a provision, 
the admirable wisdom and propriety of 
which was fully manifested on the schism 
that took place in the reign of Rehoboam. 
41. all the cities of the Levites were forty and 
eight cities with their suburbs— This may ap- 
pear too great a proportion compared with 
those of the other tribes. But it must be 
borne in mind, that the list given here con- 
tains the names of every Levitical city see on 
1 Chr. 6. 39-66) ; whereas, only those cities of 
the other tribes are mentioned, which lay on 
the frontier or along the boundary line. Be- 
sides, the Levites were not the exclusive in- 
habitants of those forty-eight cities; for there 
must have been also a considerable number 
of pe' pie kept there to cultivate the glebe 
lands and tend the cattle. Still further, the 
Levitical cities had nothing but "their su- 
burbs—a limited circuit of ground— round 
about them;" whereas the other cities in 
Israel possessed a group of independent 
villages (see chaps. 17. 18. 19.). 

43-45. God ga ve them Rest. 43-45. The 
Lord gave unto Israel all the land— This is a 
general winding up of the history from ch. 
13. which narrates the occupation of the land 
by the Israelites. All the promises made, 
whether to the people or to Joshua ch. 1. 5,), 
had been, or were in the course of being ful- 
filled; and the recorded experience of the 
Israelites (v. 45,) is a ground of hope and 
confidence to the people of God in every 
age, that all other promises made to the 
Church will, in due time, be accomplished. 
CHAPTER XXII. 

Ver. 1-9. Joshua Dismisses the Two 
Tribes and a- half with a Blessing. 1. 
175 



XXI, XXIL_The Altar of Testimony Built 

then Joshua called the Reubenites and the Gad- 
I ites, and the half tribe of Manasseh — The 
! general war of invasion being ended, and the 
; enemy being in so dispirited and isolated a 
I condition, that each tribe, by its own re- 
' sources, or with the aid of its neighbouring 
tribe, was able to repress any renewed hos- 
i tilities; — the auxiliary Israelites from the 
eastern side of the Jordan were now dis- 
charged from service. Joshua dismissed 
them with high commendations of their 
fidelity, and earnest admonitions to cultivate 
perpetual piety in life. The redundancy 
of the language is remarkable, and shows 
how important, in the judgment of the vener- 
able leader, a steadfast observance of the 
divine law was to personal happiness, as 
well as national prosperity. 3. ye have not 
left your brethren these many days— For the 
space of seven years. 4-7. get ye unto your 
tents— 'i.e., home; for their families had been 
left in fortified towns (Num. 32. 17.). 8. much 
riches — In cattle, clothes, and precious 
metals, divide the spoil of your enemies with 
your brethren— see on Num. 31. 25-39. 

10. They Build the Altar of Testi- 
mony on their Journey. 10. when they 
came unto the borders of Jordan, that are in the 
land of Canaan— This altar was probably an 
immense pile of stones and earth. The gene- 
rality of our translators suppose that it was 
reared on the banks of the Jordan, within 
the limits of Canaan proper. But a little 
closer examination seems to make the con- 
clusion irresistible that its position was on 
the eastern side of the river, for these two 
reasons; first, because it is said (v. 11) to have 
been built M over against," or in the sight of 
the land of Canaan— not within it; and se- 
condly, because the declared motive of the 
trans-Jordanic Israelites in erecting it was 
to prevent their brethren in Canaan ever 
saying, "in time to come. What have ye to 
do with the Lord God of Israel? For the 
liord hath made Jordan a barrier between 
us and you," &c. Such a taunt would be ob- 
viously prevented, or confuted by the two 
tribes and a-half having on the eastern side 
of Jordan, within their own land, a fac- 
similie of the altar at Shiloh, as a witness 
they acknowledged the same God, and prac- 
tised the same rites of worship as the brethren 
in Canaan. 

11-29. Contention Thereupon. 11-29. and 
the children of I rael heard say— Fame speedily 
spread intelligence of whatthe trans-Jordanic 
tribes had done. The act being suspected 
of some idolatrous design, the whole tribes 
rose in a mass, and repairing to the taber- 
nacle at Shiloh, resolved to declare war 
against the two tribes and a-half as apos- 
tates from God. On calmer and more mature 
considerations, however, they determined, in 
the first instance, to send a deputation con- 
sisting of the son of the high priest, and ten 
eminent persons from each tribe to make 
inquiry into this rumoured rebellion against 
God (Deu. 13. 13-15.). The quality of the 
deputies evinced the deep solicitude that 
was felt on the occasion to maintain the 
purity of the divine worship throughout 
Israel. In the presumptive belief that the 
two tribesland a-half had. really built an altar, 
the deputies expressed astonishment at their 
so soon falling into such a heinous crime as 
that of violating the unity of divine worship 
(Ex. 20. 24; Lev. 17. 8, 9; Deu. 12. 5-13, i, re- 



Joshua exhorts the people 



JOSHUA, XXIII, XXIV. 



before his death. 



31 And Phinehas the son of Eleazar the 
priest said unto the children of Reuben, 
and to the children of Gad, and to the 
children of Manasseh, This day we per- 
ceive that the Lord is a among us, 
because ye have not committed this tres- 
pass against the Lord : 4 now ye have 
delivered the children of Israel out of the 
hand of the Lord. 

32 And Fhinehas the son of Eleazar the 
priest, and the princes, returned from the 
children of Reuben, and from the children 
of Gad, out of the land of Gilead, unto the 
land of Canaan, to the children of Israel, 
and brought them word again. 

33 And the thing pleased the children of 
Israel ; and the children of Israel b blessed 
God, and did not intend to go up against 
them in battle, to destroy the land wherein 
the children of Reuben and Gad dwelt. 

34 And the children of Reuben and the 
children of Gad called the altar 5 Ed: for 
it shall be a witness between us that the 
Lord is God. 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

1 Joshua's exhortation before Ms death, 3 by former 
benefits, 5 by -promises, 12 and by threatenings, 
in case of disobedience. 

A ND it came to pass, a long time after 
xx that the Lord a had given rest unto 
Israel from all their enemies round about, 
that Joshua b waxed old and 1 stricken in 
age. 

2 And J oshua c called for all Israel, and 
for their elders, and for their heads, and 
for their judges, and for their officers, and 
gaid unto them, I am old and stricken in 
age: 

3 And ye have seen all that the Lord 
your God hath done unto all these nations 
because of you: for the Lord your God is 
he that hath fought for you. 

4 Behold, I have divided unto you by lot 
these nations that remain, to be an inherit- 
ance for your tribes, from Jordan, with all 
the nations that I have cut off, even unto 
the great sea 2 westward. 

5 And the Lord your God, <* he shall ex- 
pel them from before you, and drive them 
from out of your sight; and ye shall possess 
then land, e as the Lord your God hath 
promised unto you. 

6 Re ye therefore very courageous to keep 
and to do all that is written in the book of 
the law of Moses, / that ye turn not aside 
therefrom to the right hand or to the 
left; 

7 That ye 9 come not among these nations, 
these that remain among you ; neither 
make '* mention of the name of their gods, 
nor cause to swear bu tJiem, neither serve 
them, nor bow yourselves unto them: 

8 3 But cleave unto the Lord your God, 
as ye have done unto this day. 

9 4 For the Lord hath driven out from 
before you great nations and strong: but as 
for you, » no man hath been able to stand 
before you unto this day. 

10 One 3 man of you shall chase a thou- 
sand: lor the Lord your God, he it is that 
fignteth for you, as he hath promised 
you. 

11 Take good heed therefore unto 5 your- 
selves, that ye love the Lord your God. 

12 Else if ye do in any wise k go back, and 
cleave unto the remnant of these nations, 
eotu these that remain among you, and 

17t> 



B. C. 1444. 



CHAP. 22. 
a Lev. 26. 11, 
12. 

1 Cor. 14. 
25. 

2 Chr. 15.2. 
Zech. 8. 23. 

4 then. 

b 1 Chr. 29. 
20. 

Neh. 8. 6. 
Dan. 2. 19. 
Lu. 2. 28. 

5 That is, a 
witness. 
ch. 24. 27. 



CHAP. 23. 

a ch. 21. 44. 
ch. 22. 4. 
b ch. 13. 1. 

1 come into 
days. 

c Deu. 31.28. 
ch. 24. 1. 

1 Chr. 28.1. 

2 at the 
sunset. 

d Ex. 23. 30. 
e Nu. 33. 53. 
/ Deu. 5. 32. 
g Pro. 4. 14. 

Eph. 5. 11. 
h Nu. 32. 38. 

Ps. 16. 4. 

Jer. 5. 7. 

Zeph. 1. 5. 

3 Or, For if 
ye will 
cleave. 

4 Or, then 
the LORD 
will drive. 

t ch. 1. 5. 
j Judg. 3.31. 

5 your souls. 
k Heb. 10. 38. 

2 Pet. 2. 20. 
I Judg. 2. 3. 
«*1 Ki.11.4. 
n Eccles. 12. 

3-7. 

Heb. 9. 27. 

Heb. 11. 

13. 
o Lu. 21. 33. 
P Deu. 28.63. 
q Lev. 26. 16. 

Deut. 28. 

15, 16. 



CHAP. 24. 
a Gen. 35. 4. 
6 ch. 23. 2. 
c 1 Sam. 10. 

19. 
d Gen. 11.26. 
e Gen. 31. 53. 
/Acts 7. 2, 3. 
g Ps. 127. 3. 
h Gen. 36. 8. 

Deu. 2. 5. 

Acta 17. 

26. 
i Ex. 3. 10. 
j Ex. 7. 1. 

Ex. 8. 1. 

Ex. 9. 1. 

Ex. 10. 1. 

Ex. 12. 1. 
k Ex. 12. 37, 

51. 
I Ex. 14. 9. 
w Num. 21. 
21,33. 
Deut. 2. 
32. 
Deu, 3. 1. 



m 



shall make marriages with them, and go in 
unto them, and they to you: 

13 Know for a certainty that * the Lord 
your God will no more drive out any of 
these nations from before you; m but they 
shall be snares and traps unto you, and 
scourges in your sides, and thorns in youx 
eyes, until ye perish from off this good land 
which the Lord your God hath given 
you. 

14 And, behold, this day n I am going the 
way of all the earth: and ye know in all 
your hearts, and in all your souls, that ° not 
one thing hath failed of all the good things 
which the Lord your God spake concerning 
you; all are come to pass unto you, and 
not one thing hath failed thereof. 

15 Therefore ? it shall come to pass, that 
as all good things are come upon you, 
which the Lord your God promised you: 
so shall the Lord bring upon you q all evil 
things, until he have destroyed you from 
off this good land which the Lord your 
God hath given you. 

16 When ye have transgressed the cove- 
nant of the Lord your God, which he 
commanded you, and have gone and served 
other gods, and bowed yourselves to them; 
then shall the anger of the Lord be kindled 
against you, and ye shall perish quickly 
from off the good land which he hath 
given unto you. 

CHAPTER XXIV. 
1 Joshua, assembling the tribes, 2 relates God's 
benefits : 14 he renews the covenant between 
God and them,; 28 his age and death. 33 Ele- 
azar dies. 

D Joshua gathered all the tribes of 
Israel to a Shechem, and b called for 
the elders of Israel, and for their heads, 
and for their judges, and for their officers; 
and they c presented themselves before 
God. 

2 And Joshua said unto all the people, 
Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, d Your 
fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood 
in old time, even Terah, the lather of 
Abraham, and the father of Nahor: and 
they e served other gods. 

3 And/ 1 took your father Abraham from 
the other side of the hood, and led him 
throughout all the land of Canaan, and 
multiplied his seed, and g gave him Isaac. 

4 And I gave unto Isaac Jacob and Esau: 
and I gave unto h Esau mount Sen, to 
possess it; but Jacob and his children went 
down into Egypt. 

5 I i sent Moses also and Aaron, and J I 
plagued Egypt, according to that which I 
did among them: and afterward I brought 
you out. 

G And I * brought your fathers out of 
Egypt: and ye came unto the sea; { and the 
Egyptians pursued after your fathers with 
chariots and horsemen unto the Red 
sea. 

7 And when they cried unto the Lord, he 
put darkness between you and the Egyp- 
tians, and brought the sea upon them, and 
covered them; and your eyes have seen 
what I have done in Egypt: and ye dwelt 
in the wilderness a long season. 

8 And I brought you into the land of the 
Amorites, which dwelt on the ether side 
Jordan; m and they fought with you: and I 
gave them into your hand, that ye might 
possess their land; and 1 destroyed them 
from before vou 



Joshua's Exhortation, 



JOSHUA, XXIH, XXIV. 



He Relates Gods Benefits. 



minded their Eastern brethren of the disas- 
trous consequences that were entailed on the 
nation at large by the apostasy at Peor, and 
by the sin of Achan, and finally exhorted 
them, if they felt the want of the tabernacle 
and altar, and repented of their rash choice 
in preferring worldly advantages to religious 
privileges, to remove to the western side of 
the Jordan, where the whole tribes would 
form a united and obedient community of 
worshippers. 21. then the children of Reuben, 
&c, answered— repudiating, in the strongest 
terms, the alleged crime, and deponing that 
so far from entertaining the intention im- 
puted to them, their only object was to per- 
petuate the memory of their alliance with 
Israel, and their adherence to the worship of 
Israel's God. 

30-34. The Deputies Satisfied. 30-34. 
it pleased thein— The explanation not only 
gave perfect satisfaction to the deputies, but 
elicited from them expressions of unbounded 
joy and thankfulness. "This day we per- 
ceive that the Lord is among us," i.e., by his 
gracious presence and preventing goodness, 
which has kept you from falling into the 
suspected sin, and rescued the nation from 
the calamity of a fratricidal war or providen- 
tial judgments. This episode reflects honour 
' upon all parties, and shows that piety and 
zeal for the honour and worship of God ani- 
mated the people that entered Canaan to an 
extent far beyond what was exemplified in 
many other periods of the history of Israel. 
CHAPTEK XX1I1. 

Ver. 1, 2. Joshua's Exhortation Be- 
fore His Death. 1. a long- time after the 
Lord had given rest unto Israel— about four- 
teen years after the conquest of Canaan, and 
seven after the distribution of that country 
among the tribes. 2. called for all Israel— 
the clause which follows seems to restrict 
this general expression as applicable only to 
the officers and representatives of the peo- 
ple. The place of assembly was most proba- 
bly Shiloh. The occasion of convening it 
was the extreme age and approaching death 
of the venerable leader; and the purport of 
this solemn address was to animate the 
chosen people and their posterity to a faith- 
ful and unswerving continuance in the faith 
and worship of the God of Israel. 

3. By Former Benefits. Ye have seen 
all that the Lord your God hath done for you— 
The modesty and humility of Joshua are re 



of their idolatrous sins. In the event of 
their continuing in steadfast adherence to 
the cause of God, as happily distinguished 
the nation at that time, His blessing would 
secure them a course of briliant and easy 
victories (Lev. 26. 7; Deu. 28. 7; 32. 30.'. 11. 
Take good heed, therefore, that ye love the Lord 
your God — The sum of his exhortation is 
comprised in the love of God, which is the 
end or fulfilment of the law (Deu.G. 5; 11. 13; 
M. 22.37.). 

12. By Threatenings in case of Diso- 
bedience. 12. Else if ye do in any wise go back, 
and cleave to the remnant of those nations— By 
" going back" is meant transgression of the 
divine law; and as marriage connexions with 
the idolatrous Canaanites would present 
many and strong temptations to transgress 
it, these were strictly prohibited (Ex 34. 12-16; 
Deu. 7. 3.). With his eye, as it were, upon 
those prohibitions, Joshua threatens them 
with the certain withdrawal of the divine 
aid in the further expulsion of the Canaan- 
ites- a threat founded on Ex. 23. 33; JSfu. 33. 
55; Deu. 7. 16. 

CHAPTEK XXIV. 
Ver. 1. Joshua Assembling the Tribes. 
1. Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to 
S he chem— Another and final opportunity of 
dissuading the people against idolatry is 
here described as taken by the aged leader, 
who c e solicitude on this account arose f i om 
his knowledge of the extreme readiness of 
the people to conform to the manners of the 
surrounding nations. This address was made 
to the representatives of the people con- 
vened at Shechem, and which had already 
been the scene of a solemn renewal of the 
covenant (ch. 8. 30, 35.). The transaction now 
to be entered upon being in principle and 
object the same, it was desirable to give it all 
the solemn impressiveness which might be 
derived from the memory of the former cere- 
monial, as well as from other sacred associa- 
tions of the place (Gen. 12. 6, 7; 33. 18-20; 35. 
2-4.). they presented themselves before God- 
It is generally assumed that the ark of the 
covenant had been transferred on this occa- 
sion to Shechem; as on extraordinary emer- 
gencies it was for a time removed ( Jud. 20. 
1-18; 1 Sam. 4. 3; 2 Sam. 15. 24.). But the 
statement, not necessarily implying this, may 
be viewed as expressing only the religious 
character of the ceremony. [Heng.1 
2-13. Kelates God's Benefits. 2-13. 



markably displayed at the commencement Joshua said unto the people — His address 
of this address, feinking all thoughts of his briefly recapitulated the principal proofs of 
personal services, he ascribed the subjuga-|the divine goodness to Israel from the call 
tion and occupation of Canaan entirely to j of Abraham to their happy establishment in 



the favouring presence and aid of God; and 
in doing so, he spoke not more piously than 
truly. This had been promised (Deu. l. 30; 
3. 22,) : and the reality of the divine aid was 
seen in the rapid overthrow of the Canaan- 
ites, which had already led to the division 
of the whole land amongst the tribes. 

5-11. By Promises. 5-11. The Lord your 
God, he shall expel them from before you, &c— 
The actual possessions which God had given 
were a pledge of the complete fulfilment of 
His promise in giving them the parts of the 
country still unconguered. But the accom- 
plishment of the divine promise depended 
on their inviolable fidelity to God's law— on 
their keeping resolutely aloof from all fami 



the land of promise; and showed them that 
they were indebted for their national exist- 
ence as well as their peculiar privileges, not 
to any merits of their own, but to the free 
grace of God. on the other side of the flood— 
The Euphrates, viz., at Dr. Terah, the father 
of Abraham . . . and Nahor— see on Gen. 11. 
27.). Though Terah had three sons, Nahor 
only is mentioned with Abraham, as the 
Israelites were descended from him on the 
mother's side through Kebekah and her 
nieces, Leah and Bachel. served other gods 
— Conjoining, like Laban, the traditional 
knowledge of the true Cod with the domes- 
tic use of material images (Gen. 31. 19, 34.). 
3. took your father Abraham— It was an irre- 



liar intercourse and intimate connexions | sistible impulse of divine grace which led 
with the Canaanites, or in any way partaking the patriarch to leave his country and rela 
176 



The covenant with God renewed. JOSHUA, XXIV. 



The death of Joshua. 



9 Then w Balak the son of Zippor, king of 
Moab, arose, and warred against Israel, 
and ° sent and called Balaam the son of 
Beor to curse you: 

10 But^ I would not hearken unto Balaam ; 
therefore q he Messed you still: so I de- 
livered you out of his hand. 

11 And ye went over Jordan, and came 
unto Jericho : and the men of Jericho 
fought against you, the Amorites, and the 
Perizzites, and the Canaanites, and the 
Hittites, and the Girgashites, the Hivites, 
and the Jebusites; and I delivered them 
into your hand. 

12 And r I sent the hornet before you, 
which drave them out from before you, 
even the two kings of the Amorites ; but 
not • with thy sword, nor with thy bow. 

13 And I have given you a land for which 
ye did not labour, and * cities which ve 
built not, and ye dwell in them; of the 
vineyards and oliveyards which ye planted 
not do ye eat. 

14 11 Now u therefore fear the Lord, and 
serve him in v sincerity and in truth: and 
put w away the gods which your fathers 
Berved on the other side of the flood, and 
in * Egypt: and serve ye the Lord. 

15 And if it seem evil unto you to serve 
the Lord, choose you this day whom ye 
will serve; whether the gods which your 
fathers served, that were on the other side 
of the flood, or y the gods of the Amorites, 
in whose land ye dwell: z but as for me and 
my house, we will serve the Lord. 

16 And the people answered and said, God 
forbid that we should forsake the Lord, to 
Berve other gods ; 

17 For the Lord out God, he it is that 
brought us up and our fathers out of the 
land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, 
and which did those great signs in our 
sight, and preserved us in all the way 
wherein we went, and among all the people 
through whom we passed; 

18 And the Lord drave «ut from before 
us all the people, even the Amorites which 
dwelt in the land: there/ore will we also 
serve the Lord; for he is our God. 

19 And Joshua said unto the people. ° Ye 
cannot serve the Lord: for he is an & holy 
God ; he is a jealous God ; c he will not for 
give your transgressions nor your sins, 

20 If d ye forsake the Lord, and serve 
strange gods, e then he will turn and do 



B. C. 1427. 



CHAP. 24. 
n Judg. 11. 

25. 
o No. 22. 6. 
P Deu. 23. 5. 
q Nil 23.11. 
r Ex. 23. 28. 

Deu. 7. 20. 
»Ps. 44. 3,6. 
t Deu. 6. 10, 

11. 

eh. 11. 13. 
u Deu. 10.12. 

1 Sa. 12.24. 

V Gen. 17. 1. 
Gen. 20. 5. 
Deu. 18. 13. 
P8. 119. 1. 

2 Cor. 1.12. 
Eph. 6. 24. 

tP Lev. 17. 7. 

* Esek. 20. 7. 

V Ex. 23.24. 
Deu. 13. 7. 
Judg. 6.10. 

* Gen. 18. 19. 
a Mat. 6. 24. 
6 Lev. 19. 2. 

1 Sa. 6. 20. 

Ps. 99. 5, 9. 

Is. 5. 16. 
c Ex. 23. 21. 
d 2 Chr.15.2. 

EzraS. 22. 

Is. 1.28. 

Jer. 17. 13. 
« Is. 63. 10. 

Acts 7. 42. 
/Psalm 119. 

173. 
9 Gen. 35. 2. 

1 Sa. 7. 3. 
h Ex. 15- 25. 

2KLU •»7. 
i Deu. 31. 24. 
j Judg. 9. 6. 
k Gen. 28. 18. 

ch. 4. 3. 
I Gen. 31. 48. 

Deu. 31.19. 
*» Deu. 32.1. 
n ch. 19. 50, 

Judg. 2. 7. 

1 prolonged 
their dayi 
after 
Joshua. 

P Gen. 50.25. 

Ex. 13. 19. 

Acts 7. 16. 
q Gen. 33. 19. 

2 Or, 



you hurt, and consume you, after that he 
hath done you good. 

21 And the people said unto Joshua, Nay, 
but we will serve the Lord. 

22 And Joshua said unto the people, Ye 
are witnesses against yourselves that / ye 
have chosen you the Lord, to serve him. 
And they said, We are witnesses. 

23 Now therefore 9 put away, said he, the 
strange gods which are among you, and 
incline your heart unto the Lord God of 
Israel. 

24 And the people said unto Joshua, The 
Lord our God. will we serve, and his voice 
will we obey. 

25 So Joshua h made a covenant with the 
people that day, and set them a statute 
and an ordinance in Shechem. 

26 And Joshua » wrote these words in the 
book of the law of God, and took J a great 
stone, and * set it up there under an 
oak that was by the sanctuary of the 
Lord. 

27 And Joshua said unto all the people, 
Behold, this stone shall be l a witness un- 
to us ; for m it hath heard all the words of 
the Lord which he spake unto us: it shall 
be therefore a witness unto you, lest ye 
deny your God. 

28 So Joshua let the people depart, every 
man unto his inheritance. 

29 IT And it came to pass after these things, 
that Joshua the son of Nun, the servant or 
the Lord, died, being an hundred and ten 
years old. 

30 And they buried him in the border of 
his inheritance in * Timnath-serah, which 
is in mount Ephraim, on the north side of 
the hill of Gaash. 

31 And ° Israel served the Lord all the 
days of Joshua, and all the days of the 
elders that l overlived Joshua, and which 
had known all the works of the Lord, that 
he had done for Israel. 

32 IT And p the bones of Joseph, which the 
children of Israel brought np out of Egypt, 
buried they in Shechem, m a parcel of 
ground q which Jacob bought of the sons 
of Hamor the father of Snechem, for an 
hundred 2 pieces of silver: and it became 
the inheritance of the children of Joseph. 

33 IT And Eleazar the son of Aaron died; 
and they buried him in a hill that pertained 
to Phiuehas his son, which was given him 
in mount Ephraiin, 



Joshua Renews the Covenant. 



JOSHUA, XXIV. 



Eis Age and Death. 



tives, to migrate to Canaan, and live a 
"stranger and pilgrim" in that land. 4. 
gave unto Esau mount Seir— (see on Gen. 36. 
8, 9.). In order that he might be no obstacle 
to Jacob and his posterity being the exclu- 
sive heirs of Canaan. 12. sent the hornet— A 
particular species of wasp which swarms in 
warm countries, and sometimes assumes the 
scourging character of a plague, or, as many 
think, it is a figurative expression for uncon- 
trollable terror (Ex. 23. 27, -8.). 14-28. Now 
therefore fear the Lord, and serve him in sin- 
eerily and truth— After having enumerated 
so many grounds for national gratitude, 
Joshua calls on them to declare, in a public 
and solemn manner, whether they will be 
faithful and obedient to the God of Israel. 
He avowed this to be his own unalterable 
resolution, and urges them, if they were sin- 
cere in making a similar avowal, "to put' 
away the strange gods that were among 
them" — a requirement which seems to 
imply that some were suspected of a strong 
hankering for,orconcealed practise of the ido- 
latry, whether in the form of Zabaism— the 
fire-worship of their Chaldean ancestors, or 
the grosser superstitions of the Canaanites. 
26. Joshua wrote these words in the books of 
the kw of God— Eegistered the engagements 
of that solemn covenant in the book of 
sacred history, took a great stone— Accord- 
ing to the usage of ancient times to erect 
stone pillars as monuments of public trans- 
actions, set it up under an oak— Or terebinth, 
in all likelihood, the same as that at the 
root of which Jacob buried the idols, and 
charms found in his family, that was by 
the sanctuary of the Lord — Either the spot 
where the ark had stood, or else the place 
around, so called from that religious meeting 
as Ja.cob named Bethel the house of God. 
14-33. His Age and Death. 29, 30. Joshua 
died— Lightfoot computes that he lived seven- 
teen, others twenty-seven years after the en- 
trance into Canaan. He was buried, accord- 
ing to the Jewish practice, within the limits 
of his own inheritance. The eminent public 
services he had long rendered to Israel, and 



the great amount of domestic comfort and 
national prosperity he had been instrumen- 
tal in diffusing among the several tribes, 
were deeply felt— were universally acknow- 
ledged; and a testimonial in the form of a 
statue or obelisk would have been immedi- 
ately raised to his honour, in all parts of 
the land, had such been the fashion of the 
times. The brief but noble epitaph by the 
historian is, Joshua " the servant of the 
Lord." 31. Israel served the Lord all the days 
of Joshua— The high and commanding char- 
acter of this eminent leader, had given so 
decided a tone to the sentiments and man- 
ners of his contemporaries, and the memory 
of his fervent piety and many virtues, con- 
tinued so vividly impressed on the memories 
of the people, that the sacred historian has 
recorded it to his immortal honour. " Israel 
served the Lord all the days of Joshua,and all 
the days of the elders that overlived Joshua. 

32. the bones of Joseph— They had carried these 
venerable relics with them in all their migra- 
tions through the desert, and deferred the 
burial,accordingtothe dying charge of Joseph 
himself,till they arrived in the promised land. 
The sarcophagus, in which his mummied 
body had been put, was brought thither by 
the Israelites, and probably buried when the 
tribe of Ephraim had obtained their settle- 
ment, or at the solemn convocation described 
in this chapter, in a parcel of ground which 
Jacob bought for a hundred pieces of silver— 
Kesitah, translated " piece of silver," is sup- 
posed to mean a lamb, the weights being in 
the form of lambs or kids, which were, in all 
probability, the earliest standard of value 
among pastoral people. The tomb that 
now covers the spot is a Mahommedan 
Welce, but there is no reason to doubt that 
the precious deposit of Joseph's remains 
may be concealed there at the present time. 

33. Eleazar . . . died, and they buried him in 
mount Ephraim — The sepulchre is at the 
modern village Awertah, which, according 
to Jewish travellers, contains the graves 
also of Ithamar, the brother of Phinehas, 
the son of Eleazar. [Van de Velde.] 






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